New Appraisal Rules and Regulations
May 4, 2009
If you have not already heard, as of Friday May 1st 2009, as one industry expert put it, “the complete lending landscape just changed!” To bring that back in from a more macroscopic statement, the way that appraisal are performed for certain types of real estate has changed. Welcome to the new world “after: the introduction of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). The HVCC pertains to mortgage loans (originated from May 1st onward) that are intended for sale to either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
SO REMIND ME AGAIN ABOUT THE HVCC?
Last week’s article went over the Good, Bad and the Ugly of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, and before I continue I wanted to remind folks of a few things about the HVCC.
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the HVCC builds on existing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seller-service guidelines to “increase the reliability of appraisals” for loans sold to the both these agencies.
To make a long story short, the changes being implemented through the HVCC are really intended to protect everyone and are for the greater good (yes - “the greater good”) by setting requirements so that the individuals and organizations requesting the appraisals have no influence on the outcome of the actual appraisal itself. Thus, the HVCC:
* Prohibits lenders and 3rd parties from influencing appraisals;
* Requires lenders to ensure that borrowers get a free copy of appraisal reports at least three business days before closing;
* Allows lenders to have in-house appraisers, so long as they’re completely independent of the sales staff and their compensation does not depend on their estimates or on loan closings;
* Requires lenders to test a randomly selected 10 percent (or other statistically significant percentage) of appraisals and report any problems to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which may force lenders to buy loans back from them;
* Requires lenders to report appraisal misconduct to applicable state agencies;
* Etc. and so forth.
In a nut shell, the HVCC sets guidelines to prevent real estate appraisers from being intimidated, bribed or otherwise influenced in their developing their valuation on a particular property. As you can imagine, there has been a lot of resistance on the HVCC throughout the industry; Real Estate Brokers, Agents, Lenders, Appraisers, investors, and even the end consumer are all going to be affected in one way or another.
WHAT KINDS OF PROPERTIES DOES THIS APPLY TO?
Now, as far as the types of real estate properties that this pertains to, we would need to take a closer look at what both Freddie and Fannie to say.
For Fannie, the HVCC only pertains to conventional, single-family loans and NOT to multifamily loans, or to loans insured or guaranteed by a federal agency. For Freddie, the HVCC also only pertains to single-family mortgages as well (no big surprise there).
NOW THAT I KNOW THE INTENT, WHERE CAN I GET SPECIFICS?
To start out with, a copy of the HVCC can be found on the Fannie Mae web site.
To download a copy, simply go to the following website and once you are there, then click on the link for “Home Valuation Code of Conduct”:
https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/relatedsellinginfo/appcode/
Along with any new code or regulations comes the issues with interpretation of such. Specifically, exactly what does the code mean and what can (and can not) be done. To help along with that, the various agencies have put out Frequently Asked Questions on the HVCC. At the above link for Fannie Mae, you have access to not only to the 6-page code itself, but also Fannie Mae has put together a nice list of Frequently Asked Questions and a replay of a recorded Webinar on the topic.
Some of the more interesting outputs from the FAQs include:
* The Code does NOT specifically prohibit communication by a real estate agent with an appraiser;
* The Code DOES prohibit an appraiser from collecting payment for the appraisal directly from the borrower;
* The Code ONLY applies to Appraisals and does not apply to other valuation methods (i.e. automated valuation models (AVMs), broker price opinions (BPOs), tax assessments, etc.); and
* The Code prohibits mortgage brokers from ordering appraisal services, but brokers may initiate the appraisal process on a lender’s behalf in accordance with arrangements made by the lender.
Interesting to see how this all plays out, what tweaks are made over the coming months, and how this will impact not only the end user, but also anyone in the business or industry as well.
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Home Valuation Code Of Conduct: Investors Be Ready
May 1, 2009
Today marks a major change in the lending landscape and the way loans are sold to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac…. Specifically, how they are appraised.
If you have not heard of Home Valuation Code Of Conduct (HVCC),just ask your favorite mortgage broker about it and more than likely their response will be something like:
&$#@%^&%$#^%$#@#$%^
(sorry, but can print what they really will blast you with)
In short, this change is designed to fix the evils of the past.
As always, there are good and bad sides to every change. We will explore the good, bad and ugly of this new approach but first, let’s synopsize what it is about.
WHAT IS HVCC (Short Story)
So what does the code say? Basically, it’s that the people responsible for originating mortgages can have nothing to do with the appraisal process.
In addition, the code also:
* Prohibits lenders and third parties from influencing or attempting to influence appraisals.
* Requires lenders to ensure that borrowers get a free copy of appraisal reports at least three business days before closing.
* Allows lenders to have in-house appraisers, so long as they’re completely independent of sales staff and their compensation does not depend on their estimates or on loan closings.
* Requires lenders to test a randomly selected 10 percent (or other statistically significant percentage) of appraisals and report any problems to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, which may force lenders to buy loans back from them.
* Requires lenders to report appraisal misconduct to applicable state agencies.
You can download a copy of the HVCC at: https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/relatedsellinginfo/appcode/pdf/hvcc.pdf
WHY IS HVCC GOOD?
Let’s face it, the appraisal business has been a bit “rigged” over the last several years.
In short, only appraisers that could “get the deal done” were used on a repeated basis by mortgage brokers, realtors, and or builders. It only makes sense that this is the way the system worked. If you were a realtor, or even if you were a new home buyer, the last thing that you want is for your appraisal to come up short and the deal fall apart.
Since appraisals are somewhat subjective, the appraisers that always got called were those where the subjectivity worked out in favor of the deal.
However, many appraisers felt very pressured to make the deal work….. their future business counted on everybody walking away happy. Of course we are now seeing some of the consequences of that type of approach with our current housing and mortgage crisis.
WHY IS HVCC BAD?
Because now your purchase or sale is a crap shoot.
Why?
Simply because appraisers will be pulled out of a “blind pool”. From my personal experience, only about 20% of appraisers are good at their profession (you know, the ole 80/20 rule).
So you now have an 80% chance of a mediocre appraiser being assigned to your appraisal. Are they really capable of determining the value? I am skeptical.
In addition, most the incentives for the appraisers are now set up to appraise low….. The safe play is to come in BELOW what you may be thinking is actual value.
CONSEQUENCES
HVCC will be implemented May 1, 2009. Many people believe, myself included, that this is going to severely disrupt the home seller market, and investor market, for a period.
Everybody’s major hope is that soon, tweaks will be made into something that is workable for all in the industry.
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- Appraisers brace for industry change (appraisalnewsonline.typepad.com)
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