David C. Johnson
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
APPRAISERS Are Protecting Homeowners Where U.S. Congressional Legislation Could Not !
-- and the Mortgage Industry Would Not
Except from:
Appraisers Update
Real Estate Appraisal Section of the
National Association of Realtors (NAR)
Volume IX, Issue IV
Appraiser Update recently spoke to David C. Johnson, a North Carolina
certified appraiser and cofounder of a company, PMI Rescue, that
specializes in PMI removal. We asked some questions regarding the
recent change in legislation and how other appraisers can get into the
PMI business.
How do you think new rules will affect the industry?
<span style='color:darkblue'>While it should end PMI charges over the entire length of a mortgage,
I still have concerns. Really, the only financially responsible method for
a homeowner to end PMI is to have it dropped at the very earliest point,
based on property value appreciation. If the new notifications tend to
"down play" this existing method, the homeowner may wait for automatic
elimination which is guaranteed to be many years and many thousands
of dollars to long. Automatic dropping will occur after 11-13 years while
many, or most, borrowers should be able to end PMI in a third of that time.</span>
Given the fact that much of your work involves PMI removal,
do you think the new notification process will affect your
practice?
<span style='color:darkblue'>It is hard to say how the residential appraisal business will be affected.
With lenders starting to use computer programs for the valuation of properties
for mortgage financing, there may be appraisers interested in "drumming up"
work. They may "seek out" homeowners who may be in a position to drop
their PMI and need an appraisal to do so. New underwriting techniques may
turn out to be a boon for getting the word out to homeowners regarding the
proper way to drop PMI.
Our company, for example, offers an information / instruction package that we
anticipate to become a viable product in the future. This is largely due to
inaccurate and incomplete information currently available online and elsewhere.
This misinformation continues to be disseminated by those who have the least
interest in homeowners -- who don't know enough about their PMI removal options.
Even some PMI companies seem to be short on knowledge sometimes. Not
knowing all the facts will continue to be very costly to homeowners.</span>
Any advice for appraisers who are looking to do PMI work?
<span style='color:darkblue'>There are methods to generate PMI work such as identifying likely subdivisions
for heavy concentrations of PMI-burdened homeowners through demographic and
economic analysis, and then pulling records to determine which homeowners
have PMI in the neighborhood. But these methods are open to many caveats so
appraisers should be sure to perform this type of "pre-marketing" very carefully.
Advertising that markets appraisers as "PMI Specialists" is another worthwhile
option.
____________________ </span>
<span style='color:brown'>Why PMI? Appraisal Today, published by Real Estate Communications Resources,
recently outline some reasons why appraisers get into the PMI specialty area.
Consider these advantages:
* Few deadline pressures...good "filler" work
* Steady work that often pays in advance
* Easy to market yourself to targeted lists of borrowers
_____________________</span>
<span style='color:darkblue'>I read Pamela's thread titled: "Fannie Mae Reviews - Excessive value message" and clicked on her hyperlink and read from a hyperlink there titled "Mortgage Insurance and Loan-Level Price Adjustment Requirements charts." It reminded me to do this post on PMI based on the July/August 1999 edition of Appraiser Update. It's still new news because nothing has changed at all ('cept I rarely do residential work anymore). Still the average consumer -- including quite a few appraisers probably -- don't understand what has happened -- and it is costing the public billions of dollars every year. The "Homeowners Protection Act" is a sham, and is part of a scam. While it did officially outlaw one thoroughly outrageous everyday abusive mortgage lending practice, the new federal law was ruined in advance by highly paid lobbyist from a couple of special interests groups: the mortgage lending and the PMI industries. Thoroughly out-of-hand "special interest groups" (SIGs) are doing serious damage not only to our profession, but also the country -- and this sure is another case of it. </span>
Got A Sound Card? CLICK HERE
Then after Kenneth Harney's Article
go to the very bottom of that page
<span style='color:darkblue'>The legislation is a sham because it exacerbates the very scam it was supposed to fix! You see, the legislation allows the typical homeowner to have every reason to believe they are being protected by the government from the abuse of paying years too long for unnecessary (but mandatory) insurance regarding their mortgages, when in fact, the legislation basically guarantees that now most homeowners will pay years too long. So, due to this legislation, even greater fleecing of homeowners is occurring. United States Appraisers are doing for the United States what the United States Congress absolutely could not do -- but then, we don't accept special interests gifts and "campaign contributions."
