New Appraisal Rules: Working Against Consumers?

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Metro South

For being a grim reaper, Tom Horn is a pretty nice guy. 

It's just that some folks trying to sell their homes in the The Grim ReaperBirmingham, Alabama area these days may think of him as the grim reaper.  After all, for anyone with an unrealistic idea of what a Buyer would pay for their home, Tom is the one to bring them back to reality.

Tom Horn

Horn, who has been a central Alabama appraiser for nearly twenty years, has seen his share of up and down cycles in real estate values.  He owns appraisal-source.com, a website that caters to owners selling on their own.

We recently caught up with Tom and got his views about the decline in central Alabama home values, as well as where he thinks the market might be headed. 

But it's not just Sellers who will find Horn's comments interesting. 

Agents stand to benefit by knowing what's happening as a result of the Government's recently mandated changes in how appraisers are chosen by Lenders.

As it turns out, Sellers--who, among others, were supposed to be benefiting from the new rules--appear to be getting the short end of the deal, instead.  And it even may be up to a knowledgeable Agent to keep a sale from falling apart, because of the new regulations.

Tom also operates a blog, full of information that's useful to both Sellers and Agents.

We've divided our interview with Tom into two parts for listening convenience.

Listen to Tom's interview now by going here and clicking the players...

Or, direct links for downloading each segment (MP3 files) are just below.

Click to download Tom Horn interview Part 1 (9 Mb)

Click to download Tom Horn interview Part 2 (7 Mb)

Enjoy!

 

Comments (5)

Robert Rauf
HomeBridge Financial Services (NJ) - Toms River, NJ

David, the appraisal Management Companies are just a layer in the way of progress, that ultimately slows things down, and increases costs.  If they just fined a few appraisers, took a few licenses away you would see how quickly the appraisal industry would police itself! 

 

Mar 10, 2010 04:33 AM
David Monsour
Keller Williams Keystone Realty - Gettysburg, PA
ABR - www.realty-insights.com

At our company meeting today we heard about an out of town appraiser appraising a townhouse in Hanover pa for 100,000 over contract price.  This particular property had been reduced for 15x,xxx to 119,000 when it finally sold.  The appraisal came in at 250,000.  This is how jacked up things are right now. 

Mar 10, 2010 04:33 AM
Robert Rauf
HomeBridge Financial Services (NJ) - Toms River, NJ

I just hung up the phone with my appraisal mgt company and am stuck waiting for the appraiser to call them back so I can work out an issue.  It is an innefficient system!

Mar 12, 2010 01:29 AM
Tom Horn
Thomas Horn, Real Estate Appraiser - Alabaster, AL
Appraising The American Dream

Robert,

I don't think the blame rests soley in the hands of appraisers, or any other single group of real estate professionals for that matter.  There were bad people in all areas: appraisers, mortgage loan officers, and realtors.  They are actually taking some appraisers licenses away and putting the appraisers in prison, those that committed fraud and deceipt that is.  You are right, the AMC's are a very inefficient way of doing business.  I don't think it was set up to be the speediest of processes though.  It is my belief that this was a sweetheart deal between Andrew Cuomo and friends of his that owned appraisal management companies, but that is a discussion for another day.

Apr 01, 2010 10:08 AM
Ann Allen Hoover
RE/MAX Advantage South - Hoover, AL
CDPE SRES ASP e-PRO Realtor - Homes for Sale - AL

Hi David.....it was good to see you at Metro South last week.....and by the way, Tom is The BOMB!

Aug 02, 2010 03:43 PM

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