Appraisal Scoop

Technorati - what's that?

Techno what?  I don't get it?  One more thing that I have to be a part of?

NO!! - One more thing that you GET to be a part of and that you'll want to be a part of once you get the hang of it.

I heard about Technorati just a few months ago and haven't done anything with it.  Honestly - I was confused by the whole thing and did not want to try and figure it out.

For some reason today was the day to get into it.  And it's really cool.  I am just starting out with it and there is a lot that I have yet to discover - but I am enjoying myself.

In simple terms it is a search engine for blogs.  But it is so much more than that.  Yeah - I can post my blog.  So what right?  That will take 3+ months to find it right?  Nope - from what I gather it is real time - so this blog will show up right away! 

AND...I can keep track of how many people have it saved as a favorite.  I can save other blogs as favorites, put blogs on my watch list and even have a mini viewer that is up all of the time so that I can see what is happening right now!

I will keep you posted on how it is going...but meanwhile you can check out the Technorati blog.

Author: Brooke Long: Cataluna is a web design and print marketing company located in Shakopee, Minnesota. 

Limiting Appraiser Liability - Give Up Your License?

About seven years ago next month, I became aware of fraud in the databases, with illegal property flips, and in some cases, bogus sales. It was at a seminar entitled "Real Estate Fraud and the Appraisers Role" created by Steve Smith, MAI, SRA. There were like 90 people there. We did a field trip to a flipping neighborhood, one with what had been 184 fourplexes. 27 had been torn down, and others were being torn down.

There were board-ups and burn-outs throughout the neighborhood. In the background was a bulldozer knocking over fourplexes, as the City had decided one way to stop blight and the cash drain on municipal services for Police/Fire/Ambulances was to eliminate flipping neighborhoods. Yea, there was grafitti, drug dealing, gangs, bullet holes, prostitution, abandoned and junked cars, trash and debris all around. There were lots of sales in the database, the majority of which were frauds.

The idea that the data we rely on in the databases can be perverted with illegal transactions scared me. I am a risk averse person.

But, it became painfully obvious that the level of fraud in real estate deals was increasing, as if my Region was a magnet for fraudsters.

After our field trip, back at the seminar, I asked about the three best ways to limit liabilities and here is what I remember the answer to be:

Ultra Mobile PC and Apex Sketching - Next Major Technology Leap for Appraisers?

Real Estate Appraisers, as a group, have been very quick to adopt new technology. Online appraisal ordering, Internet delivery of reports (EDI), digital imaging, laser measurement of properties, and electronic data collection using hand-held Pocket PCs are but a few of the "commonplace" technologies that appraisers pioneered long before their clients were up to speed.

One of the problems with emerging technologies is achieving that blend of the right hardware and the right software at the same time. For example, both appraisers and their clients can remember how digital imaging was held back because of the poor quality printers available back in the "early adopter" stage. For years, appraisers have had mobile and desktop sketching programs but the "mobile" hardware and software have never hit that "sweet-spot" where it could really take-off and be universally adopted by appraisers in the field.

That's ALL about to change.   After reading recent comments by Randall Garrett, CEO of Apex Software on the introduction of the UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) and Apex's next-generation mobile sketching software, I think this combination may be leading a trend that will ultimately replace the appraiser's FAVORITE piece of equipment!

Protect Your Appraisal Data By Storing It Remotely

A plethora of remote data back-up options removes obstacles for not protecting your valuable real estate information.  In a Tech Watch story by Mike Antoniak, he says: "If you’ve ever lost the contents of your computer to a crash, malicious code, accident, or act of nature, you know the wisdom of habitually backing up all the data generated by your real estate career. Just think of all the contact information, contracts, forms, and correspondences you’d have to rebuild if you erased the data from one transaction! "

A good backup plan requires redundancy — keeping two or more copies of your computer files — and remote storage, with at least one set of data stored off-site. Both are benefits offered by the growing selection of Web-based data backup plans.

Warm Up To Cold Calls

Everyone hates making cold calls---until they learn how to do it properly. Follow these 7 steps to overcome your fear, and start dialing for dollars. Entrepreneur's StartUps magazine - March 2006 By Kim T. Gordon.

Can you name one of the most prevalent fears among new entrepreneurs? If you guessed "cold calling," you're right. Some entrepreneurs feel shy about initiating contacts. For others, the possibility of coming across as a salesperson makes them uncomfortable. Yet making telephone contact with prospects is essential, whether it's to form relationships or follow up on leads.

If you can't ask for the business you need, you might as well step aside and watch your competitors steal the show. The truth is, cold calling is easy to learn and a whole lot of fun once you master it. Just follow these seven important steps.

1. Practice consultative selling.
2. Know your purpose. 
3. Set a goal.
4. Create a three-part opener.
5. Ask great questions.
6. Position against competitors.
7. Ask for the business.

Full story . . .

