News By Edition

At the 2021 Appraisal Summit in Las Vegas, Valuation Review spoke with CoreLogic Valuation Production Leader Kevin Hecht who addressed some of the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Hecht gave an in-depth analysis of market trends, and how those affect appraisers moving forward.

Read on for more economic information and predictions.

Valuation Review recently spoke with Valcre co-founder/Vice President of Client Experience Grant Norling. 

Valcre, a commercial real estate (CRE) solutions company, discussed why CRE appraisal demand will be at an all-time high.

Read on for more insights from Norling.

Valuation Review caught up with Clear Capital’s Chief Appraiser John Brenan to discuss the topic of Reconsideration of Value (ROV).

Brenan detailed the common reasons ROVs get requested and what appraisers need to know and can expect during this process.

Read on for more of our conversation.

Fannie Mae, as part of its ongoing commitment to helping all homeowners receive a fair and impartial appraisal, recently published a research report looking at appraisal values of homes owned by Black and white borrowers in refinance transactions titled “Appraising the Appraisal.”

Appraisal Institute President Pledger (Jody) Bishop reached out to Valuation Review for his comments on this report.

Read on to learn more.

JLL recently announced it promoted Managing Directors Aimee Morgan and Kai Pan to co-lead JLL’s national valuation advisory multi-housing practice.

They plan on streamlining operations, growing the business and internal and external brand development.

Read on to learn more.

Aloft, a Seattle-based company, recently announced a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Fifth Wall, a capital firm focused on technologies for the global real estate industry. This includes additional investment from Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley that led Aloft's seed round.

On Dec. 17, 2021, the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, Real Estate Appraisal Division opened a rulemaking docket and published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Arizona Administrative Register (27 A.A.R. 2923; 27 A.A.R. 2891). This proposed rulemaking amends the appraisal rules found in A.A.C. R4-46-101 through R4-46-601.

Automated tools to assess home values are becoming more common. Still, federally regulated banks and credit unions obtain appraisals from state-credentialed appraisers for most home loans to protect themselves and borrowers, according to the Government Accountability Office.

StoicLane, a long-term growth platform, recently announced it completed the acquisition of Brentwood Property Appraisal.

Brentwood is an AMC focused on the high-end residential market in California, New York, New Jersey, D.C., and Florida.

Read on for more details of this transaction.

The U.S. Supreme Court remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit the class action lawsuit decided in favor of borrowers alleging tainted appraisals.

The lawsuit, filed in 2011 in the Circuit Court of Ohio County, West Virginia, involves a potential payment of $9.7 million stemming from allegedly tainted appraisals for 2,769 mortgage loans Quicken Loans, now Rocket Mortgage, originated from 2004 to 2009.

Read on for more details about this court decision.

At the 2021 Appraisal Summit in Las Vegas, Valuation Review attended the session “Creating an Agile Appraisal Workflow” featuring panelists from Clear Capital.

Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy Kenon Chen and Chief Appraiser John Brenan outlined technology that can advance the appraiser’s workload.

Read on for more from this session.

Veros Real Estate Solutions released its Q4 2021 VeroFORECASTSM data that anticipates home prices will appreciate on average 6.8 percent for the next 12 months.

This is a slightly less anticipated growth compared to its Q3 2021 predicted national average appreciation of 7 percent. 

Read on for more numbers from this report.

BBG has appointed an industry leader as senior managing director.

The executive will be responsible for drive the firm’s expansion in Boston and elsewhere throughout New England.

Read on to learn more.

Bradford Technologies now includes appraisal form-filling software for trainees at no additional cost with their ClickFORMS membership packages. Building an efficient and profitable appraisal business means leveraging the increased productivity of a team, the company said.

Freddie Mac has expanded its single-family green bond framework under its single-family green bond program. The program supports Freddie Mac’s commitment to promote environmentally sustainable single-family housing, help reduce climate-related risks, and increase affordability.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has released a new report highlighting the association’s top sustainability accomplishments in 2021 within four categories: environment, social, governance and resilience. In the coming years, the annual report will offer a snapshot of NAR’s current state of sustainability activity, existing programs, resources and services.

CoreLogic recently announced that Pat Dodd has been appointed interim president and chief executive officer replacing Frank Martell.

The company’s former CEO will assume the position of non-executive chairman of its board.

Read on for more from this announcement.

CBRE Group has acquired Buildingi, a provider of occupancy planning and technology services, to meet growing occupier demand for holistic occupancy management services.

Buildingi will fully integrate with CBRE’s Occupancy Management team and transition to “Buildingi from CBRE.”

Read on for more of the acquisition details.

With about 11 percent of Americans having moved during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report “2022’s Best & Worst States to Raise a Family.” WalletHub compared the 50 states across 51 key indicators of family-friendliness.

LoanLogics has hired Lauren Pilon as chief of staff. Pilon will oversee human resources and legal functions and take part in several strategic programs in collaboration with LoanLogics’ executive leadership team and its parent company, Sun Capital Partners.

Median-priced single-family homes were less affordable in the fourth quarter compared with historical averages in 77 percent of counties across the nation analyzed by ATTOM for its fourth-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Affordability Report. That’s way up from 39 percent of counties in the fourth quarter of 2020, to the highest point in 13 years, as home prices continue rising faster than wages throughout much of the country.

Valuation Review concludes its conversation with CoreLogic Valuation Production Leader Kevin Hecht from the 2021 Appraisal Summit in Las Vegas.

Hecht continues to show the numbers surrounding the laws of demand pertaining to what first-time homebuyers must deal with, and other marketing trends to keep an eye on in 2022.

Read on for the conclusion of this story.

The CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights (LPI) report through October 2021 has been released.

The LPI analysis showed 3.8 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days including those in foreclosure.

Read on to learn more.

Embrace Home Loans recently named Meredith Spence branch manager of its new Boston/Seaport District office. Spence will be responsible for staffing the new office and expanding Embrace Home Loans’ business in the Greater Boston area while continuing to write loans. 

The seasonally adjusted number of homes for sale fell 18 percent year-over-year in November to an all-time low, according to a Redfin report. That sent the median home sale price up 15 percent, to $383,100.

Valuation Review concludes its conversation with Valcre co-founder/Vice President of Client Experience Grant Norling.

More technology is in store for the appraiser in 2022, and the commercial evaluator will have plenty of opportunities to explore these resources.

Read on to learn more from the commercial company executive.

Appraisal Logistics recently announced its president, Frank Danna, will serve as president of the Maryland Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association for 2022.

Danna is a long-time member of the organization and has served in various capacities through the years, but this is first time serving as president.

Read on to learn more.

CBC Mortgage Agency, a nationally chartered housing finance agency, announced a prestigious honor for one of its executives. Tai Christensen, the company’s director of government affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion officer, has been recognized as one the foremost women leaders in the mortgage industry.  

Valuation Review has addressed in detail the supply chain shortage in real estate and valuation.

Recently, Metro-West Appraisal, LLC produced a webinar on the topic with industry veterans providing important updates regarding the scarcity of supplies impacting homeowners everywhere.

Read on to find out what the panel of experts had to say.

Clear Capital recently announced ClearPhoto, a set of AI-driven rules built into ClearCollateral Review, automating the review of property photos and ensuring they are aligned with the appraisal data and sketch. The technology was developed by Clear Capital’s data science team to further streamline the appraisal process and equip lenders with technology that powers low-risk, high-quality decisions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently released its annual report on single-family guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises). The report compares 2020 statistics with 2019.