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FHA Appraisals and Shared Driveways

December 21, 2011 FHA

Something as simple as a shared driveway can turn-out to be a huge challenge. One of the things appraisers are required to check for when doing an FHA appraisal is for any adverse easements and/or encroachments. For this appraisal the subject property is situated on a site that was divided off from a relative, which […]

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Arm’s Length Transactions & UAD Requirements

November 29, 2011 Appraisal

For all of my appraisals I always contact the agents involved to verify if the sale actually closed, and whether it was a arm’s length transaction. Apparently not all appraisers must be doing this, because I get a lot of Realtors telling me that this is first that anyone has asked them these questions. Why the […]

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Crawl Spaces and FHA Requirements

October 21, 2011 FHA

FHA no longer mandates a set height requirement for crawl spaces. However, the appraiser does have to have access to the space for inspection. The picture to the right tends to be the typical crawl space, there is no water, bug infestation (spiders don’t count), or any wiring hazards. FHA also no longer requires a […]

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The Tax Assessor-Should You Let Them In Your Home

October 4, 2011 Appraisal

Minnesota has what is known as an ad valorem property tax, which means property taxes are divided among taxable properties according to their value. Assessors gather data from Oct 1st, 2010 through September 30th, 2011 (known as the sales study period) to calculate the “market value” for January 2nd, 2012. Homeowners have between April 1st, 2012 and […]

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What Does An Appraiser Really Do?

September 20, 2011 Appraisal

Sometimes I think we appraisers don’t take enough time to explain to the public what it is that we really do. There are also clients (lenders) that have very specific instructions not to talk to the borrower(s), which can be very awkward when a homeowner wants to know what you’re doing. Reminds me of when I […]

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Create Credible Appraisals or Else!

September 10, 2011 Appraisal

I recently had a conversation with a very seasoned loan broker who told me, “…appraisers don’t have much to worry about when it comes to appraising, because it’s just your opinion”, meaning how can anyone really challenge an opinion of value. In one respect he’s correct, it’s not the opinion of value that is challenged, […]

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Low Appraisals

September 9, 2011 Appraisal

It’s always frustrating, if not maddening, when the appraisal comes in low on a sale of a home. Buying a home is very emotional for both buyers and sellers, and the last thing anyone wants is some appraiser telling the parties involved that the home isn’t worth what they agreed upon. Personally, I don’t know […]

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Appraisal Changes-UAD

September 1, 2011 Appraisal

Big change start today, known as UAD, in reporting appraisals for the GSE’s (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac); the biggest takeaway so far is that homeowners should have a detailed list with the dates of their completed updates. Appraisers are being required to put quality ratings (Q1-Q6), as well as condition ratings (C1-C6), which are supposed […]

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Can I Get a Copy of My Appraisal?

August 28, 2011 Appraisal

I still have borrowers calling me requesting a copy of their appraisal, and when I tell them that they have to get it from the lender they often get quite upset because they’ve tried that. You would think that with all of the new rules and regulations borrowers still wouldn’t be getting the runaround on this. […]

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Well & Septic and FHA Property Appraisals

August 21, 2011 FHA

There a couple of things that HUD looks for when you appraise homes with well and septic. First, you need to verify whether the property can be hooked up to the municipality’s public water and sewer system. If it can, but it would cost more than 3% of the sales price, then the existing on-site […]

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