Desktop appraisals officially rolling out

[J Grant]

If naive means simiple....
Does unbelievable naive mean F'ing simple....


Yes I realize and realized that Covid Desktop products were temporary....
And yes I did have nice cooperative owners....
Considering the next Desktop product is for purchases, I won't worry about the homeowner providing a floorplan....
And if fees for the next Desktop product is not to my liking I'll decline it and won't have to partner with anyone....


I did include a statement that photos were provided by the homeowner/agent/MLS listing sheet/etc....
It seems to me that this Forum if full of threads regarding borrower complaints against the appraiser performing Traditional product....


Now doesn't this just sound so silly....
Rail against the bottom feeding appraisers and then admit you would consider doing under the right bottom feeding requirements....
Grant....
Focus on New Desktop for only purchases....


Again you contradict yourself....
On so many levels....

I would not bottom feed it by appraising out of my geo area or doing them for low fees. ( if I do them, remains to be seen imo there will be some changes made with them because it is ripe for problems the way it is now. There are actually very few formal complaints or lawsuits by owners toward appraisers in traditional appraisals, most posts here are about an owner venting, or pressuring. But imo , with remote inspections and appraiser never visiting property and /or involving a home owner or RE agent as an assistant over an app it will open door to more complaints and suits.

The suit everyone is talking about in Cali also dragged the AMC into it. Appraisers are expendable and lenders or AMC' do not care if the appraiser is sued. But appraisers also have low resources or their E and O tries to settle for a minor amount. The deep pockets are the AMC;s and lenders -disgruntled borrower or parties could see opportunities there when they were made to become an assistant in their own valuation or upset because they object to a value or how their property was reported, and no appraiser came out.

 

[sputnam]

I would not bottom feed it by appraising out of my geo area or doing them for low fees.

You won't. I won't either. Unfortunately, there are and will be plenty of appraisers who will. There are already many appraisers who ignore the compentency requirements of USPAP. I don't think doing desktops for areas they aren't knowledgeable about will be much of a stretch for them.

 

[DWiley]

Is this why the hybrids went dark, ...

I have no idea why you are making/posting this assertion related to hybrids. I am aware of no curtailment.

 

[alebrewer]

I think you very well may be correct, and further, I hope so.

To summarize Fannie's current position on these:
Hybrid--someone actually took pictures inside the house-what Fannie calls an 'inspection'.
Desktop--no pictures, but a floorplan is required.
Appraiser does the same report in both, correct? (I've not done either so I cannot speak from experience).

I see no time savings at all with this--some THING has to be scheduled either way, and I would argue taking pictures inside a house is faster than doing a floorplan (note though I have not used the new uber-floorplanning apps, so my answer may change in the future).
So all other things being equal, it is easy to argue a hybrid (which at least has some pictures, even if the worst stuff is missing at time) is more credible than just getting a floorplan. I would argue that anyway.

So Fannie appears to again be regressing in the credibility of what they are loaning on, and LTV is now up to 90%. I do wonder if somehow this product will be approved only in neighborhoods with certain demographics. That will be interesting, because I can see some discrimination suits the other way if that is their plan. Anyway, hand me my popcorn please.

Agree with the exception that, even for desktops, the appraiser has to have adequate information to produce credible results - which would include some kind of documentation about interior condition - be it photos from homeowner, recent MLS photos, etc., that demonstrate interior condition.

As to the time savings, I'd also agree - initially. Eventually, I do think that the limited SOW products will result in some level of time savings - more especially in rural areas where (a) there aren't many appraisers, (b) 'driving' the subject and comps is extremely time consuming, and (c) there is adequate data. The scenario I think benefits most from the limited SOW products is a rural market where the subject is about an hour from the appraiser, the comps are all a 2-3 hour 'drive', and the appraiser has sufficient data to produce credible results. In that scenario, and after infrastructure has been developed to ensure data collection, I can foresee an appraisal taking a week - as opposed to 4-6 weeks...

Edit - another scenario might be an appraisal assignment where mother nature has made physical inspection improbable... snow, for example.

 

[J Grant]

I have no idea why you are making/posting this assertion related to hybrids. I am aware of no curtailment.

thanks for the update ! I just have not seen any news about them recently so was wondering why it was so quiet.

 

[alebrewer]

Funny how that isn't the first time I've heard that. They were quoting the same line to my mentor 25 years ago about getting with the changing times or get left in the past.
Some gentleman from a lending institution was even telling me that I had better get comfy with google desktops for farm and commercial appraisals too, because if not I'd soon be out of work. Lol...

I can tell you that it happened 25 years ago - I have first hand experience. My father was an appraiser, and he failed to keep up with evolving technology and quantitative analysis. He ended up relinquishing his credential over a dispute with the state board.

I know that some appraiser predictions haven't panned out, but this one seems fairly straightforward. We ARE headed in this direction.

