Guest post written by Ana Anderson

In the near future, my husband and I have plans to fix up the house for the spring and the summer. There are some things that we’ve put off for a while, but it’s finally time to get the ball rolling. For this weekend, we are just going to find some more information on home restoration options, and next week we are going to approach our home issues with full force. This weekend, we are going to visit my brother back in Raleigh North Carolina. We are going to fly from Idaho and spend a long weekend there. We are going to have to wait with the house! issues until a little later.

Seeing my brother is going to be great. He just bought his first house with his new wife, Victoria, and they are going to let us stay in their spare room and show us a good time in North Carolina. My brother and his wife used to live in South Carolina, so it will be interesting to see the ways in which North Carolina differs. We are really looking forward to taking the time of work, and we know we’ll have a great time catching up.

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What are your spring projects or plans?

Many areas are still declining in value and yet it seems that the amount of advertising for Streamline Refinance loans has quadrupled. It would seem that it would be nothing short of a miracle to find a home with any equity left in it for refinancing to be a viable option.

Banks are carefully holding back their inventory of foreclosed homes in what might just be a band-aid on a leaky dam situation in hopes of preventing yet another downturn in the market. Over the last few years the market has resembled Disneyland’s ‘Tower of Terror” ride at California Disney – with the elevator shuddering and pausing momentarily at each “floor” before finally reaching the bottom. I don’t think anyone can accurately predict that we’ve reached the “bottom.”

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According to the Department of Veterans Affairs Fiscal Year 2010 Performance and Accountability Report approximately 314,000 veteran home loans were guaranteed in 2010. 192,600 were loans for the purchase of a home and 121,400 were for the reduction of interest rates on a home known as a VA interest rate reduction.

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Spring has sprung and with warmer temps the local gardening section of the home improvement stores have been brimming with people. The neighborhoods around town are back to smelling like barbecue on the weekends and in the houses that are still occupied (ha…) people are stepping out into the sunshine and blinking as if waking up from hibernation.

It would be interesting to see the numbers on people actually doing “home improvement” projects. Clearly, you wouldn’t count the people purchasing foreclosed properties and rehabbing them to flip or turn into a rental. I suspect that
BuildDirect.com probably sells more patio furniture and items homeowners can take with them when they go then they are selling laminate flooring and granite tile.

Something that appears to have gone the way of the dinosaurs for now – at least in this area, is the “home equity line of credit” since hardly anyone has any equity left. For those of us looking to put in a pool to survive the triple digit heat this summer – it’s not going to happen unless you pony up the cash to pull it off.

I would venture to surmise that there are probably more people questioning how much longer they will be in their current residence than there are people worried about putting in a pool.

A little dark humor to brighten your day…

Billboard at local AMC (Appraisal Management Company) office.

Since HVCC – appraisers have lots of time to take up new hobbies and this one poses no risk also thanks to HVCC!

and appraisers. Uh, wait… see sign above.

Appraisers are supposed to be observant. I tend to be especially observant of safety signs that indicate an imminent threat to my well-being like “beware of dog” or “trespassers will be shot.” The sad thing about a sign is that it does no good if people don’t stop and read them.

At my house I have a sign that says, “No Soliciting and No Religious Inquiries” you’d think that would stop those knocks on the door on early Saturday mornings. It doesn’t. I wish I had a $1 for every time I’ve answered the door to someone trying to sell me a house alarm, insurance or some version of God and had to point to the sign.

Of course, the sign never applies to to cute kids doing school fundraisers, especially if they are selling candy. The women in my house would seriously injure (and possibly kill) anyone who refused chocolate being delivered to the front door. Nope in our house chocolate being sold at the front door is like finding a penny on the sidewalk – it’s a sign of good luck. It also earns brownie points for the husband or dad both at home and around the neighborhood for digging into his wallet for a couple of bucks.

After everything I’ve gone through in the appraisal industry, especially given the past 3 or so years I came up with a new idea for a sign and used the handy sign creator at http://www.safetysign.com/

We’re already being branded that way, might as well wear it proudly.

It seems like every 2 – 4 months the great “what should appraisers wear” debate cranks up over at the appraisers forum; with all the legislation, restriction, and not being able to communicate with clients the chief concern should certainly be what appraisers wear.

“I’m wearing these dockers, $150.00 loafers WITH tassels and my superman tie because I am going to IMPRESS my clients that I have neither seen nor met and probably never will while I inspect this rat trap, foreclosure property that the previous owners made sure to smear with fecal matter and cat piss on their way out!”

You work in a medical office you were medical uniforms, no argument there. You work as a nurse in a hospital without a doubt you hop up and put your nursing scrub pants one leg at a time. It’s not hard to find cheap scrub uniforms and certainly your medical personnel have it easy in that regard.

A lot of appraisers out there have the fervent belief that we should all be showing up to work in suits and ties because that will guarantee us the respect we deserve in the industry.

And, if you happen to appraise in Beverly Hills or Cape Cod then you might want to suit up. But if you happen to work in every day, middle America where it’s REAL and homeowners aren’t just pissed they are vindictive and spiteful, with good reason most of the time – then showing up in your Sunday best isn’t going to cut it. Not when the lawns haven’t been mowed in months, the cockroaches and black widow spiders have been left to roam and produce unchecked, and the plumbing is leaking.

