News By Edition

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, the Appraisal Subcommittee, The Appraisal Foundation, and the Appraisal Institute regarding ongoing appraisal bias and discrimination. Waters is urging a federal investigation of appraiser misconduct and potential illegal discrimination.

Valuation Review obtained a response to Waters’ letter from Appraisal Institute President Pledger (Jody) Bishop, as well as a joint statement from several appraisal organizations.

Read on to find out more.

Savvi Analytics Product Developer Santiago Silva spoke with Valuation Review about appraisal regression.

Silva outlined the specifics appraisers must keep in mind when determining how a set of property characteristics truly affects pricing.

Read on for more of our conversation.

Certified Residential Appraiser/Housing Market Analyst Ryan Lundquist shared with Valuation Review his thoughts from his article “Gentrification, Neighborhood Boundaries and Bias.”

Lundquist also answered some of our questions relating to why boundaries matter and how changing neighborhoods matter when it comes to determining value.

Read on to learn more.

For the March installment reflecting appraisal advice from Dustin Harris (“The Appraiser Coach”), the veteran appraiser from Idaho looks at cloning or templates.

Harris also dives into which method is best for the appraiser.

Read on for more appraisal advice.

Voxtur Analytics Corp., a North American technology company, recently applauded the decision by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to permanently allow desktop home appraisals beginning this month.

Valuation Review introduced its readers to the company’s position, and then caught up with CEO Jim Albertelli for more insight on this timely subject matter.

Read on to find out what Albertelli shared with us.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently outlined options to ensure that computer models used to help determine home valuations are accurate and fair. The options will now be reviewed to determine their potential impact on small businesses.

BBG announced it has expanded its litigation support, expert witness testimony and real estate appraisal services with the acquisition of J. Philip Cook & Associates, a Salt Lake City-based commercial real estate services firm.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Read on to find out more.

Freddie Mac recently appointed Heidi Mason as executive vice president and general counsel. Mason brings 25 years of experience in mortgage lending, financial services, consumer protection and securities law to Freddie Mac.

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

Data released for December 2021 show home prices continue to increase across the U.S.

Read on to learn more numbers from this report.

The fourth quarter of 2021 saw home prices continue to increase, although at a slower pace. Fewer markets in the last quarter experienced double-digit price gains, according to the latest quarterly report from the National Association of Realtors.

There was a total of 23,204 properties with foreclosure filings in January, according to ATTOM. That’s up 29 percent from December and 139 percent from a year ago.

Clear Capital recently announced the expansion of its Partner Network platform, which aims to collaborate with innovative companies to help lenders accelerate the adoption of modern appraisals and other technology advancements.

In collaboration with its partners, Clear Capital seeks to reduce friction of transformation and enable the vendor ecosystem with unique technology, data and analytics solutions.

Read on to learn more.

BBG recently acquired Columbus, Ohio-based appraisal firm Crown Appraisal Group.

This is BBG’s second acquisition in 2022 and significantly expands its presence in Ohio and the contiguous states.

Read on for more about this industry acquisition.

AppraisalWorks recently announced its technology will be powering OBL’s (Ohio Bankers League) Valuation Analytics’ expansion into Michigan. As the exclusive appraisal management technology platform to OBL for the past two years, AppraisalWorks has become the platform of choice for Ohio regional and community banks.

Mortgage executives are seeing the signs of a coming downturn and are considering the changes they’ll need to make to remain competitive, according to this month’s Insights Report from mortgage advisory firm STRATMOR Group.

Valuation Review concludes its conversation with Savvi Analytics Product Developer Santiago Silva.

Standard deviation and linear regression are examined with an emphasis on how these variables apply to the market and what the appraiser must apply to the overall determination of value.

Read on for the rest of our interview with Silva.

Freddie Mac has released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. It showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.92 percent.

Connexions, the all-in-one appraisal management software platform providing automation, reporting, data analytics and integration for real estate valuations, has added to its innovative appraisal management suite of tools. Connexions now supports Portfolio Ordering, with streamlined payment and assignment workflows.

Greystone, a national commercial real estate finance company, has provided a $97,160,000 HUD 223(f) loan to refinance a 506-unit multifamily property in Beaverton, Ore. The opportunity was brought to Greystone by Melvin Mark Capital Group after helping Peterkort Residential I, LLC evaluate and consider all the alternatives.

ACI, a provider of workflow solutions for the valuation industry and a member of the First American family of companies, recently introduced SureStep Sketch. This is a data-driven floorplan solution that allows appraisers, inspectors and real estate agents to create accurate floorplans in the field.

A thriving business hasn’t exactly been the easiest of things to obtain during the pandemic conditions forced upon so many individuals the past two years.

But one CEO suggests that the digital world has made starting a business “easier.”

Read on to learn more.