Condo Appraisal Protocol Changed

[Mejappz]

The micromanagement and attack on appraiser independence continue unabated. An appraisal going to the GSEs will soon start 1K.

Condominium Appraisal Protocol Changed - Appraisers Blogs

Fannie Mae’s sweeping new national condominium regulations... Appraisers, Fannie Mae has changed inspection and reporting requirements for Condominiums,

appraisersblogs.com

How can appraisers evaluate aging condos without docs?

Fannie Mae's sweeping new national condominium and co-op apartment lending regulations were created to protect residents, but the tough rules do not cover all the problems.

www.loopnorth.com

 

[Deleted member 77547]

Never mind..........

 

[Cob]

After an experience I had in late 2021 with a Condominium and the utter non communication I get back from lenders when I request Condominium documents, I will only be appraising Condominium units that are detached or in a small (usually 2 unit Duplex style) Condominiums that are very popular in the Austin area, I was leaning towards this before this came out, this just pushed it over the edge for me. I can't even get a Condo Questionnaire most of the time, I am not going to count on the lender, Realtor, property owner, etc. giving me any kind of documents that are now expected.

 

[Trihard]

Is Fannie only asking for the condo doc analysis for only old high rise condos?

 

[Flakey]

These regulations are assignment conditions. You will have to broaden the Scope of Work and comply with the Competency Rule.

An appraiser must: (1) be competent to perform the assignment; (2) acquire the necessary competency to perform the assignment; or (3) decline or withdraw from the assignment. In all cases, the appraiser must perform competently when completing the assignment.

In my market, the amount of Condo work I do can easily be replaced. I'm just going to remove this service from the list of services I provide instead of declining them as they come. Not my battle. Let the lenders and GSE's sort it out.

 

[DTB]

Irrespective of the new analysis "required", I hope everyone is marking up whatever costs they pay for any documentation. Nobody works for free.

The HOA management charges plenty for the click of the mouse to send you documents that belong to the unit owners. Please don't tell me appraisers are still just passing those fees on at cost. C'mon people there's a business to run!

 

[Cob]

Is Fannie only asking for the condo doc analysis for only old high rise condos?

On Condo projects that are 5 or more units.

 

[Trihard]

On Condo projects that are 5 or more units.

Which is 99.99% of condos.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Which is 99.99% of condos.

Might be a bit lower than that. Plenty of condos with 2 units in DC at least.

 

[George Hatch]

The lender is also required to review, so that's probably the most expedient route for an appraiser; wait for the lender to forward a copy of those doc.

It's no different than when appraisers get the plans/specs and cost breakdowns for assignments involving proposed construction or when a client requires the appraiser to review a title report. The appraisal isn't going forward until the lender provides them with the requisite info.

I think the much bigger issue will be the amount of time/effort it takes to review that info, and what additional disclosures as to your expertise and limitations when it comes to reviewing that info. Appraisers can do it, but nobody is going to want to have to do it for free.

It's not an attack on appraiser independence, that issue being about avoiding biased or predetermined results. All this amounts to is a user saying which levels of diligence and analyses they consider to be meaningful to their decision making. If you want to complain about being asked to do more work for less money then that's a legitimate argument but it isn't an appraiser independence argument.

Never have appraisers ever been in a position to legitimately *limit* their SOW below what their users considered necessary. That many of the users have chosen to accept the Acme One-Size-Fits-All Widget is a matter of user discretion, not appraiser discretion.