Appraisers didn’t appreciate being recently blamed by home builders for low values, and several groups have written a letter to Congress about it. Meanwhile, one appraisal services firm is re-branding itself, and two others have integrated their services.
A “historical revised real estate appraisal” from Retro Appraisals LLC will determine the value of a property based on a past date, according to an Oct. 29 announcement. Retro, which claims 70 percent of appraisals performed between 2005 and 2007 were inflated, is targeting attorneys who are looking to force lenders to modify mortgages because they allegedly used questionable appraisals without proper oversight.
EAS re-branded itself as Valligent, a news release Tuesday said. The move is part of a strategy to address “the lack of trust in property valuations in today’s mortgage industry,” Valligent Chief Executive Officer Jeremy McCarty said in the statement.
The Roseville, Calif., company unveiled Collateral Cascade, which determines the appropriate valuation solution based on relative loan risk. High-risk properties will matched with the toughest valuation solution. Valligent reported it has performed 150,000 valuation reviews since opening for business in 2002.
National appraisal firm Coester Appraisal Group and appraisal management technology provider Global DMS have been fully integrated with RealEC Exchange, a statement Monday indicated.
The Appraisal Institute published a book last month with basic and in-dept instructions about appraising in the current market, a press release stated. Innovative techniques are introduced that can be used to measure value change in any market using available data.
The institute issued an Oct. 15 announcement indicating that contrary to testimony by National Association of Home Builders President Joe Robson before the House Small Business Committee, “appraisers are not responsible for so-called low appraisals.” Joining the institute in a letter to Congress disputing the home builders were the American Society of Appraisers, the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers and the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers.
Mortgage lending platform PCLender.com chose Mercury Network as its appraisal workflow and management solution, a recent statement said. PCLender’s loan origination system will be fully integrated with Mercury Network’s back-end engine.
