News By Edition

As announced earlier by Valuation Review, the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) welcomed David Crick to the position of international president.

We caught up with the new ASA executive for a more in-depth story, and his thoughts about becoming the first individual outside the United States to hold such an office.

Read on for more of our conversation.

Valuation Review had a conversation with Metro-West Appraisal Co., LLC Chief Operating Officer Brandon Boudreau regarding relevancy inside the appraisal profession moving forward.

Boudreau also touched on collateral valuation programs, and their value to the industry.

Read on for more details.

Valuation Review recently caught up with Michelle Czekalski-Bradley, the new Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) chair, who shared with us many facets of her career in appraising.

She also talked about one particular area of focus during her role with the ASB.

Read on to learn more.

Many factors continue to affect the real estate/appraisal profession, including supply chain shortages. Metro-West Appraisal Co.

Senior Vice President of Compliance Greg Stephens shares his thoughts on this subject.

Read on to find out more.

For this month’s installment of news appraisers should know by Dustin Harris, “The Appraiser Coach,” Harris addressed an interesting topic in his blog, “Driving Comps Can Be Risky Business.”

Harris discusses how a better understanding of an appraiser’s surroundings can go a long way towards peace of mind.

Read on to learn more.

SitusAMC Holdings Corp., a provider of trusted solutions supporting the entire lifecycle of real estate finance, renewed its contract with Florida’s State Board of Administration. The move helps provide real estate valuation and loan administration services.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its findings on the impact of the COVID-19 protections and other federal efforts, and how they have reduced default and foreclosure risks. The report considers data from the National Mortgage Database, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and Black Knight, Inc.

Anchor Loans, who provides financing to fix-and-flip entrepreneurs, welcomes a new individual to join the company as chief capital markets officer. He brings more than 20 years of real estate capital markets experience to the position.

Expectations for full-year 2021 real GDP growth at 7 percent changed very little from the previous outlook, but meaningful compositional and temporal shifts are now projected for the underlying sources of economic growth. This is according to the July 2021 commentary from the Fannie Mae Economic and Strategic Research Group.

P&S Intelligence says the increasing urbanization rate, growing incidence of chronic diseases, and surging popularity of sedentary jobs are some of the major factors driving the expansion of the global corporate wellness market. As a result, the market value is expected to rise above $100 billion by 2030, says the market research and business firm.

With 14 percent more people becoming first-time homeowners last year compared to the previous year, the personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on “2021’s Best & Worst Cities for First-Time Home Buyers.” Real estate in 300 cities of varying sizes were used to determine the best locations.

ATTOM, a recognized property database, recently integrated transportation noise data into its U.S. property data warehouse. This move expands the ATTOM Table of Data Elements even further with yet another layer of details to enhance property valuations and deliver deeper insights into the housing market.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to an article in CIOReview, will play a key role moving forward as online shopping supplants brick-and-mortar retail stores with enterprises prioritizing AI. Additionally, AI can transform every facet of retail business.

During the last year, we have become even more keenly aware of the need to be innovative and stay in compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.

During this year’s National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Naples, Fla., industry experts will be sharing their expertise in different areas viewed through the lenses of innovation and compliance.

Read on for more about the NS3 sessions.

CoreLogic released its latest Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast for June 2021.

As supply and demand pressures endure and construction costs spike, home price gains in June reached the highest annual growth since 1979.

Read on to learn more.

Valuation Review brings you more insight from Reggora Appraisal Compliance & Initiatives Director Ken Dicks, who referenced that whether you are talking about robots assembling automobiles, or algorithms producing mathematical calculations to arrive at a point value estimate, quality control and quality assurance processes are needed.

Designing algorithms that can produce multiple, reliable outcomes is not very common in the valuation space.

Read n for the conclusion of this conversation.

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger will speak during the third day of the 17th annual National Settlement Services Summit. The in-person event will be held Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in Naples, Fla.

Commercial real estate services firm JLL recently promoted Tony Lenamon to Americas head of valuation advisory. In his new role, Lenamon will focus on providing a client experience not readily achieved in the market. 

In its July Insights Report, mortgage advisory firm STRATMOR Group offers an in-depth analysis of customer experience in the mortgage industry and how lenders are measuring and managing it. Author Sue Woodward details how to strive for customer excellence.

Cherry Creek Mortgage has hired Lorie Helms as chief technology officer. Helms has experience in mortgage loan origination, due diligence, servicing, and collateral management. 

The 2021 Appraisal Institute Annual Conference “Rising to the Challenge” is underway and Valuation Review is here live in Orlando to cover the event. A wide variety of appraisal topics will be presented to attendees from the JW Marriott Grande Lakes Hotel in the next two days.

With signs of a significant recovery for the second straight month in June pertaining to housing inventory, the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Report indicates the market may be on the road to rebalancing after a long stint of being heavily in sellers’ favor.

But inventory remains low, and demand is still strong.

Read on for more analysis.

Paradatec, Inc. joined with CoreLogic to support CoreLogic HMDA Check, a loan auditing tool that leverages automation to help lenders comply with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).  Enacted by Congress in 1975, HMDA requires covered financial institutions to publicly disclose mortgage data to the public to combat housing discrimination.

The annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) returns live in Naples, Fla. this year from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, 2021.  

During the second day of the conference, Stan Middleman, founder and CEO of Freedom Mortgage Corp., will share insights on how to lead through the inevitable change coming to the real estate transaction.

To learn about other sessions that day, read on.

Valuation Review recently caught up with Valcre co-founder and CEO Lucas Rotter for a more in-depth follow-up to our story about his company.

Rotter addressed commercial appraising and the challenges the industry continues to experience because of the pandemic.

Read on for more of the conversation.

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) expressed disappointment about the continued exclusion of the appraisal profession from ongoing federal agency efforts on valuation bias.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development held a virtual event Friday, July 30 looking at bias issues surrounding the home valuation process and ASA wasn’t a part of it.

Read on for more reactions.

After a year of Zoom meetings and virtual trade shows/conferences because of COVID-19 precautions, it’s time for the Appraisal Institute’s Annual Conference to return to normal as attendees will gather at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes Hotel in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 9-10.

Valuation Review will be there to cover the event.

Read on for a brief preview.

October Research, LLC produced a webinar hosted by Valuation Review featuring panelists from the Appraisal Institute (AI) in State/Industry Affairs Manager Scott DiBiasio, and AI Government/External Relations Director Bill Garber. The speakers addressed new regulations being proposed and implemented at every level to address fair housing and diversity equity and inclusion in the real estate transaction.

Better, a digital homeownership company, recently launched Better Appraisal Guarantee enabling mortgage applicants and prospective homebuyers to waive their appraisal contingencies and more effectively compete with cash offers. Qualified buyers applying for home purchase mortgages can lock their terms online in approximately 15 minutes or less.

HomeServices of America CEO Gino Blefari will kick off the 17th annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Naples, Fla., by delivering the keynote address on Aug. 31, the conference’s first day.

Other first-day speakers will discuss the growing cannabis industry, the secrets to landing referrals, and state regulatory trends around the country.

Read on for more about first day of the three-day conference.

Filogix, a Finastra company, recently launched its Private Lender Gateway, a new portal that connects private lenders to the Filogix Mortgage Marketplace. The solution enables private lenders to conduct business with Filogix’s network of over 17,000 mortgage professionals across Canada, without the need for additional technology.