News By Edition

Valuation Review caught up with Realtor, appraiser Frank Gregoire (Gregoire & Gregoire, Inc.) who addressed a wide range of appraisal topics on the minds of professionals within the industry.

From bias, ANSI standards and modernization to hybrid appraisals and workfiles, Gregoire had a lot to say.

Read on for more of our conversation with the Florida appraiser.

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) welcomed Richard Berkemeier, senior appraiser at Pegasus Aircraft Appraisal Group, as its international president.

Berkemeier began his one-year term on July 1.

Read on for more details.

Alacrity Solutions Group, LLC, an insurance claims management services company, recently announced the acquisition of Property Damage Appraisers.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Read on for more details about this acquisition.

The Seismic Services Group at BBG shared with Valuation Review insight concerning risks involved regarding one particular act of Mother Nature.

Joshua Morrow, managing director of this group, outlined the aftermath of a disaster in his article “Reducing Risk of Earthquake-Related Property Damage.”

Read on to learn more.

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) recently announced a new virtual Fundamentals of Jewelry Appraisal course. The ASA said it is designed to protect jewelry and allied professionals against fraud.

Accurate Group, a provider of technology-driven real estate appraisal, title data, analytics and eClosing solutions, announced it has integrated with PropMix’s Profet.ai platform. Accurate Group’s ValueNet desktop appraisal technology suite now incorporates valuation insights from Profet.ai.

Medina County Auditor Mike Kovack has been notified by the Ohio Department of Taxation that real estate values for tax purposes will increase 27 percent next year, based on housing sales in the county over the past three years. Medina County is undergoing the state-mandated triennial reappraisal process this year.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, sent a letter to the Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) Task Force asking for quick movement to implement its planned administrative actions. Waters would like the committee to be provided with a clear timeline for implementation of each action surrounding PAVE.

The CoreLogic S&P Case-Shiller Index showed home prices rose 20.4 percent nationally in April compared with the same month a year ago. In March, home prices grew 20.6 percent.  

The last price deceleration was in November of last year.

Read on to find out more numbers from the report.

A statement-making front door can boost a home’s curb appeal and its value.

Research from Zillow finds homes with slate blue or black front doors appeal to more recent and prospective buyers and could sell for a higher price.

Read on for more from this report.

On June 24, The Washington County (Texas) Appraisal District mailed 1,316 commercial property value notices. 

The district acknowledges that values reflected in this year’s notices may come as an unwelcome surprise to many owners of commercial property.

Read on to learn more.

Freddie Mac recently announced it will increase homeownership opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

This will be done by considering on-time rent payments as part of the company’s loan purchase decisions.

 Read on to learn more.

Aureus Finance Group, a private lender focused on customized products for residential real estate investors, has named Todd William Harris as executive vice president of business development.  

Avetta, a provider of supply chain risk management software, has partnered with QuadReal Property Group to enhance the company’s Code of Conduct & Ethics data collection through the Avetta One platform. The companies said the partnership offers QuadReal a new tool for relationship building and greater visibility into its supply chain operations.

Realogy Holdings Corp. will rebrand as Anywhere Real Estate Inc. The change signals its commitment to reimagine the consumer experience at any point in the real estate transaction journey, according to the company.

Clear Capital recently announced the launch of two application programming interfaces (APIs), Property Valuation API and Risk Assessment API. Each API connects directly into existing systems through a single integration for lenders, investors and system providers, making it easier to adopt and deploy modern property valuation solutions.

When the appraisal profession looks to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for guidance and procedures to enhance the overall operations of the industry, it will once again be addressing matters of interest and focus to a new leader.

How will this change affect the appraisal profession moving forward?

Read on for a brief synopsis, and learn how you can access the full story.

According to the National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, pending homes sales increased month-over-month in May in both the Northeast and the South. They decreased in the Midwest and the West.

Utah-based virtual reality company Future House Studios minted its office deed as an NFT (non-fungible token), marking the first time an office building has been put on blockchain. Future House Studios used a new legal model through TruMint that allows real property to remain and transact indefinitely on blockchains with reduced transaction costs.

Earlier, Valuation Review introduced its audience to the Equity Valuation Partners (EVP) technology tool Inhabet, which provides low-risk or renewal valuations in homes.

We caught up with EVP Chief Executive Officer and founder Drew Watson, and Chief Operations Officer/President Todd Rasmussen for more details on this device, and how it assists appraisers.

Read on for the full conversation with the EVP executives.

Veros Real Estate Solutions recently released its Q2 2022 VeroFORECASTSM that anticipates home prices will appreciate on average 4.5 percent during the next twelve months.

This is a drop by almost half from the 7.1 percent appreciation forecast one quarter ago. 

Read on to learn more.

Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS). The PMMS showed the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.70 percent.

A report showed that around 27 percent of American households having difficulty meeting their energy needs. The personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on “2022’s Most & Least Energy-Expensive States.”

HonestDoor, an online source for property valuations, recently announced the nationwide expansion of its free digital appraisal service for residential properties. The company’s automated valuation model is now available at no cost to consumers in every Canadian province and territory, for almost every property including those not listed for sale.

Valuation Review concludes its conversation with Florida Realtor and appraiser Frank Gregoire.

The industry veteran speaks to more topics including the value of data and photographs within the appraiser’s workfile.

Read on for the rest of the story.

Real estate technology platform HomeLight entered an agreement to acquire Denver-based fintech lender Accept.inc, which offers homebuyers a way to submit all-cash offers on a home, upon qualifying for a mortgage, in an all-stock transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.