http://www.appraisersinbatonrouge.com/ - New FHA Appraisers Baton Rouge Louisiana Blog Launched

Bill Cobb, with Accurate Valuations Group, has launched “FHA Appraisers Baton Rouge Louisiana” blog. The “About” page of this blog says,

Thank you for visiting the “FHA Appraisers In East Baton Rouge Louisiana Blog”. This is a Baton Rouge FHA Real Estate Appraiser Blog Site of Bill Cobb, CREA, of Accurate Valuations Group!

Blog topics include local real estate market trends, appraisal-related issues, SMART Charting or Graphs documenting trends, ”photos from the field”, local interests, and anything Bill finds interesting – people, neighborhoods, coffee and events.

Bill Cobb, CREA is a real estate appraiser based in the Baton Rouge Market. He covers multiple Parishes (or Counties) in the Greater Baton Rouge Region and works for brokers, banks, governmental agencies, Real Estate Agents, attorneys, home owners, insurance agents and more. Beyond the appraisal business, Bill’s passions include building Online Video Business Cards, WordPress CMS Sites (Blogs), WordPress Video Sales Letters For Local Businesses, Embedding Video onto websites and blogs, building affiliate marketing campaigns, building the “BIG 3 In Social Media (Twitter, YouTube & Facebook”, shooting real estate videos for the Greater Baton Rouge Realty Visual Tours site, reading, local First Pentecostal Church, and spending time with family and friends. Vacations For Bill Are Behind A Computer Building Online Marketing Campaigns!

P.O. Box 40515
Baton Rouge, LA 70835
TEL: 225-293-1500
MOBILE: 225-953-0638
TOLL FREE: 1-888-678-3544
FAX: 1-866-663-6065
STAFF EMAIL: fastvalue2@cox.net
http://www.accuratevg.com

SOCIALLY:

Facebook: http://bit.ly/E0rsl

Twitter: http://twitter.com/billcobbsuccess

YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/batonrougeappraiser

http://www.realestateappraisertips.info/ – Attention Real Estate Appraisers: Inman News Article Out Today: Wanted: ‘Credible’ Appraisals

In my email this morning is a new Inman News article regarding home appraisals. Here’s a snippet from the email:

“It’s the hottest topic in real estate today: The Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC, is so hot that it’s not just inflammatory. It’s on fire.

The HVCC is a new set of appraisal-related practices that lenders must follow with respect to loans they want to sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. These new practices are intended to reduce the incidence of appraisal fraud and prevent inappropriate pressure being placed on appraisers to inflate home valuations in home purchase and loan refinance transactions.”

http://www.fhaappraisersbatonrouge.com/ – Mary Thompson, GA Appraiser, Outlines FHA’s Move Towards HVCC Appraisal Rules….Get Ready For More Change!

Mary Thompson, Flowery Branch, GA, issued a post on Active Rain this morning that outlines the changes in FHA Appraisal Policy…..AND, it includes some Good News for FHA Appraisers regarding FEES! The link to the post is here. Here’s the outline of the

1. Good news for appraisers, the AMC’s who normally pay CUT rate fees and who care less about quality appraisal reports and experienced appraisers and more about making money, must pay appraisers based upon normal market rates for completing FHA assignments. However the borrower will wind up paying more for FHA loans as the appraisal fees will be even higher….at least this is my take on the situation as the AMC’s will jack up their prices to the banks to pay the appraisers what they should and to make profit for themselves as well.

2. Mortgage Brokers will no longer be ordering appraisal reports. So this repsonsibility will go to the Banks or the AMC’s.

3. Appraisal reports will only be good for 4 months rather than 6 months.

4. Good NEWS: FHA will allow appraisal reports to be transferred to another lender rather than having another appraisal report completed.

5. The only way another appraisal report can be completed if someone does not agree with value is the report will have to be flawed in some way and it will have to be proved that flaws exist in the report

6. No one can talk to appraisers about value issues. REALTORS, you can still give Appraisers comparable sales data, that is NOT prohibited, you just cannot talk to them about value. The banks and AMC’s can discuss particulars of the assignment, but no one can pressure an appraiser for value PERIOD!

7. As of October 1st only CERTIFIED Appraisers can complete FHA appraisal assignments.

8. FHA will require that the appraiser is knowledgeable in the area that they appraise. So if you find an appraiser coming from way out of the area to do an appraisal, this would be one reason to suspect the accuracy of the report. This has ALWAYS been required of appraisers as part of USPAP ( Competency RULE) but many appraisers would take the job no matter where it was and this is not good, if they have no clue about the area.

9. Banks will be liable for the loans they underwrite, not brokers, so there may be more FHA brokers coming from the picture.

To read more about it click here for the full story:

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/09182009_drastic_fha_guideline_changes.asp

Pass this along, this WILL affect your business as of JANUARY 2010.

http://www.batonrougerealestateappraisal.com – Greater Baton Rouge Among Four Louisiana Housing Markets Named Nation’s Best For Real Estate In September 2009

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, the Baton Rouge Business Report and Local Market Monitor reported that four (4) Louisiana housing markets were ranked among the nation’s best real estate markets. Here’s a snippet:

“A new report says Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles and Monroe are four of the U.S. real estate markets expected to perform the best in the upcoming year. Local Market Monitor, which produces the Home Price Forecast for more than 300 cities, says home values should remain level in those cities over the next 12 months. Officials with Local Market say home prices in those cities are lower than the national average, and the effects of the recession have been slight. Baton Rouge, in particular, has continued to add jobs. The markets expected to do the worst include places where there were spikes in home prices and where speculative buying got out of hand, such as Las Vegas, Miami and Modesto, Calif.”

Source: Baton Rouge Business Report PM

http://www.fhaappraisersbatonrouge.com/ – FHA Appraisers Baton Rouge Reports On AMC LREC Leglislation Recently Passed.

The most recent issue of the Louisiana Real Estate Commissions, “Boundary Lines” (Volume 43, No. 2) reports on Approved AMC (Appraisal Management Company) Leglislation. The highlights are presented below from their newsletter I received on 9/3/2009.