LenderVend Requirement For Appraisers to Upload Copies of Appraisal Workfiles

By Peter Christensen, Liability Insurance Administrators,www.liability.com

Excerpt:

Many residential appraisers we insure and several appraiser organizations have contacted us in the last few days about an appraisal management company's new requirement that their panel appraisers upload a PDF copy of their appraisal workfile for each assignment they perform. The AMC is LenderVend, LLC and, according to its website, it is affiliated with mortgage lender Provident Funding.

We understand that LenderVend's requirement imposes an additional burden on appraisers. We've also heard firsthand from appraisers about the anxiety the policy is creating because of the unknown uses to which the workfile may be put by the AMC. As is the case with any peculiar requirements imposed by particular AMCs or lenders, we think that appraisers should weigh these issues in deciding whether they want to perform services for the AMC or lender and/or in deciding how much to charge for their services because of the extra work entailed entailed.

In general, there is no legal requirement for an appraiser to provide a workfile to a client or to the AMC of a client - unless the appraiser has agreed in a service agreement or as part of an assignment engagement that such materials will be provided. Many appraisal service agreements with AMCs and lenders do contain a requirement that appraisers must supply workfiles upon request and/or state that workfiles become the property of the AMC or lender.

My comment:
Many thanks to Peter Christensen of LIA for his very quick response to appraisers' concerns. The notice sent from Lendervend is dated Tuesday, April 28, 2015. There immediately was a lot of discussion online. There were many differing opinions, of course, as we are appraisers and opinionated ;> Remember what it was like back in the Stone Age, before the Internet. Appraisers didn't find out about any Fannie, FHA, etc. changes or any other news for months. Now, it just takes a few minutes. Of course, sometimes ignorance is bliss ;>

Be sure to read the full article below.

http://www.appraiserlawblog.com/2015/04/lendervend-requirement-for-appraisers.html

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Living Small In The City: With More Singles, Micro-Housing Gets Big

Excerpt:
Back in 2012, something unusual got started in an alleyway in an already tightly developed part of northeast Washington, D.C.

On an 11th-of-an-acre lot next to a cemetery, behind a block of row houses, tiny houses started to go up. And not just one little house in backyard, like you might see in many places. The builders billed this as an urban tiny house community.

While the average size of new houses gets bigger every year in the U.S., some people are trying to do more with less. A lot less. Tiny houses and micro apartments are now a niche trend in the housing market. Smaller spaces are touted as more environmentally friendly, more affordable and perhaps even more communal. The idea is you might be more likely to get out and be social if you live in a smaller space.

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/26/389263274/

My comment: I live 10 miles from San Francisco. Lots of micro apartments being built in downtown San Francisco for Silicon Valley young techie commuters. Don't need parking for cars.