News By Edition

Valuation Review sat down with Clear Capital Vice President of Product Dan McAlister for his insight as to the company’s Universal Data Collection (UDC) platform.

McAlister goes into detail as to how UDC will support Fannie Mae’s recent announcement pertaining to appraisal modernization.

Read on for more of the conversation.

Accurate Group, a provider of technology-driven real estate appraisal, title data, analytics and e-closing solutions, announced it is one of six service providers approved after extensive review and client testing by Fannie Mae for the new Value Acceptance + Property Data valuation modernization initiative.

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. announced its subsidiary, Flagstar Bank, N.A., donated $1 million to the Appraiser Diversity Initiative, a collaboration between the Appraisal Institute, the National Urban League, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The initiative aims to attract more diverse applicants to the appraisal field.

On March 1, Fannie Mae updated its Selling Guide to include a range of options for property valuations as the government-sponsored enterprise moves away from suggesting that an appraisal is a “default requirement.” Fannie notes that home valuation options include value acceptance, value acceptance plus property data and hybrid appraisals, according to a post on the Appraisal Institute website. 

The Justice Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently announced they filed a statement of interest to explain the application of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to lenders relying on discriminatory home appraisals.

The statement of interest was filed in Connolly, et al. v. Lanham, et al., a lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleging an appraiser and a lender violated FHA and ECOA policies.

Read on to learn more.

Valuation Review caught up with Josh Walitt, veteran appraiser and principal analyst at Walitt Solutions, who discussed non-lending skills.

The development of these skills can lead to appraisers diversifying their practices.

Read on to learn more of what Walitt told us.

The Appraisal Foundation recently shared an update on how it is progressing on a number of recommendations made in the Biden administration’s Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) Task Force’s Action Plan. The Action Plan was released a year ago with the aim of providing a “blueprint for how all Americans can benefit fairly from the equity built through homeownership.”

LodeStar Software Solutions, a national provider of closing fee-related compliance tools for mortgage lenders, is partnering with Nationwide Appraisal Network, a nationwide AMC. The partnership will enable users of LodeStar’s closing fee technology to access appraisal fees for fee estimates across the nation.

Valcre, a provider of valuation software for the commercial real estate industry, announced its continued expansion across North America.

A new enterprise client will equip the technology-driven real estate advisory firm with appraisal software for its valuation and advisory service line.

Read on for more details.

CBRE announced it acquired the L.A. and Orange County affiliates of Integra Realty Resources.

The move allows CBRE to continue its expansion of its right-of-way appraisal business with this acquisition in Southern California.

Read on for more information.

Reggora Appraisal Compliance and Initiatives Director Ken Dicks sat down with Valuation Review to discuss the mortgage lending outlook for this year.

Dicks outlined some specific areas of concern.

Read on for the full conversation.

Redwood Trust, Inc., a specialty finance company focused on access to housing, will integrate LoanLogics’ intelligent data extraction and automation (IDEA) platform to ensure the quality of its mortgage loans.

CoreLogic International recently entered into a binding agreement to acquire boutique Australian proptech firm Plezzel as part of its expansion across real estate technology solutions.

The agreement to acquire Plezzel is subject to a number of conditions, including regulatory approval.

Read on for more details surrounding this acquisition.

According to business finance company Lendio, because a record number of businesses opened in the last two years, there are some desired locations for entrepreneurs.  

The company shared “The Best States for Small Businesses in 2023.”

Read on to find out where businesses should begin.

Cook County (Illinois) reported thousands of homeowners received erroneous tax delinquency notices, according to the Chicago Sun Times. The issue might have arisen because of data errors in a data set provided by CoreLogic, according to a source with knowledge of the discrepancies.

WelcomeHome Software, a customer relationship management system for the senior housing industry, recently announced the release of its first “Year in Review.” With data aggregated from the 1,000-plus communities WelcomeHome serves, the report highlights key trends that shaped 2022 and successful attributes to consider.

S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) recently released the latest results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, the measure of U.S. home prices.

Data released for January shows the trend of declining home price gains continued across the United States.

Read on for more from this analysis.

Black Knight, Inc. is one of six vendors approved by Fannie Mae to support the GSE’s new valuation option: value acceptance plus property data. Fannie Mae announced the new option in lieu of appraisals on March 1 in updates to its Selling Guide.

Single-family production remained at a slow pace in February as builders continue to wrestle with elevated mortgage rates, high construction costs and tightening credit conditions that threaten to be exacerbated by recent turmoil in the banking system, according to an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders.

The median U.S. asking rent rose 1.7 percent year-over-year to $1,937 in February, the smallest increase in nearly two years and the lowest level in a year, according to a new report from Redfin. Rents were up nearly 10 times that much (16.5 percent) a year earlier.

The Appraisal Foundation released the Fifth Exposure Draft of proposed changes to USPAP. The document is now available for review and comment.