News By Edition

While the statistics show the number of male appraisers is significantly higher than females in the profession, women are certainly making their presences felt in the industry demonstrating hard work, ethics and commitment.

Valuation Review caught up with Debby Watson Lawson, a Certified Residential appraiser from Merit Appraisals of Texas, who shared her journey into the world of appraising including conversations related to AMCs, hybrid appraisals and the overall climate of the profession.

Read on for more information from Watson Lawson.

Valuation Review went down a little different road for a special feature.

We spoke with appraiser trainee Damon Hall from Aloft Appraisal, who outlined his path into the profession, in addition to getting comments from the company’s chief appraiser and two executives.

Read on for our conversation with this trainee.

Valuation Review recently spoke with Bradford Britton, owner of Britton Appraisal. Britton discussed risk analysis for over or under valuation, while also noting that many appraisers are “weak” in market adjusting.

As the appraisal profession continues to navigate through 2022, there are a few areas appraisers are, or should be, taking notice of.

Read on for more insight from Britton.

As hard as it is to believe, 2022 will soon be coming to a close.

Valuation Review is assessing specific concerns of appraisers across the country, and Patrick Callison, a real estate appraiser from Alabama, shared his thoughts.

Read on for more of the conversation.

Valuation Review recently caught up with Clear Capital Chief Appraiser John Brenan for some general insight on a variety of appraisal topics.

In particular, Brenan discusses specific changes throughout the industry since 2020, as well as the road technology has paved for appraisers.

Read on for more of this conversation.

Valuation Review spoke with Walitt Solutions Principal Consultant Josh Walitt about his company’s training sessions to educate data collectors on the property data collection process surrounding Freddie Mac’s ACE+ PDR (automated collateral evaluation plus property data report) requirements.

Walitt outlined the specifics of the knowledge data collectors need when identifying property features.

Read on for more information about this training course.

The Appraisal Institute (AI) is seeking new faces and encourages recent graduates and aspiring appraisers to consider a career in the valuation profession. AI has several existing programs concentrating on attracting new entrants to the profession.

Each month, Valuation Review brings to its audience the insight and expertise of appraiser Dustin Harris, also known in the valuation profession as “The Appraiser Coach.”

For this month’s installment, Harris addresses what affect an aroma can actually have on a home’s value.

Read on to learn more.

Earlier, Valuation Review reported on a lawsuit filed by a California (Marin City) couple claiming their home was appraised at a low price because of their race.

Recently, a federal judge dismissed the claim of negligent misrepresentation. We spoke with Franklin, Greenswag, Channon & Capilla, LLC attorney Craig Capilla for more insight on this case that has brought much national attention.

Read on for more details surrounding this case.

Openn North America, a new offer and acceptance ‘proptech’ solution, recently announced its Australian parent company, Openn Negotiation Limited, received firm commitments from professional investors to raise $3 million with remaining funding to be earned through the issue of fully paid ordinary shares at $0.15.

Valuation Review reached out to Openn Director of Operations North America Eric “Coach” Bryant for additional thoughts on this very important and ground-breaking news.

Read on for more of our conversation.

Single-family housing starts declined further in September as high mortgage rates, ongoing building material production disruptions and flagging demand stemming from rising affordability challenges continue to put a damper on new home production.

This is according to the National Association of Home Builders.

Read on to learn more.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced the publication of a proposed rule in the Federal Register to increase and index the loan limits for its Title I Manufactured Home Loan Program, which insures loans used to finance manufactured homes titled as personal property. The rule seeks public comment on FHA’s proposed data-driven methodology to calculate loan limits for the program on an annual basis.

Vesta, a loan origination system and software-as-a-service company, recently announced its integration with the CoreLogic suite of property information, analytics, and hazard risk solutions products. This move offers lenders an integrated solution to accelerate and automate mortgage workflows.

Sales of luxury homes fell 28.1 percent year-over-year during the three months ending Aug. 31, according to Redfin. That’s the biggest decline since at least 2012, eclipsing the 23.2 percent plunge that occurred at the onset of the pandemic.

BBG Zoning Services Managing Director Rosetta Taylor reached out to Valuation Review to share thoughts from her article “Why Zoning Due Diligence is the Beginning and End of Real Estate Transactions.”

Taylor outlines the constant evolvement of zones in order to keep up with real estate trends.

Read on to find out more.

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

Data released for August 2022 show that home price gains decelerated across the United States.

Read on to learn more from the report.

Jon Wierks, data & analytics vice president for First American Data & Analytics, reached out to Valuation Review to share his thoughts on AVM technology from his article titled “How First American’s leadership in data and analytics is accelerating AVM technologies.”

Wierks also talked about his company’s latest AVM suite.

Read on to learn more.

Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of U.S. residents who plan to buy or sell a home in the next year are hesitant to move to an area at risk of natural disasters, extreme temperatures and/or rising sea levels, according to a Redfin report.

The share is even higher among younger generations, high-earners, Democrats and people living in the Northeast.