Planned Unit Development (PUD) - Appraiser vs Underwriter

Appraiser Asks: Can you help me explain that just because Homeowner Association (HOA) dues are paid doesn't mean the appraised property is in a Planned Unit Development (PUD)? The Loan Underwriter rejected my appraisal because HOA dues of $300 per year are paid for maintenance of a drain water lagoon. The Underwriter says: "Either remove the HOA dues from the report or indicate subject is located in a PUD. We can't have one without the other." Thanks Bill

Bill, I think this may be a case where the Underwriter has a valid point! FNMA/FHLMC indicate that if the following are true for the property, the subject is located within a PUD by FNMA/FHLMC definition.

• There is common property for the units;
• there is an automatic and non-severable membership in the Homeowner’s Association;
• there are MANDATORY dues;
• and the property is NOT a Condominium unit.

If the above are true, the subject would be deemed to be a PUD unit by FNMA/FHLMC. Zoning is not the key to determining whether a unit is located within a PUD for purposes of addressing this section of the report.

However, if the subject is zoned “PUD”, it would-be appropriate to add commentary in the appraisal report addressing whether the subject meets the above definition for a PUD unit or not and if not, why not. The PUD section of the URAR appraisal is only to be completed if the following condition is met:

Appraisers Debate Best Compensation Plan For New Appraiser Hires

An ongoing debate among owners of appraisal firms remains - "What is the BEST way to bring new appraisers (trainees) into the appraisal profession?"

The usual question from a potential employer goes like this: "I am going to be hiring a trainee and was wondering how to handle the initial pay. I was thinking I should pay him/her an hourly wage at the beginning since it may take a while before he/she can type up an appraisal. I was wondering if there was a typical norm for starting pay of a trainee."

The counterpoint (reponse) often goes like this: "You are going to PAY to train someone? Wow you are a nice guy. I simply can't see why anyone should be paid for learning a profession. It is a privilege to be taken under your wing and taught how to become an appraiser. If they went to the local college and were trained to be a computer programmer or a surveyor, would the college be paying them? You will be losing money because a lot of your time will be spent training, your liability will go up, and most of all you will be training someone who will be your competition two years from now." 

My thoughts . . . .(I welcome YOUR comments below)

Appraiser Identity Theft

According to Brian Weaver, a practicing appraiser for over 25 years and investigator for the Office of Banks and Real Estate in Illinois, has recently researched Appraiser Identity Theft in Illinois and others states. Click here for the complete report: License To Steal The Illinois Coalition of Appraisal Professionals commissioned this study and resulting article. www.icapweb.org

Brian Weaver has suggested that there are three main scenarios of appraiser identity theft and forgery currently taking place.

• First, there is the appraiser-trainee who is fed up with splitting fees with their sponsor/ mentor and has decided to forge their mentor’s name and affix their mentor’s license number to reports without their mentor’s knowledge or permission.
• Second, there are appraisers who go phishing for license numbers. The term phishing refers to the current internet ploy by computer hackers to scour cyberspace for usable personal data that can be exploited.
• The third and most disturbing trend involves persons who never were licensed appraisers, yet find this to be their crime of choice. Like those who go phishing, they come up with almost random victims and prepare bogus reports for hefty fees.

What Can Appraisers Do To Protect Themselves? - READ ON . . .

FeedBlitz - Blog Updates In Your eMail

Many of you are getting into blogging and finding that there are just too many sites to try to keep up with. Consider using   FeedBlitz!

Pretty much any and every blog has an RSS, Atom or RDF feed. And if you're thinking "A what? Feeds? Atoms? I didn't get past high school physics" don't worry - you don't need to know. FeedBlitz handles the complexities - once you've registered you just get a nicely formatted email every day for those blog URLs that you're intested in.

Everyone has email. FeedBlitz monitors the information you care about and delivers it to your inbox. Simple. No popups - ever. No gurus required. No software to install. And because it's email, unlike typical web services, you can look at the content offline in your email software - on your laptop, phone, PDA, at the airport, wherever you can read your mail.

Multiple Feeds, One Daily Email. Each night (US East Coast) the free service checks on your feeds, figures out the changes, and sends you a single, easy to read email with all the information at your fingertips. If there are no changes, you won't get a message, so FeedBlitz won't clutter up your email system with worthless emails.

Even with an online aggregator having a daily digest backup is useful, as your email software has  search, sort and indexing capabilities that many aggregators simply don't.

You can register for a free FeedBlitz account here or scroll down and enter your email address in the "Subscribe Me" box on the left side of this blog.

Detection & Prevention of Mortgage Loan Fraud

An interesting article from Vernon Martin about the Prevention and Dectection of Mortgage Fraud taken from the September 2004 issue of The RMA Journal. Please click here to read it. 

The article includes an Appraisal Fraud Checklist which some may find useful.

The Risk Management Association (RMA) is a member-driven professional association whose objective is to further the ability of their members to identify, assess, and manage the impacts of credit risk, operational risk, and market risk on their businesses and their customers.