Desktop Appraisals Becoming the New Normal

[Chandler]

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

Are you doing interior walls on a sketch and watching virtual tours by the agent/homeowner?

 

[George Hatch]

No interior inspection by anyone. Not on houses, either.

 

[Joe Flacco]

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.

The desktops are for GSE purchase up to 90% LTV. So probably what will happen over time is all listings in the range of GSE loans will probably include floor plan in addition to the photos going forward. There is no need to make other people do stuff.

 

[Chandler]

The desktops are for GSE purchase up to 90% LTV. So probably what will happen over time is all listings in the range of GSE loans will probably include floor plan in addition to the photos going forward. There is no need to make other people do stuff.

No one is doing the floorplan to provide it to you? I doubt it magically appears.

 

[Joe Flacco]

No one is doing the floorplan to provide it to you? I doubt it magically appears.

You don't have floor plans for a lot of your comps/listings in your MLS? I think at least half of the properties I flip through floor plans. It might be as high as 80% of listings.

 

[Chandler]

You don't have floor plans for a lot of your comps/listings in your MLS? I think at least half of the properties I flip through floor plans. It might be as high as 80% of listings.

Maybe 2-3%. Floorplans can be obtained from municipalities or a subscription service however.

 

[CGinMN]

Staff appraisers may not see it as 'pressure'. My guess is that staff appraisers have been the ones primarily involved in the testing. Is it possible that they may be on board with the alternative SOW assignments?

Is that why Clario has been advertising a $10k signing bonus, because theres just so much money to be made in desktops as a staffer and they’re just sharing the wealth?

FWIW, I have no beef with limited scope appraisals like desktops and hybrids. I have done many. But there is a lot I don’t like about the transition to widespread use.

 

[CGinMN]

I see floorplans in maybe 10% of listings. If you are going high end the number is much higher.

 

[Chandler]

I see floorplans in maybe 10% of listings. If you are going high end the number is much higher.

It's a hassle getting real floorplans and often they're incorrect. As a former builder, I would physically submit standard plans to municipalities and along with the standard plans were pages and pages of options, some of which changed the building envelope, some very substantial. When you get a floorplan from the city by request, you get the standard plans, not the "As Built". Seems like it will be a bit of work to get an accurate floorplan and I wouldn't count on the typical realtor to help.

 

[Joe Flacco]

They just want floor plans like this. It's not very expensive. Most of the listings I see have floor plans like this. I think the agents just order them as part of standard listing procedure.