Richard W. Foos, SRA
RAC President

Change!

That seems to be the current mantra throughout the political and financial worlds. We have a new president and a host of other new entities over the past six months. The US government now owns Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as AIG and is a major stakeholder in several large banks. Yeah, I think that qualifies as change.

The housing industry has changed from being the darling of the investment world to its worst nightmare. Values have declined in most areas of the country and have dropped significantly in some to the point where owners are letting them go into foreclosure and that is resulting in a death spiral in values. Not necessarily a well received change, but one that was inevitable and necessary. Buyers have changed back to purchasing a house as a home for their family instead of an investment. The days of the house being looked at as an ATM are over.

Appraisers have changed from being slow in their business to now being busy as homeowners try to refinance out of adjustable rate loans into fixed rate loans. Some will get to change and some will not, depending on how much less their home is worth now than when they last purchased or refinanced.

The lending industry has changed by being more stringent in their underwriting of new loans and like this situation in the past, they are over reacting from their previous lenient underwriting of “adjustable rate” and “no document” loans, which is making it more difficult for borrowers to refinance.

There have been several new regulatory changes that affect appraisers. There is the very controversial Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) that contains some very good and some very bad things, and there is the 1004 Market Conditions Addendum that seems to be creating more controversy than actual useable information.

As the economy has slipped into a severe recession, corporations have changed by laying off employees and cutting back on the number of those that get transferred which is a change that affects all of us in the relocation industry as these corporations are experiencing large losses on transfers as we all struggle with declining values.

There is also a change in both the lending and relocation industries as they have realized that it still takes a professional appraiser to establish the value of houses, and they have come to realize that Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) and other hybrid products cannot replace the experienced professional appraiser. In the relocation industry, it is the RAC appraiser who is still the expert . Some things do not change.

As the 2009-2010 President of the Relocation Appraisers and Consultants, I look forward to these changes as a challenge to our members to assist our clients in meeting their goals and needs.

Best Regards,
Richard W. Foos, SRA

RAC members have literally "written the book" on relocation appraising, having authored the official Worldwide ERC Appraisal Guide as well as articles on all other facets of relocation appraising. To see the difference between a Relocation Appraisal and a Mortgage Appraisal click HERE!

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