from Richard Hagar's article on expanding requirements and worse expectations:
"Moving forward, there are information
grabs that start to trigger paranoia but still must be included as part of the URAR:
• What is the height of the front door threshold above the ground?
• Is the primary heating system located below grade?
• Identify the ceiling type in every room. They have nine+ different types listed including flat, vaulted, tray, coffered, barrel, etc.
• Ceiling height and condition.
• When requested by the client, the total square footage of the windows for manufactured homes (Some lenders may also ask for this for site-built homes).
• When specifically requested by a client, the structure's volume, including finished and unfinished space for outbuildings.
• Appraisers must now segregate the property's square footage into 10 different categories including converted, "noncontinuous finished" and "finished nonstandard" (These are listed and explained in my webinar titled
FNMA, ANSI and UAD 3.6 available at
WorkingRE.com. I
strongly suggest taking it before you provide any UAD 3.6 appraisals).
• Photographs of every room and every component that impacts value in the cost, income, and sales comparison approaches (good and bad).
• Many clients will avoid appraisers and use Property Data Collectors (PDC). The PDCs use high quality scanning devices (including iPhone 14+) to scan every room in the house. These scans produce 4k images of EVERYTHING in the house which will then be sent to an overseas company, converted into a floor plan, with the results sent to the appraiser. Some software can determine the make, model, and age of the appliances.
(Hey, nice gun-rack on the wall in your rec. room and is that large void space behind the wall a hidden saferoom or just a safe?) Of course, you know that the data will only be provided to the appraiser and deleted after delivery
…cough…cough.
So, when was the last time an appraiser adjusted for the height of the front door above grade, the SF of windows, the heating system being in the basement or the volume, not square footage; VOLUME, of an outbuilding? And why would an appraiser need photographs of EVERY room?
(Cute pink pony wallpaper in your child's room.)
I know this is startling, however my examples are only part of the information they obtain or require.
The GSEs' computers review 15,000–21,000 appraisals a day. (15,000 x 260 workdays a year x 5 years = a whole lota data) The GSEs have and will continue to add to the largest assemblage of house photos, including interiors, that has ever been assembled in the history of the world.
All the 521+ fields of information, plus photographs, will be delivered to the GSEs, you know the ones owned by the Federal Government. I wonder what they could do with that. Could the information be used to estimate your wealth, determine your political stance or tweak your taxes? Boy wouldn't the local county tax assessor love that interior data? And why would there be a push to sell FNMA and Freddie Mac, with all that data, to a private company, of course after the government has that data about your house saved in a central database? Look up last year's proposed law deceptively called the
Appraisal Modernization Act S. 2322 and who sponsored it.
While I'm trying to keep you safe out there, maybe I'm being paranoid. Or is there just a chill running down my spine?"