As appraisers, we do not have the option of not understanding what is going on around us in our real estate markets, and what is happening to our profession and to our country due to mortgage lending abuses. Real estate is our turf. Regarding PMI abuses, we should all be explaining the TRUTH to homeowners. Let's please not be pawns to a real estate mortgage-based game of ripping off Americans! We can stop it. And get paid for it. Because it's our job.
I will reprint the balance of the article LATER in this thread. But NOT in this post! The author was very well-intentioned for sure, but the writing is wrong -- by Omission of detail. (We all know where the devil's at, right?) Most writing on the subject is similarly faulty. I will explain how it is wrong when I post it. Its very easy to get it wrong! And that was the whole intent by those who derailed the legislation several years ago. A few of these high-dollar MBA-types in office towers might regularly snatch candy from children, but they're sure clever as hell !! In fact, their masterful subterfuge was borderline "brilliant." We had no idea what "conniving" could really mean. It's absolutely amazing. While a few were grinning big, there were more than a few congressmen on the Hill who were 100% disgusted. They had every right to be.
Unlike the ranks of three-piece-suit-type Wall Street stockbrokers, appraisers can provide good honest advice to the public. And yes, can also be paid for the service of assisting them sometimes. (While it's not as easy these days for the enterprising appraiser if he or she has made the effort to contact a likely homeowner since many mortgage servicers -- to thwart such efforts by certified appraisers -- are now stipulating that they must pick the appraiser -- at the same time, any BPO is sometimes just fine.) I told you these guys are a bit conniving, and they are sure very uninterested in losing any of those unearned PMI income streams. But, put yourself in the homeowner's position for a minute: would you be willing to pay someone $300 -- and even thank them -- for saving you over $3,000? If the homeowner has had the property for a few years, odds are it will appraise high enough to qualify for PMI being eliminated in most parts of the country, rather than waiting for loan amortization to reduce the Loan-to-Value Ratio.
Regards,
David Charles Johnson, PMI Rescue Cofounder
NC State-Certified General Real Estate Appraiser
[email]appraisco@aol.com[/email]
Please read the following hyperlinked post. Yes, I am a part of a crusade to stamp-out bad boards and replace them with better ones. John Walsh is on a similar campaign to stop child abductions. Both are showing serious progress. No, it's nothing really new for me I could provide a substantial list of public service endeavors over the last couple of decades -- someone is welcome to ax. Thank you for reading my post. I believe it's important:</span>
[url=http://appraisersforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2691]A Presidential Price for Bad Appointments
BTW: Here's another place Americans are getting taken to the cleaners -- the difference is, it can be a real quick fix. It sure worked for me:
Pull your credit cards out. Call the number printed on the back. Tell them you would like a lower interest rate. Also mention that your husband / wife said he / she was planning to payoff the whole balance this week unless it gets lowered. Be prepared to wait as long as two minutes before they let you know what your new rate is. Don't believe it? Try it.
Then tell your husband / wife you'll be dining at your favorite 4 star restaurant tonight, and it will be completely free, as will the next five visits this year -- and every other year until you get that card paid off. Or, let the lower rate help pay the card off quicker. It's up to you.
If they decline, you may already have the best rate you can get with them. Per a recent study, about 50% of callers get immediate rate reductions, and also get thanked for doing business with them (i.e., thanked for keeping a nice high balance with them!). They like people who keep balances -- a lot. (They like me a lot.) If declined, give it another couple months and try again -- it works. It sure did for me.
