A couple of weeks ago one of our in house appraisers came to our office meeting to clue us in on the climate of things in the appraiser world. He had met with our Senior Underwriter and HUD's Senior Underwriter to get a bead on where their respective positions are regarding the declining markets in our area. ( I know it is a country wide problem).
Without boring you with the gory details, the jist of it is this. Now it is more important than ever to know your appraiser. In our area, like so many other areas of the industry, quite a few people jumped on the appraiser band wagon over the past few years. They did their required training, completed their required training appraisals etc. They got their licenses and hit the road.
The past 3-5 years have been very good to them. They didn't really have to do much in the way of indepth research, honing and polishing of their case pleading skills, and their appraisals were accepted. This is not in any way bashing good appraisers. They are the most important people in our lives. They really have their work cut out for them now. They must do so much more research, so much more detailed comparison of not just recent listed and sold comps, but also trends. If your appraiser does not have access to data that shows it was updated within the last 30 days, then they have outdated data.
Also, in addition to critical data, your appraiser should be on the phone with you the moment he or she see's that the subject property is in a declining market. They should be able to give you a ball park of where the value may come in. They should be at the top of your underwriters favorite appraisers to work with. This will go such a long way in being able to get your deals closed and on time.
Keep on top of your lenders DNU appraiser list. In the wake of so much turmoil in the market, the list has undoubtedly grown. Don't lose time using an appraiser that has been removed from the approved appraiser list.
Last but not least, don't bogg your appraiser down with needless value checks. This takes away from the time they have to work on the deals that are viable. There are plenty of tools out there to get the information for yourself. It is as accurate as possible without considering all of the facts of the property.
Your appraiser is your best friend right now. Treat them as well as you would your Mother or your grandmother.
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