News By Edition

At the 2023 National Association of Appraisers/Appraiser’s Conference & Trade Show in Sacramento, Calif., Kevin Hecht, McKissock, LLC/Colibri Group educator, appraisal training/development manager and real estate economist, spelled out the 2023 economy outlook.

Valuation Review caught up with Hecht at the conference afterwards for more real estate economics news.

Read on for Part I of this exclusive on-location conference story.

At the 2023 National Association of Appraisers/Appraiser’s Conference & Trade Show in Sacramento, Calif., Valuation Review sat in on the session titled “Don’t Panic: Adapting to a Changing Appraisal World-Fresh Ideas.”

A veteran panel shared perspectives on valuation challenges from the appraiser, lender and AMC points of view. 

Read on for the full conference story.

Valuing farmland is a subject matter not often highlighted in news publications.

Sydni Nicolici, BBG’s director of agricultural appraisals in the Pacific Northwest, reached out to Valuation Review to share her thoughts in her article, “Valuing A Growing Real Estate Market: U.S. Farmland.”

Read on to learn what Nicolici shared about this aspect of appraising.

Sedgwick, a global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions, announced it has acquired Appraisal Service of Mississippi (ASM), Inc.

ASM is an auto and property appraisal services firm. Through this addition, Sedgwick further expands its premier auto, specialty and property claims solutions and talent network.

Read on to learn more about this acquisition.

Clear Capital recently announced it expanded its relationship with CoreLogic to assist lenders in modern valuation and appraisal readiness. Clear Capital’s recently launched Universal Data Collection product is now available to be ordered and fulfilled through CoreLogic’s suite of valuation workflow solutions.

Restb.ai, a global firm specializing in computer vision and artificial intelligence solutions for the real estate industry, recently announced its new general manager of valuations.

Stewart Information Services Corp. recently announced Stewart Valuation Intelligence, LLC, has been approved to support Fannie Mae’s new Value Acceptance + Property Data through VALIDITY.

Heritage Global Valuations, a division of Heritage Global Inc. specializing in the valuation of commercial and industrial assets, recently appointed a new director. He has over 30 years of experience in appraising industrial machinery and equipment.

Valuation Review shares the legal expertise of attorney Peter Christensen, owner of Christensen Law-Valuation Legal, regarding a 2020 case that has recently settled involving a California certified general appraiser filing a lawsuit against Wells Fargo in state court.

The suit was filed under a special section of the California Labor Code called the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

Read on for Christensen's insight regarding this case.

According to the latest Black Knight Home Price Index, home prices rose in March on both non-adjusted and seasonally adjusted bases.

This is driven by a modest bump in demand and further deterioration in for-sale inventory levels.

Read on for more from this report.

Fannie Mae updated its Equitable Housing Finance Plan (EHFP) for this year. Katrina Jones, vice president of racial equity, strategy, and impact, said the changes would help to reduce or remove barriers to sustainable homeownership for those historically excluded from the housing finance system.

CubiCasa recently announced a collaboration with Bright MLS to offer CubiCasa’s floor plan creation app to Bright subscribers. The collaboration will expand the use of floor plans on listings within the Bright MLS ecosystem.

Valuation Review spoke with REdistribute acting CEO Amy Gorce about the company’s launching of a real estate data base enhancing the MLS process.

MLS photos are vital to the appraisal transaction, and Gorce goes through several steps in the process.

Read on for the full conversation with the company executive.

CubiCasa recently announced the launch of its new nationwide CubiCasa Preferred Photographer Program. This is designed to drive special benefits and business referrals to participating real estate photographers.

The Appraisal Institute Board of Directors voted to adopt one 45-Day Notice item during its May 11-12 meeting in Chicago.

Recently, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a Request for Input (RFI) on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s single-family pricing framework. The RFI solicits public feedback on the goals and policy priorities that FHFA should pursue in its oversight of the pricing framework.

CoreLogic recently released its latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI), which analyzes single-family rent price changes nationally and across major metropolitan areas.

The SFRI showed annual single-family growth winding down to 4.3 percent in March, marking nearly a year of decelerating gains.

Read on for more numbers from this report.

The Appraiser Qualifications Board’s Second Exposure Draft of proposed changes to the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria is available for public comment.

Accurate Group, a provider of technology-driven real estate appraisal, title data, analytics, and e-closing solutions, released its 2023 U.S. Housing Equity Loan Survey, designed to capture homeowner intentions and tolerance for engaging in real estate lending over the next 12 months – with specific attention on how homeowners plan to leverage home equity.

The Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) new policy provides borrowers struggling with housing costs a potential reprieve by allowing modifications to extend mortgage periods up to 40 years (480 months). The increase in the term limit will result in lower monthly payments and give homeowners an affordable solution to housing costs.

On May 10, The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it rescinded the upfront fees based on borrowers’ debt-to-income ratios for loans acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The federal agency said it will also issue Request for Input on the government-sponsored enterprises’ single-family pricing framework.

Clear Capital recently announced an expansion of its partnership with ValueLink, a valuation management platform, to increase support for appraisal modernization policy changes.

ValueLink customers now have access to Clear Capital’s proprietary Universal Data Collection.

Read on for more details regarding this partnership.

A new installment of October Research’s Economic Forecast webinar series welcomes international real estate expert Dr. Ted C. Jones, who delved into numerous topics affecting the title industry, housing and the mortgage market.

Attendees at the 19th annual National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in St. Louis, Mo., June 6-8, will hear important business tips necessary for success from Ed Molitor.

Molitor is the founder and CEO of The Molitor Group, who will appear on center stage as a keynote speaker.

Read on for a preview of his talk, and learn how you can still register to attend NS3.

The housing market has tilted firmly back in favor of sellers, as steady demand met scarce inventory to drive up home values, according to the latest market report from Zillow.

New listings declined in April, leaving buyers with few options.

Read on for the full analysis from this report.

Reggora recently launched its appraisal fulfillment solution, The Appraisal Marketplace. The new solution makes getting an appraisal done as easy as ordering an Uber ride, according to Reggora’s CEO.

CoreLogic recently released its Home Price Index (HPI) and HPI Forecast for March revealing low numbers.

However, CoreLogic forecasts show annual U.S. home price gains moving to 4.6 percent by March 2024.

Read on for all of the numbers.

Effective June 29, Freddie Mac’s Loan Collateral Advisor will include new feedback messages to alert users when certain prohibited, subjective or potentially biased words or phrases are included in appraisal reports submitted through the Uniform Collateral Data Portal. This insight is intended to help users identify potential issues and to assist in compliance with Freddie Mac Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide requirements.

In support of Veros Real Estate Solutions’ goal to strengthen brand awareness and further penetrate the financial services and real estate markets by offering enterprise risk management and property valuation services, the company has announced a key hire.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated $382 million through the nation’s Housing Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF is an affordable housing production program that complements existing federal, state and local efforts to increase and preserve the supply of decent, safe, and sanitary affordable housing for extremely low- and very low-income households, including families experiencing homelessness.