Read on for more information from this report.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency appointed two individuals to new positions. One will serve as the chief of staff and the other as the agency’s executive secretary.

With the U.S. experiencing over 500 mass shootings this year and the COVID-19 pandemic persisting, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on “2022's Safest Cities in America.” WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 42 key metrics.

In a Dustin Harris (“The Appraiser Coach”) blog titled “Spotlighting Moonlighting,” the veteran appraiser suggests a side hustle might be a good idea for appraisers to consider, especially when the appraisal side of things is going well.

But does there have to be a connection to the two?

Read on for Harris' answer.

Joseph J. Blake and Associates Inc.’s Director L. Stacy Letton and Valcre co-founder and Vice President of Client Experience Grant Norling recently discussed key points on the webinar “Appraising Office Space Today,” hosted by Valuation Review.

Hear what our panel of experts had to say.

Be sure to order your copy of the 60-minute program.

Valbridge Property Advisors, an independent commercial property valuation and advisory service firm, recently expanded to New Mexico following the acquisition of Commercial Appraisal, Inc., and Brooks Persall Zantow LLC.

The two firms are well-established commercial appraisal firms.

Read on for more about these acquisitions.

Accurate appraisals are essential to the integrity of mortgage lending, according to a blog from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Overvaluation can decrease affordability, make it harder to sell a home or refinance and increase the risk of foreclosure. 

Freddie Mac will increase homeownership opportunities by including a review of a borrower’s bank account data to identify a history of positive monthly cash flow as part of its technology loan purchase eligibility assessments, the organization recently announced. This industry-first innovation will be available to mortgage lenders beginning Nov. 6. through Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting system, Loan Product Advisor.

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy released a blueprint for an Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights, a set of five principles and associated practices. This is to help guide the design, use and deployment of automated system.

Valuation Review reveals the 2022 publication subscription winners from this year’s Voice of the Appraiser special report. Thank you to all the professionals who participated in this year’s survey.

Veros Real Estate Solutions recently released its 2022 Q3 VeroFORECASTSM that anticipates home prices will appreciate on average just 1.5 percent during the next twelve months.

This is a significant drop from the 4.5 percent annual appreciation forecast just one quarter ago.

Read on for more from this report.

CLARIFIRE, the mortgage servicing industry’s workflow automation solution, has partnered with IndiSoft’s National Housing Advocacy Platform to seamlessly integrate HUD-approved housing counselors who provide foreclosure alternative counseling and loss mitigation assistance to homeowners into servicing workflows. A game-changing innovation for all parties, the integration expands the borrower assistance digital ecosystem and alleviates servicer-borrower interactions.

Pending home sales in August decreased for the third straight month, including in three out of four major regions, according to the National Association of Realtors.  While the West saw a small, month-over-month gain in pending home sales in August, all four regions had double-digit declines in transactions year-over-year in August.

Fannie Mae recently appointed Priscilla Almodovar as CEO and member of its board of directors, effective Dec. 5.  Almodovar will succeed David Benson, who has served as interim CEO and a member of the board of directors since May 2022.

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

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Read on for more information about this acquisition.

CoreLogic’s monthly Loan Performance Insights (LPI) Report for July showed 3 percent of mortgages were delinquent by at least 30 days or more including those in foreclosure.

This represents a 1.2 percentage point decrease in the overall delinquency rate compared with July 2021.

Read on to learn more.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced that the 2023 threshold for exempting loans from special appraisal requirements for higher-priced mortgage loans will increase from $28,500 to $31,000. The new threshold amount will be effective Jan.1, 2023, according to a release from the CFPB.

Starrex International, Ltd has entered into a definitive agreement with affiliates of StoicLane, who agreed to acquire Starrex's real estate appraisal management business conducted by Property Interlink, LLC. The cash purchase price was $9.8 million on a cash free, debt free basis.

With nearly half of the population saying that they’d prefer to live in a suburban area, the personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on “2022’s Best Small Cities in America.” To help Americans put down roots in places offering good quality of life and affordability, WalletHub compared more than 1,300 U.S. cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 across 43 key indicators of livability.

Valuation Review went down a little different road for a special feature.

We spoke with appraiser trainee Damon Hall from Aloft Appraisal, who outlined his path into the profession, in addition to getting comments from the company’s chief appraiser and two executives.

Read on for our conversation with this trainee.

A recession will have a negative impact on seniors, according to executives at PolicyAppraisal.com, a consulting firm that appraises life insurance policies for the financial advisors of senior clients who are considering sale into the secondary market. The company recently reviewed the historical impact of the last recession in 2007 on seniors.

According to ATTOM’s 2022 U.S. Home Flipping Report, 115,198 single-family houses and condos were flipped in the second quarter. That represented 8.2 percent of all home sales in the quarter, down from 9.7 percent in the first quarter but still up from 5.3 percent a year ago.

Existing-home sales dropped slightly in August, marking the seventh consecutive month of declines, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR reported month-over-month sales varied across the four major U.S. regions as two regions recorded increases, one was unchanged and the other posted a drop.