Appraiser Income

The Appraisal Subcommittee on July 9 granted a request from North Dakota for a temporary waiver from appraisal licensing requirements after state officials claimed a scarcity of appraisers. The ASC granted the one-year waiver from licensing requirements by a 5-2 vote; an additional year is possible if state officials again seek a waiver based on the scarcity argument. 

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council still needs to approve the decision, which is expected to happen at its meeting later this month. It’s important to note that the temporary waiver is not a waiver from appraisals, but from appraisal licensing requirements. All appraisals still need to comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.  

Discount real-estate brokerage Redfin will partner with Opendoor, one of the leading home-buying services, allowing homeowners to get an instant offer when they want to sell with Redfin RDFN, -2.17%  , the firms announced Thursday.

The tie-up is the latest sign of the increasingly fuzzy lines between traditional ways of transacting residential real estate and the increasing popularity of new tech-enabled disruptors. Companies like Opendoor, known as “iBuyers,” buy homes from consumers directly, allowing them to skip the hassle of open houses, repairs and renovations, and uncertain closing schedules.

At a moment when consumers increasingly expect more bespoke and favorable experiences for less cost, the two companies say their initiative “gives homeowners more options for selling their home in a simple and convenient way.”

DENVER (July 22, 2019) – More than 525 real estate professionals from around the world today attended the opening session of the valuation profession’s most important annual event, hosted by the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers.

The 2019 Appraisal Institute Annual Conference, being held at the downtown Hyatt Regency Denver today through Wednesday, features world-renowned keynote speakers, 30 breakout sessions on trend-setting valuation topics, networking opportunities for industry professionals, an exhibit hall featuring cutting-edge products and services and an awards ceremony honoring the valuation profession’s best and brightest.

Veros Real Estate Solutions, Santa Ana, Calif., said average projected appreciation rate for residential real estate in the nation’s 100 largest markets should hold steady at 3.7 percent through June 2020, maintaining the same rate from the previous quarter’s forecast and marking a leveling out after a four-quarter decline from a projected appreciation rate of 4.5 percent a year ago.

The VeroFORECAST said 5 percent of markets are projected to depreciate over the upcoming year, a figure that has remained the same since fourth quarter 2018, after it jumped from 3 percent in a single quarter.

“This flattening indicates that although there is definite softness overall in the housing market the fundamentals are healthy,” said Eric Fox, Veros Vice President of Statistical and Economic Modeling. “One potential contributing factor we saw in the models is some softening of mortgage interest rates, which is helping to prop up values and stem the decline.”

(Washington, DC) August 1, 2019 – The Appraisal Standards Board (ASB), an independent board of The Appraisal Foundation, announced today that it intends to examine the concept of creating standards for evaluations, which are alternatives to appraisals used by financial institutions.

Currently, there are no uniform standards for appraisers to follow when conducting an evaluation, which leads to greater risk to the safety and soundness of the real estate transaction and diminished protection for consumers. The ASB intends to issue a concept paper around Labor Day, and will follow up with a public hearing with panels of constituents on October 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. As with all public meetings of the ASB, the public hearing will be broadcast via livestream.

IRVINE, Calif. – July 18, 2019 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), today released its Q2 2019 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that U.S. single family homes and condos sold for a median price of $266,000 in the second quarter, up 10.8 percent from the previous quarter and up 6.4 percent from a year ago — reaching a new median home price peak.

Meanwhile, the report also shows that homeowners who sold in the second quarter had owned an average of 8.09 years, reaching a new peak, up 3 percent from last quarter and up 4 percent from Q2 2018. Homeownership tenure averaged 4.21 years nationwide between Q1 2000 and Q3 2007, prior to the Great Recession.

CHICAGO, July 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers vigorously condemned today’s action by the National Credit Union Administration, calling the NCUA’s decision to effectively reduce the number of appraisals required for commercial real estate loans irresponsible, radical and dangerous.

“This is an outlandish scenario for anyone who cares about the safety and soundness of the nation’s commercial real estate lending system, and it could recreate conditions that led to the financial crisis of the late 2000s,” said Appraisal Institute President Stephen S. Wagner, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS. “The NCUA’s ill-conceived, damaging decision shows overwhelmingly the need for immediate, rigorous congressional oversight.”

The NCUA Board of Directors today quadrupled – from $250,000 to $1 million – the appraisal threshold for nonresidential real estate loans. The appraisal threshold is the loan amount below which appraisals are not required. Increasing the threshold would drastically increase the number of nonresidential real estate loans that would not require an appraisal.

“This decision – based entirely on providing regulatory relief – completely ignores the fact that the United States suffered through a financial crisis less than a decade ago,” Wagner said. “If anything, current market conditions beg for heightened due diligence by regulated institutions — not a loosening of a fundamental risk management activity.”

The federal banking regulatory agencies – the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve Board – last year approved increasing the commercial appraisal threshold from $250,000 to $500,000. The NCUA’s decision could create a regulatory arms race between the agencies and the NCUA.

The NCUA – the agency with the least direct experience in overseeing business and commercial real estate lending – effectively could be driving the appraisal policies for the entire financial regulatory system. The bank regulatory agencies – despite already determining otherwise – will face pressure to establish a corresponding threshold level to the NCUA’s level.

Additionally, federal legislation signed into law last December links commercial appraisal threshold levels for two of the Small Business Administration’s most popular loan programs to those established by the federal banking regulatory agencies.

“The potential domino effect is chilling,” Wagner said. “Everyone involved in this country’s commercial real estate industry should be incensed at the NCUA’s reckless decision, which potentially places the nation’s economy at significant risk.”

The NCUA’s action would significantly increase the number of credit union loans not requiring an appraisal – with the proportion exempted rising from 27% to 66%. Last year credit unions made $67 billion in commercial loans in this country.

“It’s clear that the solution is not only increased congressional oversight, but also improvements to the appraisal regulatory structure,” Wagner said. “The Appraisal Institute is working with members of Congress and their staffs to bring about meaningful change that will help prevent this type of outrageously heedless public policy making in the future.”

Total Dollar Volume of Homes Flipped With Financing Reaches 6.4 Billion – A 12-Year High

Average Flipping ROI Continues to Decline to An Almost Eight-Year Low

While Gross Flipping Profits Drop 12 Percent From Last Year

IRVINE, Calif. – June 6, 2019 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), today released its Q1 2019 U.S. Home Flipping Report, which shows that 49,059 U.S. single family homes and condos were flipped in the first quarter of 2019, down 2 percent from the previous quarter and down 8 percent from a year ago to a three-year low.

The 49,059 homes flipped in the first quarter represented 7.2 percent of all home sales during the quarter, up from 5.9 percent in the previous quarter and up from 6.7 percent a year ago — the highest home flipping rate since Q1 2010.

Homes flipped in Q1 2019 sold at an average gross profit of $60,000, down from an average gross flipping profit of $62,000 in the previous quarter and down from $68,000 in Q1 2018 to the lowest average gross flipping profit since Q1 2016.

Following his appearance yesterday before the House Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance to advocate passage of HR 2852, which would allow licensed appraisers to perform appraisals for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans, Appraisal Institute President Stephen S. Wagner is expressing optimism that the legislation will find its way through a Congress which seems to become increasingly divided along party lines. 

“We have positive thoughts on that,” said Wagner in an interview with National Mortgage Professional. “I don’t see where there’s much criticism with this, as it seems to be reasonably well accepted. We’ve not heard any resistance to it.”