Desktop Appraisals Becoming the New Normal

[George Hatch]

yep, not doing them, eh george?​

I don't compete in the GSE market because there are lots of appraisers who can do those assignments; whereas there are fewer appraisers who can/will do what I do. Plus, it's really hard to manage the different time frames that are involved between the GSE trade vs everything else.

I still appraise houses on occasion and I enjoy those assignments when I get them. I'm just not using the GSE forms or submitting to the conventional lenders. Matter of fact, I'm working on an assignment right now that involves proposed construction on 4 residential units for an FRT transaction. They called me to do it because they were having problems getting their regular SFR appraisers to do a reasonable analysis for prospective value.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

I have absolutely no doubt that benefit has crossed the minds of the folks at the agencies. At the very least, it will be a selling point to the woke crowd that the agencies are attempting to remove one of the factors that could potentially lead to bias.

Fannie has said as much to promote desktops and hybrids. I think its more of an excuse than a reason.

 

[alebrewer]

Fannie has said as much to promote desktops and hybrids. I think its more of an excuse than a reason.

Agreed that wasn't the driving factor, but hey - if you can kill two birds with one stone...

 

[djd09]

you don't do, that is my point. duh. so you have no more or less liability then before. good for you

 

[George Hatch]

I've done a number of desktop appraisals over the years. No drama. It's just another assignment.

 

[djd09]

you ever catch a person cheating in poker. it gets messy

 

[Non Sequitur]

Actually, the situation can be set up so that staff appraisers have an extra layer of insulation from pressure

The thread is about desktop reports. If a staff appraiser refuses to complete what's put in their queue (desktops, remote hybrids, etc.) I guarantee he/she will be locked out of the system before they can think twice. That's the definition of pressure.

 

[ucbruin]

Caveat: I say this not as a jab to you - just as a funny aside:

Wouldn't just 'Jiff' have been more appropriate? At least then both terms would be reflective of peanut butter brands...

Good point but you've read posts by ResGuy, he has no imagination....
Years ago RG and I went round and round regarding "verification"....
I see you have taken up the cause....
Good luck....

Maybe, but it can still bring headaches when a homeowner wonders why in an increasing market their home they purchased a year ago was valued less because of inaccuracies in the inspection. All we can say is this is the appraised value assuming the information we were given is accurate. Skippies may end up getting the "right"market value by inflating the value with the information given.

Don't you think inspection inaccuracies have ALWAYS existed....
(At least I have been reading them it on the AF before Desktop product was implemented)

With today's technology growing exponentially and city/town websites getting more sophisticated....
The chances of inspection inaccuracies are also decreasing, if not exponentially, at a steady rate...

 

[Joe Flacco]

The good news is purchase applications have a lot of room higher.

So if the desktops take a chunk of appraisal volume with purchase applications increasing, it might not really change anything for a individual appraiser that wants to continue doing interior inspection appraisals.

 

[Chandler]

I haven't read the entire thread, so not sure if anyone brought this up, but it seems like the lenders will choose between a $600-$800 full appraisal by a professional with little inconvenience to their customer, or make their customer walk around the house with their phone doing video and pictures, perhaps measuring, providing a sketch and noting all materials throughout to save a few hundred dollars.

Seems to me, the better lenders/clients will choose the "full service" approach to just get the damn thing done. Or they may sample the desktops and realize they're more trouble than they're worth. The companies that farm the appraisal process off to scumbag AMC's will love the desktop and try to suck every dollar off of it. Let's see how this plays out.