Appraisals in America

By Fred Glick

Appraisals continue to be a hinderance for purchases and refinance transaction ever since the implementation of the Home Value Code of Conduct.

As of May 2009, the federal government, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac required that an appraisal be ordered through a blind ordering system.

What has this resulted in? Appraisal fraud is up 50% and equity continues to suffer because of appraisers that value properties not in their market.

When a consumer goes to an UpFront Broker, we do the best we can to make sure that you get not just the best rate at the lowest cost but to a lender that uses appraisers (through an Appraisal Management Company, AMC) that will get the best result of value and/or have a process where the appraisal can be appealed.

But, there are issues around the country with specific appraisers that make it hard sometimes to correct the amount of equity in a property. This system needs to change.

The post Safe Act brokers are not the problem. The system was created because of rouge loan officers that were employed at Washington Mutual Savings at the urging of their banking superiors, not brokers.

What is being done? The CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Bureau) is looking into possibly changing the system allowing the post-SAFE ACT licensed mortgage brokers back into the ordering process.

If you have been harmed by a bad appraisal, please contact the CFPB at their website http://www.consumerfinance.gov. They want to hear from you, they want to protect the consumer.