Deal Nears to Curb Home-Appraisal Abuse, Coumo, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae

[Mike Seward]

News from Fannie Mae re: AMC's

Fannie Seen Near Deal in Appraisals with Cuomo
American Banker | Tuesday, February 26, 2008

 

[Mike Kennedy]

MIKE ....post a link ??????

 

[Mike Seward]

Tha article didn't attach. I'll try again.

http://www.americanbanker.com/attachments/20080225DFWDFIBQ-1-022608MemoFromFannie.doc

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Another link to similar article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN2544854320080226

A spokesperson for Fannie Mae could not be reached, while a spokesman for Freddie Mac said that he could not comment on any potential deal.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, the mortgage finance companies' federal regulator, said discussions of a possible settlement were ongoing.

 

[Claude From NY]

On the surface of it, I see this playing right into the arms of AMCs like LSI and a negative for the AMC bank subsidiaries with staff appraisers who will most likely be phased out.

 

[William K]

Fox Guarding the HEN HOUSE

As quoted in the Reuters story

"All lenders will be required to provide post-purchase copies of appraisal documents to the Clearinghouse," according to a Fannie outline of the plan. "It will be an independent entity with an executive and board of directors (and) It will staff a hotline for industry and consumer complaints."

Again here we go, So the lender provides SKIPPY'S appraisal to the clearinghouse. And this is going to solve the problem how again? The lender is still going to shop their values and provide the copy of the one that they could use to get their deal done!
It needs to be an APPRAISER driven clearinghouse not lender. When an appriaser provides an appraisal they need to be the one to send / email it to the clearinghouse. That way if the lender has shopped appraisals they could end up with multiple reports sent to the Clearinghouse on the same property with different appraisers and different values., with the lender having to explain relying on the highest one.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Landsafe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Countrywide.

RELS is some form of joint venture of Wells Fargo and First American.

Quantrix is is some form of joint venture of Chase and First American.

Etc... Etc... Etc...

The way this is worded would exempt almost all the AMCs.

The AMCs compete with each other. The primary competition is how many of the appraisals will result in a loan closing?!?!!!!! How is that good for the real estate business and the GSEs and the borrowers and the Wall Street investors?????

"Home appraisals would have to come from assessors that do not have formal ties with a lender or mortgage broker, according to sources familiar with negotiations over a deal that could be finalized as soon as Tuesday.

Lenders wishing to sell their mortgages to the nation's two largest sources of home finance would have to make sure that they did not rely on in-house appraisers and did not own an appraisal firm itself, according to an outline of the plan drafted by Fannie Mae and which has been obtained by Reuters."


________________
Joint Venture OWNERSHIP in AMC - falls into "did not own".

Only AMCs which are not wholly or partially owned by Lenders would be exempt.

This plan, based on what is known so far, seeds a marketplace monopoly for NON-lender affiliates or subsidiaries ala First American which will simply buy-out Lenders financial holdings and operate its' Subs as Independent AMC under contract to the same Lenders and the golden parachute gang at Zowie-wowie since they purchased AMCs.... the parties at all the "INDEPENDENT" AMCs are being planned now....... watch their stock prices......soar.

This plan does NOT address the exact same methologies used by NON-Lender AMCs nor prohibit the Lenders from using the "suddenly independent" AMCs. It simply shifts order volume, reduced Lender Liability, and rewards publicly owned, non-lender AMC stockholders.

Does NOT solve the problem.

 

[William K]

Does anyone know an email for the NY attorney generals office?
I think we need to be getting our voices heard over there before they make a decision that effects all of us accross the country. It doesn't seem like this has really been thought all the way through!
And don't think that it applies only to NY. You will see attorney generals accross the country jumping on this and FNMA & FHLMC aren't going to implement these changes just in 1 state!
Make yourself be HEARD!
NOW IS THE TIME!

 

[Lobo Fan]

If mortgage brokers cannot order their own appraisals can you imagine the number of comp checks? Actually this makes sense. Mortgage brokers are the ones that entice the number hitters as a rule.

 

[robert higgins]

It does not sound like these guys in NY know what they are talking about. Sounds like they are taking this out of the fire and putting it right into the devils den.