HVCC Update 3

If it seems that I write about HVCC quite a bit it's because I do. This is the number one issue preventing the housing market from a total recovery. There are other problems but make no mistake this trainwreck is hurting the very people that it was supposed to help. Please get on the phone with Congress and tell them how bad it is if you have been hurt by it. Don't think it affects you? Maybe unless you don't own a home and never plan on buying one. Here are two quick 100% true absolute horror stories that I am now dealing with because of HVCC. I have a client who lives in Chevy Chase DC. A very nice 28 year old brick colonial with all the bells and whistles. It appraised for only 930k while ramblers and split levels that were 80-90 years old were selling this summer for 1,049,000 and 1,028,000. Out of all the comps only one was a colonial. There were numerous errors such as getting the number of bathrooms wrong. I spent about a full day making my case, asking for help from a licensed appraiser and reviewing the material. The appraiser agreed and raised the value to 970k. I still knew the value was too low and wanted to check with the DC appraisal board. Lo and behold the appraiser wasn't licensed over 1 million so we never had a chance to get the value. Why as this done? Because HVCC happened and an appraiser knew the value, wanted to get paid and took the job when he shouldn't have. This would have never happened before HVCC. Now the clients 4.875% jumbo loan is in danger of not closing.

Story number two, ordered an appraisal on an expanded colonial in Silver Spring, MD and the appraisal took over two weeks to come back. When it finally did it came in 50k short. When I reviewed the appraisal, there were numerous errors because in part the appraiser was from north of Baltimore and unfamiliar with the local DC market. In fact he referred to Silver Spring as "Silver Springs" He lied to the client and told them he lived 20 minutes away minor things like this. I noticed that the name my client gave me for the appraiser didn't match the persons name that signed the report. After checking on the DLLR website it turns out that they sent a person who does not even hold an appraisal license with the state of Maryland. I have never seen this before and now again my client's low fixed rate jumbo that saves them $434 per month is in danger of not closing. All thanks to HVCC. Now the appraiser that signed the report is lying of course to save his very career.

One more quick story, on a sale a realtor just called me and told me that the appraiser didn't even enter the home and lied and said he did. The realtor knows because of the electronic lock box that reports who went in and when they did. Again all thanks to HVCC we have uncaring, unprofessional, unlicensed people from out of the market doing appraisals, harming borrowers, sellers, Realtors and mortgage brokers. Please call 202-225-3121 and let Congress know the real story.

Thanks,
Brent Mendelson
Loan Officer