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While appraisers have a lot to gripe about in the less than perfect appraisal process, appraisal review is often one of the biggest stress points between the appraiser and client. Coercion, poor practices and just plan appraisal ignorance all can play a role in making the appraiser’s work more stressful. We asked our panel of excellent appraisers how they deal with this potential pitfall.

Valuation Review: What are the most common stress points in the appraisal review process?

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With the uptick in the market, appraisers can expect more scrutiny of their appraisals going forward. Appraisers and review appraisers share equally in ensuring the review process will go smoothly.

For the appraiser, the following suggestions should lead to fewer revisions and result in a more efficient process:

While certainly a necessary practice — and oftentimes required — most appraisal organizations and appraisers are looking for better ways to address the appraisal review process. Covering this from a global and all-inclusive perspective, we should first identify the stressful points throughout this hot topic process. 

In many circumstances, it is a simple as a lack of consistent formatting of reports that can frustrate both appraiser and reviewer. When the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) was in

Let’s face it: appraisers get the shaft. In today’s economy, it’s hard to accept the reality of market value. Sellers, buyers and other parties involved in the mortgage process often complain about appraisals coming in “too low.” Such is the case with a recent Wall Street Journal Q & A, in which a reader asked for advice in a sticky selling situation. To make a short story shorter: The buyers asked for $20,000 in repairs/upgrades, the appraisal came up short of the agreed price, and now the seller is be

The Interagency Appraisal Complaint Form continues to generate concerned comments from industry professionals. The latest comments come from the Appraisal Institute and the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA), which penned a letter addressed to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), National Credit Union Administration, and Comptroller of the Currency, in hopes of highlighting some of the potential stress points if the current form is put into action.

First a little

Three real estate industry professionals were sentenced for engaging in schemes to defraud two banks. The schemes are said to involve properties valued at more than $35.5 million. One defendent received 72 months in prison and was ordered to pay $2.8 million in damages while the other two were given 42 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.5 million. The mortgage broker who misrepresented material facts about borrowers’ income and assets, the potential rental income and accurate appraisals o

Veros Real Estate Solutions announced that Citizen’s Equity First Credit Union (CEFCU) implemented Veros’ valuation management platform, Sapphire, to assist their team in automating their fully manual appraisal management process. Sapphire is a web-based platform for complete collateral valuation management, offering numerous options that deliver Sapphire’s “structured flexibility” so lenders can configure the system to their organization’s needs. The core platform includes comprehensive order, review

Global DMS, provider of web-based compliant valuation management software, and MortgageFlex Systems, an established technology provider of mortgage loan software, announced that its eTrac Enterprise platform is integrated with MortgageFlex’s loan origination system (LOS), LoanQuest. The integration is bi-directional and streamlines data exchange and facilitates communication between the two platforms.  

Clear Capital, provider of data and solutions for real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment, released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through February 2013.National and regional home price trends remained stable and nearly flat in February, as prices continued to hold their ground over the slow winter months. National quarterly growth of 1 percent was supported by quarterly growth of 2.1 percent, 0.4 percent, 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent in the West, Midwest, Northeast and

a la mode announced that Metro-West will now provide staff appraisers with a la mode’s full suite of software, including TOTAL form-filling products. The TOTAL family of software products is the dominant appraisal report platform in the industry, used by more than half of all appraisers nationwide. In conjunction, Metro-West launched a MercuryDirect plugin with Mercury Network to ensure the highest quality appraisals for its growing list of lenders.

Last week, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released a white paper that stated there are “serious problems in the residential appraisal process” that “must be addressed in order to restore confidence in the residential real estate market and to establish a foundation for sustainable growth of the U.S. economy.” 

It was just the latest instance of the NAHB pointing the finger at appraisers. Similar reports and accusations were launched last year as well. Not surprisingly, apprai

The Appraisal Foundation’s Appraisal Standards Board released a pair of advisory opinion exposure drafts last week for appraiser comments. The first advisory opinion relates to “Performing Evaluations of Real Property Collateral to Conform with USPAP.” The issue was prompted by the federal financial regulatory agency, which issued updated Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines in December 2010. 

A Colorado man was sentenced to serve 72 months in federal prison for wire fraud, making a false statement to a pretrial services officer and escape. The man was ordered to spend three years on supervised release after he serves his term of imprisonment. He was also ordered to pay restitution totaling nearly $1.8 million. The man had appraisal reports prepared in which the appraiser fraudulently inflated the fair market values of the properties by $100,000 to $325,000. To make the inflated values in al

The size of a property relative to the average-sized property in its neighborhood may affect its sale price, according to an article published by The Appraisal Institute. “The Impact of Relative Size on Home Values,” by Paul Asabere, Ph.D., and Forrest Huffman, Ph.D., examined the impact relative size has on the pricing of houses. Relative size impact refers to the effect on home values of house size relative to the average size of properties in the same neighborhood. Unlike absolute size, which is a prope

The nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers premiered its “Residential and Commercial Valuation of Solar” course in Albuquerque, N.M. The course is the latest offering in the Appraisal Institute’s Valuation of Sustainable Buildings Professional Development Program. 

The Office of the U.S. Attorney sentenced a Twin Lakes, Wisc., man now living in Ojai, Calif., to 14 months in federal prison for his part in a mortgage fraud scheme that spanned from 2004 to 2006. He faced a total of 30 years in prison for these offenses. According to the indictment, the man, acting as a mortgage broker, orchestrated a scheme which involved straw buyers, fraudulent loan applications and inflated appraisals. He was able to arrange in excess of $14 million in loans for the purchase of a

Ellie Mae, a provider of enterprise-level, on-demand automated solutions for the residential mortgage industry, released its Origination Insight Report for January 2013. The report draws its data and insights from a robust sampling of the significant volume of loan applications — more than 20 percent of all originations in the United States — that flow through Ellie Mae’s Encompass360 mortgage management software and Ellie Mae Network.

Serious problems in the residential appraisal process must be addressed in order to restore confidence in the residential real estate market and to establish a foundation for sustainable growth of the U.S. economy, according to a new white paper from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).