Appraiser Income

The sky will fall, economically speaking, on that most economists agree.

Where they do differ, is when exactly they expect America’s economy to suffer two straight quarters of negative economic activity and what factors may lead up to a future recession.

In the latest survey from the National Association for Business Economics, 281 members reported their economic predictions.

“Three-fourths of the NABE Policy Survey panelists expect an economic recession by the end of 2021,” said NABE President Kevin Swift, CBE, chief economist at the American Chemistry Council. “While only 10% of panelists expect a recession in 2019, 42% say a recession will happen in 2020, and 25% expect one in 2021.”

The United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit dismissed on Feb. 28 the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board’s petition for review of a Federal Trade Commission decision that disallowed the LREAB from asserting its state-action immunity defense in ongoing administrative proceedings. The court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the petition. A stay of action by the FTC has been in place pending the outcome of the review petition.   

In dismissing the petition, the court noted that the Federal Trade Commission Act only allows it to review cease and desist orders issued by the FTC, stating, “The Commission’s order denying the Board’s motion to dismiss and granting the FTC’s motion for partial summary decision is not a cease and desist order, [so] the statute does not expressly authorize us to exercise jurisdiction here.” 

The Appraisal Institute on Feb. 19 received notice from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that a request for a hearing on the proposal to raise the residential appraisal threshold from $250,000 to $400,000 was denied. AI was one of six valuation organizations that submitted a letter Feb. 4 requesting the hearing. “After reviewing your letter and considering the discussion in our conference call, we do not believe that holding a public hearing would elicit relevant information that could not be conveyed through the comment process,” the agencies stated in their letter. “While the agencies are, therefore, declining your request for a public hearing, we will carefully consider your written comments.” The comment period closed Feb. 5. In addition to the Appraisal Institute, the letter requesting the hearing was signed by: 

• American Guild of Appraisers, OPEIU, AFL-CIO;
• American Society of Appraisers;
• American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers;
• MBREA | The Association for Valuation Professionals; and
• RICS.

Read the original letter requesting the hearing.

IATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its Year-End 2018 U.S. Home Sales Report, which shows that home sellers in 2018 realized an average home price gain since purchase of $61,000, up from $50,000 last year and up from $39,500 two years ago in 2016 to the highest level since 2006 — a 12-year high.

That $61,000 average home seller profit represented an average 32.6 percent return on investment compared to the original purchase price, up from 27.0 percent last year and up from 21.9 percent in 2016 to the highest average home seller ROI since 2006.

The Zestimate that appears on every listing on Zillow is about to get a little closer to the expected sales price of a house, and all the online real estate giant had to do is give away more than $1 million.

Beyond that, Zillow also awarded $100,000 to the second-place team, and $50,000 to the third-place team.

But Zillow is hardly chalking this exercise up as a loss. Just the opposite, in fact.

Zillow said that it will incorporate parts of the winning team’s model, along with other contest entries, to improve the accuracy of the Zestimate that appears on the listings for 110 million homes on Zillow.

According to Zillow, the improvements to the Zestimate will decrease its current nationwide error rate of 4.5% to less than 4%, meaning that half of all Zestimates will be within 4% of the selling price, and half will be off by more than 4%.

Put another way, Zillow claims that on average, the Zestimate is $10,000 off of the actual sale price for a typical home, but with the improvements from the contest, future Zestimates could be approximately $1,300 closer to the sale price.

The Zestimate has long served as a contentious issue between real estate professionals and consumers.

Homebuyers are increasingly opting for nontraditional mortgages – Opens a New Window.which helped precipitate the housing crisis about one decade ago – potentially foreshadowing trouble as high prices continue to weigh on housing affordability.

Throughout the first three quarters of last year, unconventional mortgages – those that don’t require borrowers to show typical income or other asset verifying documentation – rose 24 percent to $34 billion, according to data from Inside Mortgage Finance, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. While unconventional mortgages accounted for just 3 percent of overall originations during that period – traditional mortgage loans declined.

Home Prices Outpacing Wages in 80 Percent of the U.S. Housing Markets

IRVINE, Calif. – Jan. 10, 2019 — ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database, today released its 2019 Rental Affordability Report, which shows that renting a three-bedroom property is more affordable than buying a median-priced home in 442 of 755 U.S. counties analyzed for the report — 59 percent.