Assessors bid on fees after loan applications – Orange County Register

The worst situation is approaching America. Please be careful in advance if you need an accommodation appraisal.

Appraisers are aging and retired. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have developed a sophisticated automated appraisal process that has allowed more and more borrowers to be exempt from home inspections. The home appraisal industry will soon be on the horse and buggy route.

In the meantime, if you apply for a mortgage and receive a loan quote (one quote for all rates), you may be paying a lot more than you expected.

Joe Lydon, Managing Director of San Diego-based Lendsure Mortgage Corp, said:

To remember: Problems with Valuation Reform: High Fees and Low Value

One of my clients was billed $ 600 for a refinance appraisal last September. Nine months later, the same appraiser made an offer for a second refinance job in the same house for $ 900. After protesting the wholesaler, the appraiser agreed to work for $ 650. (Therefore, in essence, the borrower needs a new appraisal for every new loan application, except the FHA and VA streamline refinancing and exempt Fannie Mae and Freddie May from home inspections.) You’ve been billed. more money with less work because it has already been done.

How about paying $ 5,000 for a purchase appraisal? According to the wholesaler I work for, this just happened for a home buyer in rural Colorado. What does the buyer do? There is no evaluation. There is no mortgage. For reference, I estimate the average appraisal cost in my store to be $ 550 and the average local consumption charge to be $ 600.

What about the lack of available appraisers beyond the higher rates? One of my wholesalers told me that I couldn’t find an FHA appraiser to buy in Yucca Valley. In Southern California, there is no shortage of appraisers in central and northern California.

Valuation is the only unregulated part of the real estate settlement service pie. In general, mortgage originators should charge everyone equally. The title insurer must display the price to the insurance commissioner and follow it. Real estate agents must sign a fee contract in advance.

The method of occurrence is as follows. Mortgage lenders must provide mortgage applicants with a loan quote within three business days of the loan application showing all charges, including appraisal fees. Lenders have a fee from their valuation panel or a designated valuation provider (called a valuation management company or AMC). Lenders rely on these rates when issuing loan quotes to borrowers.

According to Lance Siegel, president of Lake Forest’s HVCC Assessment Ordering Department, AMC’s administration fee, which is included in the total assessment fee, is approximately $ 150.

Offers will be returned to AMC by an independent evaluator. For example, estimate the delivery date and accept a specific price. The expert is not bound to accept the price offered to the consumer. They may request add-ons for far-away travel fares, complexity or other needs.

I interviewed some lenders and asked them if lenders or borrowers would pay ever increasing surprise fees. Only one lender I spoke to pays the difference between the disclosed appraisal fee and the actual fee. All other lenders pass it on to the borrower under the “changed circumstances rule”. This allows lenders to change the terms and / or costs of the loan for unforeseen issues requiring consumer consent.

Ray Snytsheuvel, a mortgage lawyer and chief operating officer of Firstline Compliance, believes lenders should pay additional fees. “Unless the information the lender is relying on (to provide the appraisal report) is incorrect, the lender has to stick to it,” he said.

However, the borrower should be careful. You may be required to pay surprise fees, especially if there is an emergency deadline for your purchase.

Large price surprises occur more often when the rater population is small, such as in rural or resort areas. I think he’s a big bear.

So, are these appraisal fees legitimate or something like a predatory “trap”?

Let’s go back to 2010, when the Home Evaluation Code of Conduct (HVCC) was enacted under the Dodd-Frank Act. The idea behind the code was the independence of the assessor. HVCC also needs more data and information as part of the assessment. AMC also acted as an intermediary between the lender and the appraiser.

The work of evaluators has more or less doubled and their income has been halved. According to Lance Siegel, in the 1990s and 2000s, appraisers made between $ 175,000 and $ 225,000 a year. Wages have slowed since the introduction of HVCC.

“Appraisers make around $ 100,000 to $ 150,000 today,” Siegel said.

In 2014 I wrote about it, The evaluation fee for 2009 was $ 375, but has since climbed to $ 500. Appraisers previously had a direct relationship with lenders and mortgage brokers and received all fees. In childhood, AMC accounted for about one-third to one-half of the total assessment fee. Part of the reason is the slowing market and the increased number of appraisers competing for orders. Today, the market is hot and the population of evaluators is much smaller. Therefore, appraisers have an advantage over consumers, lenders and AMC.

Mark Schiffman, executive director of the Real Estate Valuation Advocacy Association, also points out supply and demand, as well as market movements. “We hear too many thousands of dollars,” he said, citing the price hike. Is there a limit to the compensation? “Number. Lay the floor, but not the ceiling.

The general idea behind the independence of the appraiser was that the appraiser no longer had to hang around to work. Many times in the past they had to agree in advance to touch a certain number in order to get a job. Now it looks like reverse blackmail. If you would like me to receive this order of expertise, you will need to pay me an additional X.

What can you do to protect yourself from these startling accusations?

Before submitting your application, ask the lender if you can confirm the price of the appraisal offer. If not, the lender will guarantee in writing that you do not have to eat up the differences that have occurred.

I asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if they would begin the rulemaking process to close the loophole in the appraisal loan quote. The agency declined to comment.

Freddie Mac Rate News

The 30-year fixed rate averaged 3.02%, 9 basis points higher than last week. The 15-year fixed rate averaged 2.34%, 10 basis points higher than last week.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage application volumes increased 2.1% from the previous week.

Conclusion: Assuming the borrower gets a 30-year average fixed rate on an adjusted loan of $ 548,250, last year’s payments were $ 33 more than this week’s $ 2,317.

What I see: Locally, qualified borrowers can get the next fixed rate mortgage at a cost of 1 point: 30 year FHA 2.25%, 15 year conventional 2%, 30 year conventional 2.625%, 15 year traditional high balance ($ 548,251 at $ 822,375) is set at 2.25, 30-year high at 2.75%, 30-year jumbo high at 2.875%.

To note: A 30-year FHA-compliant loan is capped at $ 477,250 in the Inland Empire and $ 548,250 in Los Angeles and Orange County.

This week’s Eye Catcher Loan Program: 15 years fixed at 2.5% free of charge.

Jeff Lazerson is a mortgage broker. It is 949-334-2424 or [email protected]..