Posted by Kate/CA on 6/28/09 12:43pm
Msg #293869

HVCC - appraisers

My husband and I are attempting to do a refi. We had an appraiser come out , 17 days later he still had not had submitted it to our loan processor. We have alot of equity in our house, and we have no debts except the house payments, so nothing like that was an issue. I called, the Appraisal Management Company, many times during those 17 days, they could not get him to respond. Myself I think he couldn't get the comps, they brought him from another area and he realized he didn't have access to the MLS. We had to have another appraisal done.


http://www.hvccpetition.com/

This is interesting reading.

http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/player/tbws/10777/1014098

Interesting video

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 6/28/09 12:56pm
Msg #293870

Unfortunately, that's a major pitfall of this new regulation which is supposed to help prevent fraud. It is also much more expensive now. Did you have to pay twice?
It only affects conventional loans such as yours, but not FHA or VA loans.

Reply by Kate/CA on 6/28/09 3:12pm
Msg #293878

We didn't have to pay twice. They took the fees back from the first appraiser. Can you imagine us treating a client like that. They would never use the notary again. The Appraiser service acted like it was no big deal.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 6/28/09 4:27pm
Msg #293885

Welcome to the brave new world of appraising.... The HVCC was SUPPOSED to add some transparency to the process, by prohibiting the lenders and mortgage brokers from getting into bed with the appraisers. Unfortunately, it isn't working out that way - and many of the VMCs are owned by a bank, so where's the transparency?

What you experienced is not unusual. There have been long delays and sloppy work, partially due to the fact that the appraisers are being paid less now, and also partially due to the fact that many are being assigned to areas they have zero familiarity with. We had one instance in our office where an appraisal done by an out-of-area appraiser came in more than $50K below contract price because he used bad comps. It almost killed the deal, but after some scrambling the LO was able to get another appraisal done - that one came in at $20K over contract price. The buyer was refunded the cost of the first appraisal, because it was clearly incompetence at fault.

I'm sorry to say that the whole HVCC thing originated with the AG of my state. The National Association of Realtors is lobbying hard to get this nonsense overturned, because it's only making things tougher in an already tough market.

Reply by Kate/CA on 6/28/09 6:48pm
Msg #293900

One of my friends is a realtor, they had a sale that the appraisal came in 60K less than the selling price, again appraiser was out of the area, did not have good comps to compare it with. They did manage to get things corrected to save it. There is an appraiser in this area, but because he is not on there list they can't use him for my appraisal. If this HVCC is truly going to work, they have got to get appraiser that know the area. Some of these appraisers are coming from 150 miles and more away. I don't know why the appraiser has to be signed up with them. Why can't they call one in the area and let him/her sign up at that time, let the appraiser fax what ever docs they need, like we do when we are not signed up with a signing company. They are just making it easy on themselves, calling who ever who will take the assignment.

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 6/28/09 7:30pm
Msg #293901

Sometimes they just take whoever is next on the list.

Reply by Kate/CA on 6/28/09 8:02pm
Msg #293902

And in this area, next on the list could be 150 miles away, in my case they are all at least 55 plus miles away.

Reply by Shoshana Roller on 6/28/09 8:27pm
Msg #293905

We experience much of the same here in the Phoenix area.

Reply by MikeC/NY on 6/29/09 5:45pm
Msg #293984

It's causing major problems for some of us Realtors. The appraisers are PO'd because they're getting less money than they were, and now some are getting sloppy. We are still allowed to provide them with comps, if they'll accept them - most will, because it's less work for them. But they're not supposed to have any contact with the lender or the LO.

The other part that's a pain is that lender can't share the appraisal with another lender - so the buyer can get dinged twice if the first one comes up short and they want to go to another lender. In the case I mentioned, it was so obvious that the first guy was incompetent that the appraisal fee was refunded.

As far as why they can't just find an appraiser in the area, my understanding is that the appraisers have to sign up with the VMC in order to get into the rotation, and that each appraisal is just assigned to the next one on the list - regardless of whether or not they know the area. I THINK that is a requirement, but I'm not sure - I haven't had time to read the law itself, only the highlights that were provided to us.