No, they aren’t all that bad. But, when you have to walk around a house with tremendous overgrowth and occasionally have to crawl UNDER the house – a suit and tie isn’t going to cut it. Add in the underwhelming amount of work and the underwhelming pay – and no appraiser can afford to wear their “nice” clothes to do inspection.

I think clean pants (jeans usually), collared shirt, shoes that cover and protect your feet will get the job done and considering that most of the properties are vacant? No one is going to see you anyway.

The subject was brought up the other day when an appraiser got a “dress code” from an AMC. Someone needs to get these guys in check and stop worrying about what they are wearing to do it. When the AMC joke came on the scene it was to provide a FILTER between the brokers and the appraisers to prevent undue pressure on the appraiser to hit a certain value. In short – a MIDDLE MAN to process orders and dole them out accordingly. As time has gone on the egos of these AMCs have grown exponentially and somehow they have it in their heads that the independent appraisers they farm work out to are actually under their employ.

We’ve got huge problem in the industry and the size of your tassels and your Donald Trump tie isn’t going to fix it.

In the big scheme of things it’s easy to forget that what has gone on in the real estate and mortgage industry hasn’t just affected appraisers, it’s affected entire families. We’ve watched friends lose houses, marriages and yes, their families. The following is a blog post originally written by Amy of Amy’s Musings who also happens to be married to Mike Doran of Ascot Appraisals:

Hey Moron… Maybe You Ought To Stop and THINK
Originally Posted By AmyD. on March 8, 2011

You’ve heard me complain and bitch about what HVCC (and even though it has been replaced with new legislation – NOTHING has really changed) has done to the appraisal industry. My husband casually mentioned last night that he was discussing what has happened to the appraisal industry with a couple of friends (who are NOT appraisers or related to the real estate industry at all) Mike explained that as an appraiser he is no longer allowed to contact his clients. He really can’t even go out and market our business any longer.

The friends’ response?

“Well, after what happened you can’t really blame them.”

Blame them? After what happened? Worse yet, this person attended my wedding and has known my husband for 20 years. It still blows my mind and angers me beyond belief when I think about it. We worked hard to build our business. My husband nearly killed himself learning his craft and even now continues to hone his skills as an appraiser to do the best job that he can.

Imagine if you had to follow the news almost religiously to find out what might happen to your family’s income only to hear people disparaging and using your spouse’s profession as a scapegoat constantly?

Stop for a moment and really think about this, please.

Do you honestly believe that REAL ESTATE APPRAISERS are 100% responsible for the bust of a boom that resulted in an economic melt down of GLOBAL PROPORTIONS?

Stop and think about the government bail outs, the CEOs with their huge bonuses, the banks that erroneously foreclosed on thousands of homes – the ripple effects that stretched far and wide, the mortgage brokers who sold people on illegal mortgages. Appraisers NEVER have the final say on who gets a loan or how much a bank loans. The ONLY people in the the mortgage/financing transaction who DO NOT make a commission are APPRAISERS. But, they have been the ONLY people who have been PUNISHED by the fallout.

Appraisers, right now all over the country , no matter how many credentials, degrees, hours of continuing education, no matter how honest, ethical, or professional they may be – CANNOT WORK AS APPRAISERS unless some flunky (usually with almost ZERO knowledge of the appraisal process) from an AMC (Appraisal Management Company) sends them an order. Just imagine if you couldn’t get your next paycheck unless the teenager down the street sent you permission to go to work.

Now, let me connect a few more dots for you. An appraiser’s job is to evaluate the fair market value of a property. Simple. But now that they have been enslaved to AMCs and the nameless, faceless, blameless moron at the AMC is the one with all the power. They question value, they pressure the appraiser to hit certain values and they require such short turn around times that it is almost impossible for an appraiser to do his/her job responsibly and effectively and, of course, if the appraiser doesn’t play ball then they don’t get any work.

Woah! Wait a second, HVCC was supposed to save us all from undue influences on appraisers. Yeah, that worked out well, didn’t it?

And, if someone turns a crappy appraisal in to a state licensing agency do you think the AMC gets in trouble? Nope, the only people who are disciplined are the appraisers.

Now, who do you think OWNS an AMC? A private individual who fell into a very profitable niche? Actually, the top 3 largest AMCs in the nation are OWNED BY BANKS.

Woah… so wait a minute. The companies influencing value are owned by the companies making the loans on the properties?

Yup. And, if you think it doesn’t affect you – I encourage you to think again. The next time you want to sell your house, buy a new house, or refinance – you are a victim in this giant web of misinformation, manipulation, and deceit. In short, the foxes are in charge of the hen house and guess where you live?

Damn those crafty, weasel-y appraisers.

Imagine if you got a memo tomorrow that next week you were not allowed to work unless you signed up for a management company with no knowledge of what it takes to do your job? Imagine that all you can do is hope to impress them with your resume and then hope that your name came up at the top of their list when they needed the work done that your job entails? Worse YET, if you elect NOT to work with them your income will be reduced by 90%

I’m beating a dead horse trying to make this clear to you and I know that for 99% of the people who read this – it won’t make a bit of difference. You’ll roll your eyes, you’ll say appraisers and irresponsible borrowers caused the problem, and most of all you won’t care because it doesn’t effect your job, your paycheck, your family, or your livelihood and that ambivalence is what allowed sneaky, backroom deals like HVCC to be inked into existence.