Feature Stories

Last month, ValuTrac Software, a software solutions provider to the appraisal management and mortgage lending industry, and Platinum Data Solutions, provider of collateral valuation and risk assessment technologies, entered into a partnership that would result in integrating ValuTrac’s ValuTrac Pro, a customizable appraisal management system, with Platinum’s RealView, a configurable appraisal data quality verification technology. To find out more about this partnership, Valuation Review sat down with Platinum Data Solutions Chief Executive Officer Phil Huff.

Feature Stories

I understand that a lot of appraisers are upset by the changes in the industry. Whether the new ways of doing business are right or wrong, they are here. The reality is that appraisal management companies (AMCs) are not going away. The current legislative and lending environment is only going to get stricter over the next several years, particularly as we go into the year of "implementation,” where all of the changes we’ve talked about are all going to be put into action. It’s going to shake up the mortgage lending and appraisal industries even more then they have previously.

Feature Stories

The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) and 11 of its sponsoring organizations have formed a national education partnership, the Alliance for Valuation Education (AVE), an organization dedicated to providing greater availability of consistent, quality valuation education. Valuation Review sat down with David Bunton, President at TAF, for an exclusive interview to find out more about the collaboration and the group’s education vision for the appraisal profession.

Feature Stories

Appraisers have a lot to keep up with. The valuation industry is an evolving landscape of rules, regulations, new technology and changing business models. And then there are the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who have their own rules, regulations and technology. The government-sponsored enterprises’ (GSE) mortgage putback rules are complicated and consequential. Many might think repurchase requests based on the appraisal are due to under or overvaluation, when in reality they are primarily due to the comps selected. Valuation Review reached out to Jacquie Doty, vice president of Collateral Solutions for CoreLogic, on the impact of the GSE mortgage put-back rules to find out how increased appraisal transparency might help the issue.

Feature Stories

Quality control appraisal reviews are often a tension point in the appraisal relationship. It’s a topic that is often heated. To bring some clarity to the process, Valuation Review talked to valuation professionals from all walks of the appraisal industry. From an appraisal firm’s point of view of appraisal review to tips from the top appraisal minds, no quality control topic was left unchecked. 

Feature Stories

With the growing cost of appraisal management company (AMC) registration state laws, many AMCs are hanging it up, unable to front the money to stay in business. While appraisers rejoice, the consolidation of AMCs put lenders in a tough spot. To get the lender view of the appraisal industry, Valuation Review talked to Christopher Cash, senior operations manager at Envoy Mortgage, a mortgage bank based in Texas that has branches across the country.