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Someone Needs to Take Control of these Underwriters

By
Real Estate Agent with Rooms Realty

Taking Control Okay it happened again - I think Someone needs to take control of these underwriter's and tell them they are NOT appraisers or Real Estate agents. Are they aware we are trying to sell homes out here and keep the economy moving? Not to be rude but some where during the mortgage melt down and real estate collapse they decided they were God.

Here's just a few examples - a few weeks back we received a call from the mortgage broker saying the underwriter did not like the appraisal because it was too high. Excuse me but when did underwriters become licensed appraisers? The best part is this home was priced "well below market" and had multiple offers. Supposedly she used the Automated Valuation Method to determine the appraisal was to high.

Well let me just say this - Real Estate is way to complex to be using this system. For one the AVM does not take into account multiple offers. It does not look at what is currently available for sale, in other words what buyers are seeing. Nor does it know that the home it may be using was trashed out or filled with mold. Yet the banks have decided that the underwriters can use this system and kill deals. As I said Someone needs to take control of these underwriters - better yet the Banks. I won't even go there.

Then the other day I am talking to the mortgage broker to get my weekly update and she tells me that since the buyer was putting a large amount down, they were not doing an inside appraisal. Okay did someone do a drive by? Nope we used the AVM (gulp) and we have the value at $68,000 and asks if that's what we needed. Ah No you apparently have the wrong file because we sold that 1800 sq ft detached condo with a fully finished basement and 2 car garage for $150,000. I nearly went through the phone to wring her neck. You need to get someone out there now to do an appraisal because the AVM is whacked. Makes me wonder if she ever looked at the purchase agreement.

So here's where the straw broke the camels back. We get an approval from the underwriter with one small condition, it appears that the buyer missed an initial on the purchase agreement. So they send it back to clear the condition and she decides that maybe they better get a second appraisal (at the buyers expense). You have got to be kidding me? This is a perfect buyer, slam dunk and she is buying a condo well below the market. Really someone needs to get control of these underwriters and remind them they are dealing with peoples lives.

It really makes me wonder if these underwriters have ever bought a house before? Sometimes I think we are dealing with robots ABC 123 and not people with common sense.

I was beginning to think it was just me. Then yesterday I read a post from one of my favorite blogger Jay Thompson - well it appears he is running into the same problems. How about You??

Comments(9)

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Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

I wonder if you could have the buyers switch lenders?  Possible??

Sep 29, 2009 07:48 AM
Ed & Cindy Knight
Rooms Realty - Washington Township, MI

Carla it's not just one lender it's all of em. The 3 examples above were 3 totally different lenders.

Sep 29, 2009 07:56 AM
Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate

Ed and Cindy:  The underwriter's job is to make sure a loan merits being approved.  Period.  It is not a concern... not at all... of the underwriter that you are trying to sell homes... and keep the economy moving.  They are there... again... to make sure the loan merits being approved... which, of course, is important in protecting both the buyer and the mortgage company/investor.

And, bypassing all your examples and focussing on the last one... where the buyer "missed" an initial on a purchase agreement.  The buyer may have not initialed it, but it was BOTH Realtors who "missed it."  What you have... is not a ratified contract.  It may be splitting hairs... but that is what real estate law is about.

Sure... we all get angry when things we try and do don't work out... but this too shall pass.  And... anger will rarely help.  Just my two cents.

Sep 29, 2009 07:58 AM
David Monsour
Keller Williams Keystone Realty - Gettysburg, PA
ABR - www.realty-insights.com

I don't know whose fault it is.  I'm sure someone is breathing down their necks too.  The banks are all over the appraisers, and underwriters because the banks are hurting.  Everything is getting regulated to the point where one foot doesn't know what the other is doing, which makes walking, even slowly foward a big issue.

Sep 29, 2009 08:03 AM
Ed & Cindy Knight
Rooms Realty - Washington Township, MI

Karen - my point is they are not qualified to question the appraiser nor do they know what is going on in the market place. They are also performing AVM's which in my example was way way off. They also do not use common sense as in Jay's post.

As for the initial the underwriter wanted one of the sellers removed from the PA then wanted the buyer to initial it. The seller was a real estate agent and the person she wanted removed was his partner. Who BTW had an interest in the property. They are over compensating for the sloppy job they did over the past few years.

 

David - that's the problem the banks are breathing down their necks and they are not using common sense. As I said they are not qualified to make decisions on value.

Sep 29, 2009 08:32 AM
Ryan Lucia
Ryan Lucia - Newcastle, CA

1) Your example property is a condo and there very well could be other condo related factors at play that we don't know about because your story doesn't cover it.

2) Your issues here probably have more to do with your broker than the lender.  Upgrade your broker.

3) Commonsense for investors/lenders right now it to protect their portfolio.  One could argue that part of the reason we are in economic trouble is because of poor underwriting and bad lender policy.  Both sides have a role to play and the banks are protecting themselves.

Regardless of how great your borrower/home purcharser may be, the condo and the condo association may be the issue, or your broker is just that bad.

We aren't having any issues getting loans through, but we have good LOs, for the most part.  Our weaker LOs struggle and eventually leave, but, in general, we are getting loans done.  Perhaps your broker is focusing too much on pricing and not on service.  There are lenders that are more (for lack of a better term) anal, but weak brokers focused too much on price and their YSP in lieu of getting the loan done through a better lender.  Again, that's a broker problem.  The lender is going to protect themselves through policy and the underwriters are going to follow that policy.

Nov 05, 2009 06:53 AM
Ed & Cindy Knight
Rooms Realty - Washington Township, MI

Ryan - condos here in MI are not like in other parts of the country, no underlying issues in fact they did an actual appraisal and yes it appraised. The point was they were using a computer to get value. This unit was a detached ranch that sits next to a complex of smaller stack-ables totally different units of course the computer does not know that hence the reason I requested a physical body. BTW this was a large bank doing the loan.

The problem is not with the LO, lender, broker it's with the underwriter and not with just one.  This was a problem with several of our sellers so various underwriters from different companies.

Again the point is we have underwriters trying to do the job of appraisers and real estate agents. If they would have done their job in the 1st place we would not be in this mess. We have seen underwriters question value on homes that have had 7 offers that are selling at 1980 prices.

The post is about underwriters because that's who we're having a problem with and as I said this is not about one LO, one broker or one lender it's several of them.

Nov 05, 2009 10:21 AM
Tammy Dunbar
Fairfield Real Estate - Fairfield, IA
Broker Associate

I totally agree with you---they got so they would let anything through 5-8 years ago, and now even a 900 credit score and 20 percent down does not cut it.  I am wondering if it because most of the apprsaisals go through an automated system that "ranks" the answers given and then spits out a sheet to the underwriter.  It then either "passes" or doesn't "pass".  Even the most common sense items are questioned.  We are frustrated everyday by the underwriters. 

Mar 17, 2010 01:55 PM
Lang Premier Properties
Lang Premier Properties - Clawson, MI
Metro Detroit Real Estate Group

Ed & Cindy,

Being a Metro Detroit Realtor I have to say that I have not experienced these issues.  I hope that you are now having better luck!

Nov 12, 2011 02:25 AM