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Wow, a lot of headlines for this week!  

Yellen hints rate hike is possible around mid-2015  

WASHINGTON • Janet Yellen tried at her first news conference as Federal Reserve chair to clarify a question that's consumed investors: When will the Fed start raising short-term interest rates from record lows?

Yellen stressed that with the job market still weak, the Fed intends to keep short-term rates near zero for a "considerable" time and would raise them only gradually. And she said the Fed wouldn't be dictated solely by the unemployment rate, which Yellen feels overstates the health of the job market and the economy.

Many times SAMCO, and other professional AMC's, are just lumped into one overall group by appraisers.  Now, as an appraiser, you know that not all appraisers are the same as you, either in professionalism or quality.  So why are AMC's considered that way?  SAMCO is a champion for customary and reasonable (C&R) fees.  I strongly encourage all new community bank clients (the only ones we work for) to view the over all fee's in their area.  Sometimes a community bank has a relationship with 2 or 3 appraisers for a below market fee. One reason an appraiser can provide a below market fee appraisal, corners are cut in quality.

SAMCO is excited to announce we will be fully integrated with Encompass Loan Origination Software effective on the 3/6/2014 release update. This Encompass integration gives our Clients who utilize Encompass the ability to list SAMCO as the appraisal service provider within Encompass and orders can be facilitated from the Encompass software to auto populate new orders within the SAMCO platform. Outlined below are some of the key features of the integration.
 
SAMCO - Encompass Integration Functionality

They say nothing in life is certain but death and taxes, though it may be time to add mortgage payments to that list. A woman’s “mummified” body was recently discovered by a contractor in a garage of a foreclosed home in Pontiac, Mich. It seems the woman’s death went unnoticed for years partially because she stayed current on her mortgage each month until recently. The woman had automatic payments coming from her bank account each month to cover her mortgage. But police say that the woman, who was in her 40s, likely died back in 2008.

“She had $54,000 in her account and her bills were being deducted,” says Undersheriff Mike McCabe. “Eventually the money ran out and her house went into foreclosure.”

Here is a scenario that I think we have all experienced. You have been assigned an appraisal of a basic ranch home, in an established neighborhood. Your research finds a 1375sf home with a detached garage. You make the appointment, show up, introduce yourself, and begin your inspection. The walk through, and photographs on this 3 bedroom, 1 bath dwelling (on a crawl space) takes 5-7 minutes, and that's while chatting with the owner!

Most community banks are searching for creative ways to not just improve their bottom line, but to grow!  More than a third of community bankers who responded to this year’s ICBA Industry Report Card survey, plan to increase marketing budgets in 2014 while over half will maintain their 2013 levels.  Many community bank board’s realize that their efficiency ratio is in the 70’s or higher, when they should be in the mid 60’s and are turning to third party vendors to help reduce overhead. 

As busy as everyone in the mortgage business was this past year (not now though) it comes as no surprise what the reporting companies are announcing.  CoreLogic reported in their December report that the 12 month sum of completed foreclosures is at the lowest level since 2007, with the rate of serious delinquency at the lowest level since November 2008.  They also reported that foreclosure inventory was down 31% year ending December 2013.  RealtyTrac announced that the shrinking number of distressed properties in 2013 helped reduce foreclosure filings 26% year to year.  Both companies have many other great stats that will make everyone in the lending industry much happier.

This means if they have found an appraiser providing inferior work the lender is not to utilize these appraisers for Fannie loans.  Sounds OK, but they only have four appraisers on their list, for the entire United States!  It’s a small beginning, but it’s sure to grow as Fannie searches through its database for appraisers who have repeatedly provided inferior work. 

On a regular basis SAMCO reviews individual State Appraiser Board Disciplinary Actions.  We will now be doing this with Fannie also.  In the past some ‘bad apples’ have tainted our profession.  But with every passing year, the professionalism of our appraisal industry is growing.  It’s great to be part of it.  

When the 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines were printed in December of 2010 there were many new requirements and a restating of many old ones. 

Section VIII Minimum Appraisal Standards at the top of Page 9 of 45 states:

SAMCO’s clients disclose appraisal costs in two different ways on the Good Faith Estimate and initial Truth in Lending Disclosure (both being replaced by the new CFPB Loan Estimate in August 2015).  The first is to total both the appraisal management fee and appraisal fee into one total cost.  The second is to separate and identify the two individual fees to the consumer.