The following article was written by a very good friend and business associate of mine who specializes in Manufactured Home Reverse Mortgages. If anyone in the Trulia community knows any appraisers that specialize in MH's in California please let us know. This is a very important development for our industry and could really impact the whole market negatively.
Thanks in advance for your help.
John DL Arendsen
To the Friends of Reverse Mortgage West
As you are aware, beginning February 15, new HVCC regulations will require that appraisals for all FHA insured loans be ordered through an Appraisal Management Company (AMC).
It will no longer be possible to ask an appraiser for a valuation opinion prior to the appraisal. This affords no protection for the home owner from incurring an appraisal cost when the loan won’t work. Additionally, the assignment of appraisers without manufactured home experience or expertise will result in problem loans that affect us all. In an effort to bring some sense to the matter we at Reverse Mortgage West have learned that some AMCs will allow us to assist them to identify appraisers with manufactured housing experience in the areas we serve. This should contribute to our receipt of consistent and accurate valuations. Over time, this will allow us to confidently predict home values by accurately analyzing comps.
Therefore, we are asking that you help us identify appraisers experienced with manufactured housing and the special considerations these homes require.
We have learned that each AMC uses different procedures to assign appraisers. Some are completely random and could result in an inexperienced appraiser being assigned to a manufactured housing appraisal. Others analyze each request and appoint appraisers with specific experience and expertise.
We have registered with all of the AMCs approved by our lenders. When ordering an appraisal, we must submit the request to an AMC that is approved by the lender. In talking with NREIS (an AMC approved by Financial Freedom and MetLife – both are manufactured home reverse mortgage lenders), we learned that their appraiser assignment process is not random and that the appraiser’s qualifications and experience are considered in each assignment. NREIS invited us to submit a list of manufactured home qualified appraisers who would then be invited to register with them as an affiliate.
To that end, we are prepared to coordinate this registration effort on behalf of all of us serving the manufactured home community. If you will send us the name and contact information of the appraisers you would like to be included, we will pass them to NREIS. NREIS will contact the appraiser and invite him or her to register as an approved vendor. In addition, the list will be provided to other AMCs when appropriate.
Please support us in this effort by contacting and referring your best appraisers to us. In our struggle to bring financial strength to the manufactured home community and industry in the face of increased regulation, a weakened financing capability and an all too often financially strapped group of consumers, we need to consider every step important. I look forward to your comments, question and referrals. Thank you.
Bill
Reverse Mortgage West
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