 

[J Grant]

Agree with the exception that, even for desktops, the appraiser has to have adequate information to produce credible results - which would include some kind of documentation about interior condition - be it photos from homeowner, recent MLS photos, etc., that demonstrate interior condition.

As to the time savings, I'd also agree - initially. Eventually, I do think that the limited SOW products will result in some level of time savings - more especially in rural areas where (a) there aren't many appraisers, (b) 'driving' the subject and comps is extremely time consuming, and (c) there is adequate data. The scenario I think benefits most from the limited SOW products is a rural market where the subject is about an hour from the appraiser, the comps are all a 2-3 hour 'drive', and the appraiser has sufficient data to produce credible results. In that scenario, and after infrastructure has been developed to ensure data collection, I can foresee an appraisal taking a week - as opposed to 4-6 weeks...

Edit - another scenario might be an appraisal assignment where mother nature has made physical inspection improbable... snow, for example.

If the GSE's want no inspection by appraiser to happen on a wider scale AND be credible, they need to forget about a cost savings (lender does not pay for the appraisal, borrower covers it anyway )-pay and create a specialty for , with a certificate of passed a training course for inspections , people dedicated to doing on site inspections , photos/measuring, and they could also photo /drive the comps with notes. THAT would save time on any appraisal, and provide the most credible results. Not having low fees the metric would prevent bottom feeder appraisers taking on volume out of a geo area.

Appraisers could still do their own inspections of course, but the assignments where they do not inspect , having a trained person (can be or not be an appraiser ) who does it would turn things around.

Tring co cobble together different variations of products and scrambling to get data with part of it unreliable or getting disparate parties or hired hands or owners involved is chaotic and not reliable. Get the AMC paws off appraisal fees and it would be enough to pay a competent inspector and pay the appraiser. Lenders if they want the benefit of AMC management should pay it out of their costs or pass it on to borrower, either way it should be divorced 100% from the payment for and fees for an appraisal.

 

[J Grant]

I can tell you that it happened 25 years ago - I have first hand experience. My father was an appraiser, and he failed to keep up with evolving technology and quantitative analysis. He ended up relinquishing his credential over a dispute with the state board.

I know that some appraiser predictions haven't panned out, but this one seems fairly straightforward. We ARE headed in this direction.

If we ARE headed in this direction then it could happen responsible and credibly - see my above post.

 

[ucbruin]

Photos sourced from a listing are not the same photos as a traditional appraisal that the appraiser took. Listing photos are advertisements for a property and typically only show the good stuff, and now, with some listings are using staged photos. What happens when few listing photos exist, the owner takes them ? What if house is vacant, then what ?

All this to avoid an appraiser going out to a property....Photos are also not a substitute for an inspection where appraiser walks the property and observes it as a whole/what is around it on site..

If lenders want fast service, and want to achieve it by appraisers not visiting a property, they need to pay for professional trained inspectors to measure, take photos, take notes , and provide them which lender passes on to appraiser. Which lenders will not want to do. Or, pay appraisers more so they can hire assistants. That would free appraisers time up to schedule more inspections-These short cut solutions exist because lenders want fast turn times without paying for it to responsibly happen .

Not everyone wants to train to become an appraiser. A subset of people could be trained to only inspect, but to get decent quality/have them avail to run out fast means paying for it. Not hiring off craigslist with a one day train or using the loser end of RE agents desperate for extra cash. Is this why the hybrids went dark, was it too hard to find fast, cheap people to inspect and coordinate it - hybrids could work if entities were willing to pay but their goal of cheap fees to cut costs with it are incompatible.

"If lenders want fast service, and want to achieve it by appraisers not visiting a property, they need to pay for professional trained inspectors to measure, take photos, take notes , and provide them which lender passes on to appraiser. Which lenders will not want to do. Or, pay appraisers more so they can hire assistants. That would free appraisers time up to schedule more inspections-These short cut solutions exist because lenders want fast turn times without paying for it to responsibly happen ."

What you seem to advocate is a Hybrid which only licensed appraisers are allowed to do (both for the data/collection and appraisal)....
If the hybrid eventually come to fruition

 

[J Grant]

"If lenders want fast service, and want to achieve it by appraisers not visiting a property, they need to pay for professional trained inspectors to measure, take photos, take notes , and provide them which lender passes on to appraiser. Which lenders will not want to do. Or, pay appraisers more so they can hire assistants. That would free appraisers time up to schedule more inspections-These short cut solutions exist because lenders want fast turn times without paying for it to responsibly happen ."

What you seem to advocate is a Hybrid which only licensed appraisers are allowed to do (both for the data/collection and appraisal)....
If the hybrid eventually come to fruition

see my above post, the people trained need not be appraisers, but they should be trained for it and paid well for it. They could be an appraiser, but do not have to be , I never said they have to be a licensed appraiser!