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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said it will coordinate a study comparing consumers’ understanding of current federal mortgage disclosures and the new disclosures proposed by the bureau. According to a Federal Register notice published on Feb. 5, outside contractors will conduct quantitative testing of the integrated disclosures proposed by the bureau in July 2012.

LoanSifter Inc., provider of product eligibility and pricing solutions for the mortgage banking industry, announced the hiring of Sue Stewart as vice president, client services. With a 30-year track record of successfully running mortgage companies, Stewart’s vast industry knowledge coupled with her strong technology background will be leveraged to support LoanSifter’s growing products and client base.

Though home foreclosures continue to be a challenge in many hard-hit markets, a report released this week by mortgage technology company FNC indicates the ongoing housing recovery should continue for the long haul. According to FNC’s Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure prices have bottomed out in recent months and the foreclosure market has stabilized while underlying home values are rising. Foreclosure prices are at a 10-year low (when the sizes of foreclosed homes are factored in). 

ISGN Corp., a provider of end-to-end technology solutions and services to the U.S. mortgage industry, announced during MBA’s National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo 2013 the launch of Tempo, a web-based default management platform. Tempo offers dynamic, real-time work queues and reportable communication to ensure that internal and external parties quickly and efficiently fulfill all required steps to complete a loan.

After deliberating for three hours, a federal jury of five men and seven women found a defendant guilty of wire fraud conspiracy. In 2003, the defendant recruited an unlicensed appraiser to prepare fraudulent appraisals. Between 2003 and 2005, the appraiser prepared more than $67 million in fraudulent appraisals. The appraisals were fraudulent not only because they falsely represented that a licensed appraiser prepared the appraisals but also because the appraisals overstated the values of the properties serving as collateral for the loans. The appraiser also altered the pictures of the properties being appraised to make it look like the properties were in better condition than they really were, and in some cases, he substituted pictures of completely different properties rather than the properties subject to the appraisals.

The Supreme Court of Kansas was asked to determine whether a billboard structure was personal property or a “trade fixture” for the purposes of valuing the taking in an eminent domain case. The court was also asked to decide if the advertising income generated by billboard structure was to be included in determining just compensation due to the lessee. 

During the eminent domain proceedings, the district court appointed three appraisers to determine the appropriate compensation for the interests, and eventually entered an award of $1,075,600 as compensation for the taking. 

The lessee appealed the award and the Supreme Court of Kansas affirmed the trial court, saying the lessee’s billboard structure was personal property that had not become part of the realty, and, thus, lessee was not entitled to compensation for the structure, and that the advertising income generated by the billboard structure was not to be included in determining just compensation due to lessee. 

The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a sixth consecutive month to a total of 259 metropolitan areas on the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for February. This is up from 242 markets listed as improving in January, and includes entrants from all 50 states and the District of the Columbia.

United Lender Services Corp. (ULS), a national title and settlement services and appraisal management company, announced that Chris Behning has been appointed as director of information technology. Behning brings more than 30 years of experience in information technology management, strategic planning and business development, having broad experience in title and appraisal vendor management and software development in the mortgage services industry.

The latest FNC Residential Price Index (RPI) shows continuing momentum in the U.S. housing market with home prices rising to a two-year high in December. Despite an unexpected deceleration in economic growth, the ongoing housing recovery has maintained its pace with steady gains in home prices, sending the index up 5.4 percent year to date.

Turnaround trends continued apace in the Bay Area housing market last month with the strongest January sales in six years and the 10th straight year-over-year increase in the median sale price, a real estate information service reported. Sales always drop from December to January. While still below the long-term January average of 6,094, last month’s sales count was the strongest since 6,168 homes were sold in 2007. 

The median price paid for a home in the nine-county Bay Area was $415,000 in January. That was down 6.3 percent from $442,750 in December, and up 27.3 percent from $326,000 in January a year ago.

An Arizona appellate court addressed the purely legal issue of whether a trial court correctly ruled that an appraiser did not owe a duty of care to a lender as a matter of law, after the lender filed a complaint against the appraisal company for negligent misrepresentation. The appraiser had countered that he owed no duty to the lender because the appraisals were intended specifically for someone else’s use alone. Read on for the details.

An Arizona appellate court reversed the dismissal of a negligent misrepresentation case against an appraisal company, saying the allegations in the complaint alleged sufficient facts to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and effectively put the appraiser  on notice of the nature and basis of the claim against him. 