Anyway you look at it -- Congratulations! About half of us may have already had a more productive day than we thought!
-- and the Mortgage Industry Would Not
Except from:
Appraisers Update
Real Estate Appraisal Section of the
National Association of Realtors (NAR)
Volume IX, Issue IV
Appraiser Update recently spoke to David C. Johnson, a North Carolina
certified appraiser and cofounder of a company, PMI Rescue, that
specializes in PMI removal. We asked some questions regarding the
recent change in legislation and how other appraisers can get into the
PMI business.
How do you think new rules will affect the industry?
<span style='color:darkblue'>While it should end PMI charges over the entire length of a mortgage,
I still have concerns. Really, the only financially responsible method for
a homeowner to end PMI is to have it dropped at the very earliest point,
based on property value appreciation. If the new notifications tend to
"down play" this existing method, the homeowner may wait for automatic
elimination which is guaranteed to be many years and many thousands
of dollars to long. Automatic dropping will occur after 11-13 years while
many, or most, borrowers should be able to end PMI in a third of that time.</span>
Given the fact that much of your work involves PMI removal,
do you think the new notification process will affect your
practice?
<span style='color:darkblue'>It is hard to say how the residential appraisal business will be affected.
With lenders starting to use computer programs for the valuation of properties
for mortgage financing, there may be appraisers interested in "drumming up"
work. They may "seek out" homeowners who may be in a position to drop
their PMI and need an appraisal to do so. New underwriting techniques may
turn out to be a boon for getting the word out to homeowners regarding the
proper way to drop PMI.
Our company, for example, offers an information / instruction package that we
anticipate to become a viable product in the future. This is largely due to
inaccurate and incomplete information currently available online and elsewhere.
This misinformation continues to be disseminated by those who have the least
interest in homeowners -- who don't know enough about their PMI removal options.
Even some PMI companies seem to be short on knowledge sometimes. Not
knowing all the facts will continue to be very costly to homeowners.</span>
Any advice for appraisers who are looking to do PMI work?
<span style='color:darkblue'>There are methods to generate PMI work such as identifying likely subdivisions
for heavy concentrations of PMI-burdened homeowners through demographic and
economic analysis, and then pulling records to determine which homeowners
have PMI in the neighborhood. But these methods are open to many caveats so
appraisers should be sure to perform this type of "pre-marketing" very carefully.
Advertising that markets appraisers as "PMI Specialists" is another worthwhile
option.
____________________ </span>
<span style='color:brown'>Why PMI? Appraisal Today, published by Real Estate Communications Resources,
recently outline some reasons why appraisers get into the PMI specialty area.
Consider these advantages:
* Few deadline pressures...good "filler" work
* Steady work that often pays in advance
* Easy to market yourself to targeted lists of borrowers
_____________________</span>
<span style='color:darkblue'>I read Pamela's thread titled: "Fannie Mae Reviews - Excessive value message" and clicked on her hyperlink and read from a hyperlink there titled "Mortgage Insurance and Loan-Level Price Adjustment Requirements charts." It reminded me to do this post on PMI based on the July/August 1999 edition of Appraiser Update. It's still new news because nothing has changed at all ('cept I rarely do residential work anymore). Still the average consumer -- including quite a few appraisers probably -- don't understand what has happened -- and it is costing the public billions of dollars every year. The "Homeowners Protection Act" is a sham, and is part of a scam. While it did officially outlaw one thoroughly outrageous everyday abusive mortgage lending practice, the new federal law was ruined in advance by highly paid lobbyist from a couple of special interests groups: the mortgage lending and the PMI industries. Thoroughly out-of-hand "special interest groups" (SIGs) are doing serious damage not only to our profession, but also the country -- and this sure is another case of it. </span>
Got A Sound Card? CLICK HERE
Then after Kenneth Harney's Article
go to the very bottom of that page
<span style='color:darkblue'>The legislation is a sham because it exacerbates the very scam it was supposed to fix! You see, the legislation allows the typical homeowner to have every reason to believe they are being protected by the government from the abuse of paying years too long for unnecessary (but mandatory) insurance regarding their mortgages, when in fact, the legislation basically guarantees that now most homeowners will pay years too long. So, due to this legislation, even greater fleecing of homeowners is occurring. United States Appraisers are doing for the United States what the United States Congress absolutely could not do -- but then, we don't accept special interests gifts and "campaign contributions."
