Appraisal Today 
NEWZ://Very funny appraiser commercial/7.5 million borrowers upside down/Llano and appraiser with cancer
, November 5, 2015

changing appraisal
 

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Thanks to our sponsor!! 
Very funny appraiser commercial on podcast!!
 
The podcast, The Wits End Broadcast, is very "off the wall", including "fake" commercials. I suggested including an appraiser commercial. It is hilarious!!
 
Episode 4, the most recent, has the appraiser commercial - appraiser Candy Cotton, short - only 7 minutes long for the entire episode. Hits a lot of appraiser "hot buttons" ;>
 
You gotta listen to it!! Plus, check out her other 3 posted podcasts. Please post a comment on iTunes or Stitcher.
 
Stitcher:
http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/75222/details Can link to social media, post a comment, get an app to subscribe on your iphone or android phone, etc.
 
iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wits-end-broadcast/id1048415737?mt=2 The best if you use iTunes. iTunes has labeled the podcasts as "explicit". Sorry, not much in them except for a brief very humorous reference to group sex in an early episode ;>  My iphone has Gigabytes of podcast from subscriptions, including this one. I gotta take off a week to listen to them!!
 
Libsyn
http://thewitsendbroadcast.libsyn.com/ - very easy to use but not many features such as comments, social media links and subscriptions.
 
About the podcast author: The podcast author and speaker is Lucinda Ryan, who edited my paid Appraisal Today newsletter for a few years when I first started it in 1992, and knows about appraisal issues. She is a former newspaper reporter and editor. Lucinda loves comedy writing and always wanted to do more, including writing for a few Famous Comedians and making lots of money ;> Maybe her podcasts will take off and I can say that I knew her "back in the old days".
 
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For Some Americans, the Housing Crisis Isn't Over
 
Excerpts:
About 7.5 million people still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. And in some counties, numbers are climbing.
 
The percentage of underwater homeowners is currently at 15 percent. That's about half of what it was in 2011, but still much higher than the rates of the late 1990s, when only 4 to 5 percent of homeowners were underwater nationally.
 
In the worst counties, the rate of underwater homeowners grew to 21 percent in the first quarter of 2015, from 13 percent in 2011. These areas have experienced slow population growth and declines in median household incomes. The counties have seen an increasing number of renters, which is also causing rental affordability problems. They include Baldwin County, Georgia, Bell County, Texas, and Onslow County, North Carolina.
 
Click here for more info and a link to the full report by the Center for American Progress. 
 
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The Other Side: What Can You Buy for the Median Price in the Nation's Hottest Markets?
 
Excerpts:
Eight of the top 10 hottest housing markets last month-as determined by exclusive realtor.comŽ data, including number of listing views-were in California. Despite the state's ongoing drought, spiraling home prices, and competitive market, home buyers are still crazy about the Golden State.
 
Sure, there are cities you'd expect to see: Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Francisco. But there are also a couple of places that aren't high on anyone's list of destination cities: Yuba City and the formerly bankrupt city of Vallejo.
 
Outside of California, Dallas and Denver managed to crack the list, with the Mile-High City claiming the top spot overall.
 
I live 10 miles from San Francisco in Alameda. The farther away you get, the lower the prices!! In my city the lowest price detached starter home is around $700,000, built in 1925, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1,000 sq.ft., 2,000 sq.ft. lot, new carpets and paint, no remodeled kitchen or bath. Median price around $850,000.
 
3. San Francisco, CA (median price including condos: $770,000). Median price for detached homes is around $1,100,000. 
451 Kansas St. Unit 419 = condo
Details: 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 660 square feet
Price: $778,000 ($1,179 per square foot)
 
7. Sacramento, CA (median price: $358,000) - about 1.5 hour drive from San Francisco - location, location, location!!
2735 San Marin Ln
Details: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,738 square feet
Price: $364,950 ($210 per square foot)
How does this compare with where you live? I am soo glad I bought my current place in 1986 for $135,000!! I bought my previous home in 1995 for $295,000 and sold it in early 2008 for $1,000,000.

 
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CFPB's updated rural counties list - are any of your counties on the list?
 
Excerpt:
According to the CFPB, "Rural counties are generally defined by using the United State Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service's urban influence codes, and underserved counties are defined by reference to data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act."
 
In September, the CFPB finalized several changes to its mortgage rules to expand access to credit to small creditors, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
 
If you work in any of these counties, there may be more appraisal business. Hopefully from lenders that don't use AMCs as they are very hard to work with for rural properties. They don't fit the "mold" of tract homes. Many states, such as CA, with large urban populations also have rural counties.
 
 
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Llano et al going after appraisers, including Florida appraiser with cancer
 
Source:www.appraiserlawblog.com 
Peter Christensen, www.liability.com
 
Friday, October 23, 2015
A Cancer-Stricken Florida Appraiser Points to Some of the Real Harm Being Done to Appraisers by Impac Mortgage - Llano Financing - Savant LG and Their Mass Litigation
 
Excerpt: A recent response filed by a Florida appraiser in one of the lawsuits shows the personal harm they are causing to appraisers. The appraiser is defending the case on his own because he has no insurance coverage for the claim. In his own words, he explains to the court that he has been diagnosed with Leukemia and that he and his family are subsisting on government aid. He asks for the case to be dismissed. Yet, as of this afternoon (Oct. 23, 2015), Impac and Llano are continuing to pursue the lawsuit against him.
 
