News By Edition

Earlier, Valuation Review brought you news of Incenter Appraisal Management’s new technology titled RemoteVal to further assist appraisers.

We caught up with company President Mark Walser, who shared more ideas about what lies ahead for appraisers and lender designated users.

Read on for more of our conversation.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB Bill 948, and other bills, on Sept. 28 to boost housing production across California, complementing the governor’s $22 billion housing affordability and homelessness package and ongoing work by the state to spur more housing production, tackle barriers to construction and hold local governments accountable.

Appraisal Institute President Rodman Schley reached out to Valuation Review with his thoughts on this legislation. Taken together, Newsom’s actions represent a comprehensive housing vision and the state’s commitment to create more affordable housing, faster and cheaper.

Read on for more.

Earlier, Valuation Review reported the recent acquisition of CubiCasa, a Finland-based proptech startup, by Clear Capital.

We recently sat down with new CubiCasa President Jeff Allen for more in-depth details about the acquisition and how this will accelerate appraisal modernization, among other things.

Read on for more insight from Allen.

It is the time of the season where a good scare is usually just around the corner.

In the McKissock Learning post “Terrifying Encounters from Real-Life Appraisers,” the company recounted a few “scary” propositions that came an appraiser’s way when examining certain properties.

Read on for more "haunting" details.

Clear Capital completed the acquisition of CubiCasa, a Finland-based proptech startup.

Through this acquisition, Clear Capital will empower CubiCasa to expand its revolutionary mobile technology that automates floor plan sketch creation and digitizes property data collection.

Read on for more information.

SettlementOne Valuation, a leading provider of appraisal management services to the U.S. mortgage industry, recently announced the hiring of Stephen French as chief executive officer. French also will be appointed to the SettlementOne Valuation Board of Managers.

In a virtual public meeting held September 15, the Appraisal Subcommittee, the independent federal agency providing oversight for the real estate appraiser and appraisal management company (AMC) regulatory system, approved its 2022 budget. This included the approval of $9 million, more than half will be dedicated to grant funding and technical assistance intended to benefit the appraisal industry.

Williston Financial Group (WFG), a Portland-based, full-service provider of title insurance and real estate settlement services for commercial and residential transactions nationwide, released the findings of its 2021 survey of WFG Executive Roundtable members and other industry leaders.

The results signaled a marked increase in concern over the impact lengthy turnaround times are having on real estate transactions.

Read on to learn more.

JLL Technologies, a division of JLL, recently announced the hire of Chief Information Security Officer Joe Silva to lead JLL’s information security strategy.

Silva will be working closely with global technology teams across the company including JLL, a dedicated commercial real estate technology firm.

Read on to learn more.

Cherry Creek Mortgage announced that Phil Tidwell has been promoted to vice president of marketing operations. Tidwell was the company’s marketing operations director.

Veros Real Estate Solutions released its Q3 2021 VeroFORECAST data which predicts home prices will appreciate on average 7 percent for the next twelve months.

The VeroFORECAST evaluates home prices in the nation’s 100 most-populated markets.

Read on for more from Veros.

According to ATTOM’s second-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Flipping Report, 79,733 single-family homes and condos were flipped, representing 4.9 percent of all home sales. That’s up from 3.5 percent in the first quarter, the first increase in more than a year. But it was down from 6.8 percent a year ago.

A new Zillow research finds most home buyers still tour homes in person and don't waive inspection contingencies.

The housing market is historically hot with record home price appreciation and limited inventory, but the typical buyer submitted only two offers in 2021, and only about 1 in 10 waived an inspection.

Read on to learn more.

In its September Insights Report, mortgage advisory firm STRATMOR Group points to data that shows this year will be one of the biggest years for industry mergers and acquisitions activity (M&A). In “Mortgage Industry Consolidation: Fact, Fiction or Frenzy?” David Hrobon, STRATMOR Group principal and former chairman and CEO of Wintrust Mortgage, connects the dots between industry profitability and M&A activity.

LoanLogics recently released a white paper detailing how mortgage industry participants can maximize the relationship between their people, technology, and the mortgage process. The paper describes how combining automation and confidence scoring with human assistance can save 50 percent in document processing costs. 

The 2021 Appraisal Summit and Expo conference is underway, and Valuation Review is here live in Las Vegas to cover the event.

A wide variety of appraisal topics will be presented to attendees from the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in the next two days.

Read on for a brief preview.

Eminent domain activity is expected to strengthen in the years ahead as a result of the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill, according to an article from BBG Managing Director James Turner titled “Infrastructure Plan to Boost Eminent Domain Activity.”

BBG reached out to Valuation Review to share Turner’s thoughts.

Read on to learn more.

Expetitle and 1st Class Real Estate announced they have entered a joint venture offering a streamlined, remote home closing transaction to the latter company’s customers. 1st Class Real Estate will launch fully remote and hybrid closings though a secure platform and mobile app, first starting in Florida and Georgia, but with plans for nationwide expansion.

The CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights (LPI) Report for July showed that nationally, 4.2 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days or more including those in foreclosure.

This represents a 2.3-percentage point decrease in the overall delinquency rate compared with July 2020.

Read on to learn more.

ClearValue Consulting, a provider of enterprise-class vendor management technology for the mortgage industry, recently launched its Property VeriPix platform. This is a photographic validation and chain of custody technology verifying the location, date and time of subject property photos provided by third parties.