Editor’s Note: A federal court in California has certified a class action challenging Bank of America’s failure to pay overtime to staff appraisers. In another case, staff review appraisers stand to receive a settlement averaging over $10,000 each from BOA/LandSafe.

Court Certifies Class and Approves Nationwide Class Settlement for Review Appraisers
by Bryan Schwartz

http://workingre.com

United States District Court for the Central District of California, Hon. David O. Carter, certified a class action challenge on behalf of hundreds of real estate appraisers employed by Bank of America and its appraisal subsidiary, LandSafe Appraisal Services, around California, seeking back wages for unpaid overtime, meal and rest period premiums, and other wages and penalties

Judge Carter also granted his preliminary approval to a $5.8 million settlement on behalf of another group in the case, called Review Appraisers – who verify the Residential Appraisers’ reports. Approximately 370 review appraisers nationwide will soon receive notice of the settlement, which is expected to receive final approval in November 2014, barring any successful objections. Each participant, on average, will net a payment of over $10,000 in the settlement, and the position will be reclassified in 2014 so that Bank of America’s Review Appraisers will be paid overtime going forward.

Boyd, et al., v. Bank of America, et al
The case in question, Boyd, et al., v. Bank of America, et al., was brought by San Francisco Bay Area attorney Bryan Schwartz along with Schonbrun, Desimone, Seplow, Harris & Hoffman of Los Angeles. The action alleges that Bank of America wrongly called appraisers exempt from wage laws based upon the notion that they were company administrators or policy-makers (like human resources officials) or learned professionals (like attorneys and doctors), who must undergo a prolonged course of specialized academic instruction. …continue reading the rest of this post: Court Certifies Class and Approves Nationwide Class Settlement for Bank of America Review Appraisers

The Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers would like to remind all Licensees and potential licensees that the Appraiser Qualification Changes become effective on January 1, 2015.  These changes affect the minimum education requirements and mandate courses for those in a supervisory or trainee role.  If you or someone you know is planning on submitting an initial or upgrade license application before the January 1, 2015, deadline, the application must be complete, which means that the applicant MUST PASS THE EXAM prior to the January 1, 2015 deadline —THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS!

EDUCATIONAL CHANGES

…continue reading the rest of this post: Appraiser Qualification Changes for 01/01/2015

On April 15, Fannie Mae announced changes to its Selling Guide that affect appraisal policies relating to appraisal updates, required photos and acceptable comparable properties. The changes, which are effective immediately, follow a comprehensive review of the Guide’s appraisal requirements chapters.

“As a result of that review, new policies have been developed, current policies have been clarified, and additional guidance has been incorporated,” Fannie Mae noted in its announcement. “Further, significant changes to the organization of both chapters have been made. In some cases, topics and paragraphs have been re-titled and content has been reorganized with the expectation that searching for specific information will be much easier.”

Among the changes, Fannie now requires appraisers who are performing an appraisal update to include a photograph of the front of a subject property so that the exterior inspection can be validated. Appraisal updates must be reported on the Appraisal Update and/or Completion Report (Form 1004D).

Fannie Mae noted that origination appraisals can be utilized for subsequent transactions if there is no change to the property condition impacting the market value and certain requirements are met. The requirements relate to the transaction type, age of the appraisal, continuity of ownership and the lender.

When identifying an addition that doesn’t have a required permit, the appraiser must comment on the quality and appearance of the work. Comments also are needed on the impact, if any, on the market value of the subject property.

Fannie Mae clarified that it no longer needs an explanation when using comparable sales that are more than six months old. The lender also added an example in its Selling Guide that illustrates when it might be appropriate to use older sales with proper time adjustments instead of a more recent but dissimilar sale.

“An older sale may be more appropriate in situations when market conditions have impacted the availability of recent sales as long as the appraisal reflects the changing market conditions,” the GSE stated in the announcement.

The complete details about the update are outlined in Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2014-03.

Certified Appraisers Valued!
$1,000 Sign On Bonus

Opportunity is knocking!  Expand your earnings potential…grow your business…maintain a steady volume of work! 

DataQuick is hiring Certified Appraisers for Staff Appraiser positions to complete residential work in the following counties:

AZ: Maricopa; CA: Riverside, San Francisco; DC: District of Columbia; FL: Lee, Palm Beach, IL: Cook; KY: Jefferson; LA: East Baton Rouge; MD: Montgomery; MI: Oakland; NC: Durham, Mecklenburg, Wake; NY: Kings, New York, Orange, Richmond

Staff Appraisers will benefit from the following at DataQuick:

Join Our Team!

For consideration please submit the following to dataquickappraisers@dataquick.com:
1. Appraiser License
2. Resume
3. Coverage Area
4. Two recent UAD reports with MC — 1004 and Condo

NCUA Proposes Appraisal Management Rule

OMAHA, Neb., March 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ Last year, American Title Inc. (ATI) acquired Collateral Intelligence, LLC (CI), a national Appraisal Management Company, and has today changed the name from Collateral Intelligence to ATI Valuations.

Omaha-based ATI is the nation’s leading real estate information provider to home equity lenders and the Boston-based ATI Valuations (formerly Collateral Intelligence) offers appraisals and alternative valuations to its clients in the mortgage industry.

“Our clients have been asking for us to help them with valuation services for years due to all of the changes, but we wanted to make sure that we had a best-in-class solution before bringing it to the market. When we became aware of Collateral Intelligence, we knew that it was a perfect fit,” said Mike Mackintosh, Executive Vice President of ATI. “Mark Sennott (CEO) and his team have a tremendous amount of experience, not only in the valuation market, but in working collaboratively with clients to create innovative valuation solutions that improve the process for all parties involved.”

Mackintosh said that ATI offers title products to most of the top ten Home Equity Lenders in the US and that the company has been growing rapidly as a result. ATI Valuations, meanwhile, has rolled out several appraisal hybrid products and appraisal desktops that are also what many Home Equity lenders are now looking for.

Since last year, the two companies have worked diligently to integrate the ATI infrastructure, which includes ensuring that subject matter experts work in their area of expertise. “We think that this will create the best solution for our clients since they will get access to title and valuation products through one company, but still have the best possible people working on the unique products,” said Mackintosh. The companies said the combined financial resources will be used to position ATI to better compete in the marketplace.

“We are excited to be associated with an industry leader like ATI,” said Mark Sennott, CEO of ATI Valuations. “We think our appraisal hybrids are a great match for their clients and our combined strengths will allow us to do much more for all our clients.”

SOURCE American Title Inc.

Dear State Appraisal Regulators,

Please assist us by posting this information on your website or in your newsletters.

Beginning today, February 12, 2014, the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) will begin distributing an online survey to licensed and certified real estate appraisal professionals as part of a practice analysis.  The deadline to complete the survey is March 26, 2014.

The purpose of the practice analysis is to identify tasks and competencies reflective of the real estate appraiser job role in order to update the examination content outlines for the AQB National Uniform Licensure and Certification examinations.

Please distribute this link to the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AQBSURVEY

…continue reading the rest of this post: AQB Survey – You might win $50.00 or A Trip To Disneyland (not really)