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Got a subpoena? What to do.
Excerpt:
However, when you are not the plaintiff or defendant, complying blindly with a subpoena without asking any questions may not be in your best interest. As a non-party, a subpoena may be issued to you for two basic (*), but very different, purposes. In the first instance, you may be called as a fact witness and asked to testify to what you saw or did not see. In the second instance, you may be called and asked to render an opinion, also based on what you saw or didn't see. The main difference is that giving an opinion based on your professional experience is the same as being called to testify as an expert witness and offering an expert opinion may open the door to a future claim against or, in some rare cases, result in you being added to the lawsuit as a new party.
My comment: Worth reading, as some appraisers do get subpoenas regarding their appraisals. There are regular online discussions on this topic.I have never received one... yet.. But if I did, and could not get the attorney to hire me as an expert witness.... I would not be able to remember anything about the appraisal or the property... Which often happens anyway, about an hour after I finish writing it up ;>
http://www.frea.com/blog/help-%E2%80%93-i-got-subpoena-%E2%80%93-what-do-i-do?
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21 Reasons Why Corner Lots Are For Suckers
Excerpt:
1. Noise, noise, noise. Double street and sidewalk frontage means double the noise from pedestrian and car traffic. Pull up a chair and crack open a cold one; I'm just gettin' started.
2. Unconventional configurations. For example, the front yard of a home on a corner lot is usually bigger than the back, and the garage may be located around the corner.
My comment: I have always wondered why there was a checkbox on the 1004 for corner lot... a mystery to me;> Maybe it was a factor in the 1960s/1970s, when the first forms were developed and used. Maybe it has been taken off some of the forms...
Click here to see the other 19 reasons!!
http://time.com/money/3980951/corner-lots-are-for-suckers
WHAT DO YOU THINK? POST YOUR COMMENTS AT www.appraisaltodayblog.com !!
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Behind the scenes of how appraisals are ordered
Another good one from Ryan Lundquist!! He writes blog posts for homeowners and real estate agents.
Excerpt:
Remembering the Past: I remember working in an appraisal office in 2002 and at the peak of the busy season we had a 4-week turn-time, and we would do 2 or 3-week "rushes". The turn-time was simply longer because that was the market at the time. It seems right now we are locked into a much faster turn, which is nice, but when the market gets hot, that may need to change.
Picky Appraisers: When appraisers are overloaded with work, many appraisers might say NO to appraising a complex property. This means an AMC might have to reach out to many appraisers before finding someone willing to take on the assignment (hint: pay the appraiser for the additional complexity as money tends to talk). For instance, a 7-day turn time in the beginning of the year was actually not enough time for many appraisers because they were backed-up with so many other appraisals. Thus when both an easy order and a very challenging order would come into the appraiser's pipeline, the obvious choice was to take the easier route because the hourly rate would be far better than how much more time it would take to complete the complex appraisal (that makes sense, right?).
My comment: I am backed up for over a month and turning down all new work unless they can wait at least 6 weeks for me to start on an appraisal. I only take work from regular clients now. No more stress due to overbooking!! It's great being popular!! I hope they remember my name when biz slows down ;>
http://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2015/07/27/behind-the-scenes-of-how-appraisals-are-ordered
What do you think? Post your own comments and read other appraisers' comments at the link above!!
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Commercial/multifamily second quarter originations up 29% over Quarter 2 2014 and up 16% over Quarter 1 2015
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 4, 2015) - According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations, second quarter 2015 commercial/multifamily mortgage loan originations were 29 percent higher than during the same period last year and 16 percent higher than the first quarter of 2015.
"Driven by increasing property values, improving property fundamentals and still low interest rates, commercial and multifamily lending and borrowing continued its strong pace in the second quarter," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. "The rate of year-over-year growth slowed from the first quarter, but year-to-date lending is up for every major lender group. Mortgage bankers' originations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are near record quarterly levels."
Check out the full stats at:
https://www.mba.org/2015-press-releases/commercial/multifamily-mortgage-originations-continue-strong-pace-in-second-quarter
My comment: Yay! Time to finally raise my fees!!! My residential fees have been going up for awhile.
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HOW TO USE THE NUMBERS BELOW. Appraisals are ordered after the loan application. These numbers tell you the future for the next few weeks. For more information on how they are compiled, go
Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my printed newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample issue go to http://www.appraisaltoday.com/products.htm or send an email to info@appraisaltoday.com . Or call 800-839-0227, MTW 8AM to noon, Pacific time.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 5, 2015) - Mortgage applications increased 4.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 31, 2015.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 4.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 6 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 23 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
"Despite recent concerns about the economy, both purchase and refinance applications increased strongly in response to lower interest rates last week," said Lynn Fisher, MBA's Vice President of Research and Economics. "Refinance activity was the highest since May when rates were last at this level. The increase in purchase activity was also notable for this time of year, up 23 percent relative to a year ago."
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 51.3 percent of total applications from 50.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.8 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications increased to 13.8 percent from 13.7 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 10.5 percent from 10.9 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications decreased to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent the week prior. My comment: Lots of appraisers do FHA but few do VA, which does not use AMCs, pressure for value, pays c/r fees, etc. Getting on the VA panel is tricky, but I have lots of tips in an article I recently wrote for the paid Appraisal Today newsletter!!
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) decreased to 4.13 percent, its lowest level since May 2015, from 4.17 percent, with points decreasing to 0.34 from 0.36 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) decreased to 4.08 percent, its lowest level since May 2015, from 4.12 percent, with points decreasing to 0.27 from 0.35 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 3.96 percent from 3.98 percent, with points decreasing to 0.22 from 0.26 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.36 percent, its lowest level since May 2015, from 3.39 percent, with points decreasing to 0.37 from 0.38 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.02 percent, its lowest level since May 2015, from 3.04 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate was unchanged from last week.
The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
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