Shut the Lights

[Daystar]

Last one out Shut the Lights. This is getting very depressing, I do not think we will see a strong housing recovery for a long period of time.

Here is my thinking, Most lenders have cut off many of their loan programs. If you do not have qualifying income and down payment you simply can not qualify. This is reflected in less loan applications which in turns means fewer appraisals. While this may be good in the long run, short term it could be a disaster for all of us.

According to Barny Frank and Cris Dodd There are now going to be stricter laws on the books to prevent many of these loan programs from being re-employed back into the market.

The country is in a state of fear and there is a lack of consumer confidence, this in my humble opinion will cause the Real Estate Market to continue in its lackluster performance. In the mean time I have spent close to 20 Years in what I thought was a good and respectable profession only to have the legs cut out by less than stellar participants. How many Appraisers will be able to survive?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The number of appraisers 20 years ago isn't much different than today. The amount of work they are expected to do for the same dollar is the problem. If fees had kept up with inflation, we would be getting no less than $700 per appraisal and that factor alone would "save" appraisers.

The "legs" were cut out from under "us" by greed. It was the fact the GOVERNMENT allowed deregulated lenders to bypass appraisers, pressure appraisers, and as a result, we were totally worthless...even worth less than what we are paid, which is pitifully low. We have served no purpose in the past 15 years, especially since the late 90's when the government made it a policy to let anyone lend any amount to any borrower who could reach the counter top and scribble their name...no questions asked.

 

[Mike Boyd]

Until agents and property owners realize that FHA loans can be almost as easy and with similar down payment requirements as the old sub-prime junk. The main difference is that borrowers will have to provide documentary evidence of income......such as income tax returns. Qualifying for an FHA loan is a little easier than qualifying for a 20% down conventional.

 

[Carnivore]

Until agents and property owners realize that FHA loans can be almost as easy and with similar down payment requirements as the old sub-prime junk. The main difference is that borrowers will have to provide documentary evidence of income......such as income tax returns. Qualifying for an FHA loan is a little easier than qualifying for a 20% down conventional.

And hopefully FHA will back appraisers to fend off the intense pressure from lenders to do things wrong again.

This time I think the appraisal boards will wake up. So far they have not taken any heat for this mess we are in.

 

[Bama Bayou]

I think Mike is right on target. FHA market share is climbing every month. The brokers don't like it because of the limits on the fees they can make, but they are about the only sub-prime player left. Lenders nowadays just won't do the deal unless they can unload the paper on Fannie/Freddie or insure it with FHA.

 

[Ray Miller]

And hopefully FHA will back appraisers to fend off the intense pressure from lenders to do things wrong again.

This time I think the appraisal boards will wake up. So far they have not taken any heat for this mess we are in.

I don't think FHA will wake up in time. The pressure is already there in some parts of the country.

State boards I don't hold much hope for a lot of them.

 

[Farm Gal]

It would also be nice if FHA/HUD went back to a clear and definitive explanation of what the appraiser IS or IS NOT to consider health and sfaety 'issues' because they have re-written the rools so many times that even they don't know their own rules.

Just call three times with certain basic questions and I can assure you that you will get three vastly different answers on how to handle almost any basic issue such as 'hand-rails' 'deck/entry stoop heights', 'Broken or cracked window glass'... and don't even get me started on condos and 'site value'

Frankly about the only thing they DO remain consistent on is LBP - and since that is going to become a bigger issue in the general market it doesn't mean much 'special' in terms of FHA anymore!

Pretty soon the word will be out on who is a good appraiser and who is a bad one -

Me? I don't care what the rules are - I just want to know (not guess) what this weeks rules are and make sure the ref is calling the plays evenly!

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

As regards a definitive stance on LBP: I received what I felt was solid advice from the Forum last month to defer follow-up LBP remediation confirmation to a specialist, and I subsequently conducted enough research to figure out how one becomes such a specialist, because clients were asking.

HUD subsequently clarified by telephone that the appraiser is the LBP specialist, and that a ground level visual confirmation of basic touch-ups was all one might expect in the current world/environment.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Last one out Shut the Lights. This is getting very depressing, I do not think we will see a strong housing recovery for a long period of time.

It's not just the housing recovery that is needed; that's not enough to increase workload significantly. Sales were never more than a small portion of our res work. The lack of equity in many people's home, and the historically low interest rates, is what is killing off much of the work. Because of those two issues, there is absolutely no way that the workload will recover to prior levels, probably for decades.

The need for appraisals has dramatically decreased in the world of residential lending, and the only way to make up for it is to find work in other segments.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

I am willing to bet residential appraisers will again be in high demand...only now it will be to attack other appraisers's lousy appraisals. Can you say...."Sharks smell blood in the water?".