 
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Impac/First Mutual/Llano/Savant Update: One of Their Attorneys Throws Himself on the Mercy of the Court and Impac/Llano Lose Another Case in Nevada (10/27/15)
 
Excerpt: In Florida: "This is literally a nightmare for me and I am literally shaking as I write this reply." You might think those would be the words of one of the hundreds of appraisers sued, but they actually are the words of First Mutual and Llano's own attorney Henry Portner to describe the predicament he is in because of his client's failure to pay court filing fees. 
 
Mr. Portner has filed more than 100 lawsuits against appraisers for First Mutual and Llano -- these are the entities affiliated with Savant LG/Chris Ganter that serve as litigation vehicles for investors to sue appraisers over claims assigned by Impac Funding.  All but 7 of the 100+ cases filed by Mr. Portner for First Mutal and Llano have been dismissed, and I have seen no indication that either First Mutual or Llano has recovered any monetary damages in any of the cases.
 

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Don't make too many adjustments!!
 
Two weeks ago (October 29) I wrote about a Corelogic analysis showing that appraisers were making very small adjustment for lots of factors than were very small percents of the total value.
 
Dave Towne's comments (excerpts):
Forensic reviewer (of which many exist these days) demands an explanation.  And it's not always possible to determine the size, condition or quality of comp features you are attempting to adjust. Most appraisers just do adjustments by rote, because that's the way they were trained, and they've never thought beyond what was presented when working as a trainee.  Nowadays, with the CU, AQM and a host of other review programs you don't even know about, that's dangerous territory.
 
In case you are wondering, the various 'regression' programs DO NOT itemize these kinds of minor items. They might approximate the item(s) value, and generally will include that in the GLA adjustment, because it is the largest, and most easily determined adjustment amount. Just because there's a description on the grid, and an associated adjustment field, does not mean that an adjustment MUST be made.  In fact, you probably should not!  Unless of course, you have back up data.
 
These minor items can be factored into the GLA adjustment or the reconciled Opinion of Market value if you decide they have some kind of value, but can't put an exact dollar figure on it.
 
I have a statement in my report that discusses 'Non-adjusted Qualitative factors' and why they are not adjusted.

Click here to see the Corelogic article on adjustments graph and full article. Very interesting and worth checking out.
 
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Being a trigger-happy real estate adjustment giver
 
I heard Ryan speak at a recent Appraisal Institute conference in San Francisco. He spoke about not making small adjustments.
 
He starts with "the list" of adjustments he was given when he started appraising. Then gives examples of two appraisals that have what he did then and what he does today. There are a lot of zeroes in his "today" grids!
 
Excerpt: Would Buyers Make this Adjustment? I know the example above is an easy one, but even when a property is challenging we need to still ask the basic question of whether a value adjustment makes sense or not. If you lined up a group of interested and qualified buyers, would they really make the adjustment or not? One of the best ways to know is to begin digging into neighborhood sales. We might hear an owner say, "I paid $70,000 for the rear landscaping, so the adjustment is $70,000." The key would be to find homes that are similar with decked-out landscaping. When sales already have similar features, they tell us what the market has been willing to pay. What we don't want to do is guess by using only homes with very average landscaping. This is when we start to say, "Well, I think the adjustment is probably $15,000 or $20,000". Maybe, maybe not. What have properties with similar features actually sold for?
 
Note: he typically writes primarily for real estate agents, but this definitely applies for appraisers.
 
Click this link to see Ryan's adjustment grids, before and after, and his excellent comments!!
 
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How TRID affects appraisal fees
October 28, 2015 by Woody Fincham, SRA
 
Excerpts:
 
There has been much discussion amongst appraisers and on social media regarding what the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure rule means for appraisers.  Already, many lenders and appraisal management companies have sent out directives to their appraisers as to how they will increase fees moving forward.  Some have stated they will only allow a set increase for specific things, such as having a standard fee of $400, and only allowing a $75 fee increase for waterfront, and/or another $50 for large or complex properties.  This presents a problem when dealing with unique situations. For example, if an assignment has an external obsolescence such as being next door to a gas station, or if the subject is under some kind of illegal zoning use.
 
There still seems to be some misconception with a few AMCs and lenders that appraisal services are exactly the same across the board in all cases.  We all know that isn't the case.  Every single report that I write is case-specific.  In many cases similar tasks may occur across the spectrum of similar assignments, but there are many cases where there will be exceptions and variation from the norm.  For typical everyday valuation work, TRID seems to be an excuse to set base and escalation fees to a standard level, which will lock fees at an artificially low price-point.
 
Well written article on TRID. Worth reading, if you do residential lender work.

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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 to www.mbaa.org  . 
 
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 mailto:info@appraisaltoday.com . Or call 800-839-0227, MTW 8AM to noon, Pacific time.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.8 percent from one week earlier

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 4, 2015) - , according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 30, 2015.
 
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.  On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week.  The Refinance Index decreased 1 percent from the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 20 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
 
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 59.7 percent of total applications from 59.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 6.7 percent of total applications.
 
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 13.2 percent from 13.7 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 11.9 percent from 12.3 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged from 0.7 percent the week prior.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) increased to 4.01 percent from 3.98 percent, with points increasing to 0.47 from  0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) increased to 3.90 percent from 3.88 percent, with points increasing to 0.34 from 0.33 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA increased to 3.81 percent from 3.80 percent, with points increasing to 0.32 from 0.30 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.24 percent from 3.22 percent, with points decreasing to 0.37 from 0.44 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate remained unchanged from last week.
 
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 3.12 percent from 3.03 percent, with points decreasing to 0.25 from 0.34 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans.  The effective rate increased 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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Ann O'Rourke, MAI, SRA, MBA

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