After CoesterVMS announced its flat-fee payment model, it was enough to re-spark the heated appraisal fee debate. Erik Richard, chief executive officer of Landmark Network Inc., sounded off on the issue and the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board created a rule, unrelated to the flat-fee debate, that seems to turn a blind eye to the federal law presumptions. The tenacious Valuation Review readers did not sit idly on the sidelines. Shortly after all the fee news broke, readers took to the comment section of Valuation Review and shared their thoughts.

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, published guidance to help appraisers understand exposure time and how to incorporate its analysis into an appraisal. The Appraisal Institute’s “Guide Note 14: Concept of Exposure Time” addresses how appraisers should link exposure time to their value opinion and comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. Exposure time refers to the time a property remains on the market.

Lender Processing Services Inc., provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, today announced the appointment of Dan Carmichael to its board of directors. Carmichael is the chairman of the board of Platinum Underwriters Holdings and serves on the board of directors for EagleEye Analytics and Dovetail Insurance Corp.  In addition, Carmichael serves as an adviser to FirstMark Capital, an investment company focused on high-growth businesses in key technology markets. 

As our world is consumed by technology, our businesses rely more and more on digital data. But how secure is your confidential appraisal data? Are you doing all you can to protect your customers and clients? Valuation Review took an extensive look at appraisal data security.

Equator, the national leader in default servicing technologies, has updated its Loan Segmentation module to address all of the new rules set forth by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The update ensures that all clients using Equator’s EQ Workstation and the Loan Segmentation module, including four of the nation’s top five servicers, will have built-in compliance tools to streamline the adoption of the CFPB’s new servicing rules announced in January 2013.

The number of California homes purchased with cash reached an all-time high last year, the result of high investor interest, a difficult mortgage environment, and perceived higher returns on investment, a real estate information service reported. A total of 145,797 condos and houses were bought without mortgage financing in 2012, a record. That was up from 125,812 in 2011, the previous high. In 2007, as the housing market deflated, cash sales totaled 39,731.

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers (NAIFA) sent a letter to the Appraisal Subcommittee asking for the opportunity to speak at the subcommittee’s Feb. 13 meeting to urge for a brief delay in the rollout of the appraisal complaint hotline, now scheduled to become operational on March 29. Why would the two associations want to delay the hotline? According to the letter, the associations state that it’s imperative that the stakeholders are allowed to understand, analyze and comment on the key components of the hotline system before it’s put into place.

Clear Capital released its Home Data Index (HDI) Market Report with data through January 2013. “Home price trends in January remained solid overall, considering we are in the middle of the toughest time of year for real estate,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. "We saw quarterly trends continue to soften, while yearly gains strengthened, suggesting the budding recovery is not immune to the slower winter season. What remains to be seen is if home prices will continue to rise or remain stable through the winter. Regardless of what trends play out in the near term, we expect home prices to continue on a positive trajectory long term.

Grant Thornton LLP is expanding its forensic and valuation services (FVS) practice, which offers unique services, including valuation, forensic technology, investigations and disputes and litigation services. Mark Henshaw and Brent Bersin, both based in Houston, will serve as managing directors in the FVS practice. Henshaw will focus on building Grant Thornton’s real estate valuation services offering, while Bersin leads the Houston litigation and disputes practice, concentrating on consulting and expert testimony in disputes and litigation matters.

CoreLogic released its National Foreclosure Report, which provides data on completed U.S. foreclosures and the overall foreclosure inventory. According to CoreLogic, there were 56,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S. in December 2012, down from 71,000 in December 2011, a year-over-year decrease of 21 percent. On a month-over-month basis, completed foreclosures fell from 58,000* in November 2012 to the current 56,000, a decrease of 3 percent.

After Valuation Review’s Q&A with Brian Coester regarding CoesterVMS’s flat appraisal fee system, industry professionals spoke up about appraisal fee structures. One of the most interesting views on the controversial matter came from Erik Richard, chief executive officer of Landmark Network Inc., which implemented its own flat-fee structure last fall, but one that’s set by state. Richard explained that this allowed Landmark to create a structure that properly prepared the client while at the same time made sure appraisers where properly compensated.

While the battle over customary and reasonable fees rages on with no end in sight, there has been a new shot fired by the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board, which created a rule that seems to turn a blind eye to the federal law presumptions, K&L Gates reported. The issue is with the two presumptions put forth by the Dodd-Frank Act.