As appraisers, we do not have the option of not understanding what is going on around us in our real estate markets, and what is happening to our profession and to our country due to mortgage lending abuses. Real estate is our turf. Regarding PMI abuses, we should all be explaining the TRUTH to homeowners. Let's please not be pawns to a real estate mortgage-based game of ripping off Americans! We can stop it. And get paid for it. Because it's our job.
I will reprint the balance of the article LATER in this thread. But NOT in this post! The author was very well-intentioned for sure, but the writing is wrong -- by Omission of detail. (We all know where the devil's at, right?) Most writing on the subject is similarly faulty. I will explain how it is wrong when I post it. Its very easy to get it wrong! And that was the whole intent by those who derailed the legislation several years ago. A few of these high-dollar MBA-types in office towers might regularly snatch candy from children, but they're sure clever as hell !! In fact, their masterful subterfuge was borderline "brilliant." We had no idea what "conniving" could really mean. It's absolutely amazing. While a few were grinning big, there were more than a few congressmen on the Hill who were 100% disgusted. They had every right to be.
Unlike the ranks of three-piece-suit-type Wall Street stockbrokers, appraisers can provide good honest advice to the public. And yes, can also be paid for the service of assisting them sometimes. (While it's not as easy these days for the enterprising appraiser if he or she has made the effort to contact a likely homeowner since many mortgage servicers -- to thwart such efforts by certified appraisers -- are now stipulating that they must pick the appraiser -- at the same time, any BPO is sometimes just fine.) I told you these guys are a bit conniving, and they are sure very uninterested in losing any of those unearned PMI income streams. But, put yourself in the homeowner's position for a minute: would you be willing to pay someone $300 -- and even thank them -- for saving you over $3,000? If the homeowner has had the property for a few years, odds are it will appraise high enough to qualify for PMI being eliminated in most parts of the country, rather than waiting for loan amortization to reduce the Loan-to-Value Ratio.
Regards,
David Charles Johnson, PMI Rescue Cofounder
NC State-Certified General Real Estate Appraiser
[email]appraisco@aol.com[/email]
Please read the following hyperlinked post. Yes, I am a part of a crusade to stamp-out bad boards and replace them with better ones. John Walsh is on a similar campaign to stop child abductions. Both are showing serious progress. No, it's nothing really new for me I could provide a substantial list of public service endeavors over the last couple of decades -- someone is welcome to ax. Thank you for reading my post. I believe it's important:</span>
[url=http://appraisersforum.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2691]A Presidential Price for Bad Appointments
BTW: Here's another place Americans are getting taken to the cleaners -- the difference is, it can be a real quick fix. It sure worked for me:
Pull your credit cards out. Call the number printed on the back. Tell them you would like a lower interest rate. Also mention that your husband / wife said he / she was planning to payoff the whole balance this week unless it gets lowered. Be prepared to wait as long as two minutes before they let you know what your new rate is. Don't believe it? Try it.
Then tell your husband / wife you'll be dining at your favorite 4 star restaurant tonight, and it will be completely free, as will the next five visits this year -- and every other year until you get that card paid off. Or, let the lower rate help pay the card off quicker. It's up to you.
If they decline, you may already have the best rate you can get with them. Per a recent study, about 50% of callers get immediate rate reductions, and also get thanked for doing business with them (i.e., thanked for keeping a nice high balance with them!). They like people who keep balances -- a lot. (They like me a lot.) If declined, give it another couple months and try again -- it works. It sure did for me.
Anyway you look at it -- Congratulations! About half of us may have already had a more productive day than we thought!
