URGENT - Please Sign Petition TODAY

USPAP EXPOSURE DRAFT 2 LETTER

Today is the deadline: MIDNIGHT

If you have responded to the ASB concerning the new USPAP for 2012-2013, I thank you for your proactive involvement in the profession.

If you have not. In as brief a fashion as I can, I'll tell you it is very bad.

It will mean more work for you, incorporates a new way to get comp checks and APOs without calling them reports and without benefit of an engagement letter, and hiding the fact by not calling it a report.

More confusion for the industry.

Has zero concern for public trust.

Will increase your costs to produce an appraisal and your liabilities.

Further convolutes the process and practice of appraising leaving gaping holes that you will be liable for, which probably will impact your E&O insurance.

Please sign the letter we have prepared or send your own letter tonight.

Sign the letter at the below link, or write your own.

http://www.appraisersforindependence.com/index.php?option=com_petitions&view=petition&id=38&Itemid=73

Thank you,

Marion

(Via Michael Imes)

FBI's 2009 Mortgage Fraud Report "Year in Review"

FBI's 2009 Mortgage Fraud Report "Year in Review"

An excerpt regarding HVCC Fraud:

"Lenders are circumventing the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) by using other non-commission employees to order appraisals. The HVCC agreement between the FHFA and the New York Attorney General's Office was intended to govern the way appraisals were ordered for all single-family mortgage loans (excluding government-insured loans such as FHA and VA) sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the fashion of a true arms-length transaction, all appraisals are to be ordered through a third-party appraisal management company to eliminate collusion between the appraiser and those who earn an income from loan closings (e.g., mortgage loan officers, brokers)."

The report is here.

REAC Meeting 8-27-2010

The next Real Estate Appraiser Commission Meeting has been rescheduled to the following:

AUGUST 27, 2010 9:00 AM

Department of Labor and Industries

7273 Linderson Way SE
Room S117
Tumwater, WA 98501

Attendees will receive CE credit for attendance at the Commission meeting. However, you may only use attendance at one meeting for any renewal.

ACOW Summit and REAC Meeting

Well, I have tried as hard as I could this past week to get approval for the REAC meeting to be held once again at the ACOW Summit, but without success (this is now final as far as I am concerned).

So, as I understand it, the REAC meeting is being rescheduled for the following week, in Tumwater, and now we will just have to make other arrangements for Friday morning at the Summit (I am working on options, and anticipate bringing a proposal to the ACOW Board’s attention sometime before this week is over – look for it).

I think it’s too bad that the DOL has taken this position, but that’s the way things have turned out…..

Thx.

Stan Sidor, President
ACOW - Appraiser's Coalition of Washington

HVCC's Sunset and Other Appraisal Reforms on the Horizon

An interesting read from K&L Gates, LLP:

HVCC's Sunset and Other Appraisal Reforms on the Horizon

Congress is poised to eliminate the contentious Home Valuation Code of Conduct, (the “HVCC”), and with the HVCC set to sunset, more expansive (and expensive) appraisal reforms are on the horizon.

Tucked within the massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank Act”) are provisions that will strengthen appraiser independence and enforcement, regulate the use of broker price opinions (“BPOs”), set standards for pricing of appraisals and appraiser valuation model products (“AVMs”), and subject appraisal management companies (“AMCs”) to potential federal and state oversight.

While the HVCC may be fading into the sunset, don’t expect the same fate for AMCs, AVMs, and BPOs.

To view the complete alert online, click here.

We Need Your Help!

We Need Your Help: Urge the Senate to Support the Conference Report on Financial Reform Bill

Dear Seattle Chapter Members:

Please see the note below from the Appraisal Institute’s Washington DC office. New legislation, the Restoring American Financial Security Act of 2010, is now being discussed in Congress and would have a positive effect on many appraisers.

We request that as many Seattle Chapter members as possible take a few minutes to write a short note to our Senator Maria Cantwell encouraging her support on a Conference Report that will be coming in front of the Senate shortly.

You can use the following link to contact Senator Cantwell: http://capwiz.com/appraisal/issues/alert/?alertid=15219341.

Your help is greatly appreciated – thank you!

Jessica Frazier

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Chapter Leaders,

As you know, we’re on the “goal line” as far as financial reform is concerned. The House has voted to enact H.R. 4173, the “Restoring American Financial Security Act of 2010”, and in the next few weeks, the Senate is expected to bring the Conference Report to the Senate floor for a vote. This is where we need your help.

We have been approached by Senate Banking Committee staff to target specific Senators who are undecided on how they will vote. They are from your States. The Senators are:

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA)

Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH)

Sen. Olympia Snow (R-ME)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)- She has recently said she will support the bill, but we should still include her to be sure.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)-Same as above.

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)

The Appraisal Institute’s Washington Office of Government Affairs asks that you send this email to all members in your State, and ask them to use the link below to contact their targeted Senator(s).

http://capwiz.com/appraisal/issues/alert/?alertid=15219341

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks,

Brian A. Rodgers
Manager of Federal Affairs
Appraisal Institute

30 Year Fixed Rates - Chart

From the Calculated Risk blog, a chart showing the FreddieMac mortgage interest rates over time:


This graph shows the 30 year fixed rate mortgage interest rate from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®.

The red line is a quarterly estimate from the BEA of the effective rate of interest on all outstanding mortgages (Owner- and Tenant-occupied residential housing).

The effective rate on outstanding mortgages is at a series low of just under 6%, but the rate is moving down slowly since so many borrowers can't refinance because they do not qualify (either because the property value is too low or their incomes are insufficient).

(Again, the source is here.)

The graph is here as a larger jpeg.