Title/Appraisal Vendor Management Association (TAVMA), a trade association representing appraisal management companies (AMCs), says its members are prepared to help lenders comply with the changes in appraisal ordering announced by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that went into effect Feb. 15.
The new guidelines, which prohibit mortgage brokers from directly ordering appraisals for FHA loans, are similar to the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) policy implemented at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year.
‘Our members, the nation's largest appraisal management companies, already have significant panels of FHA-certified appraisers," says Jeff Schurman, executive director of TAVMA. "There are more than 51,000 FHA-approved appraisers nationwide, and our five largest members currently work with over
20,000 of these FHA-approved appraisers."
Based on the vociferous reaction to HVCC, Schurman says he expects that mortgage brokers, independent appraisers with strong business ties to brokers and Realtors will again protest this change.
"We expect that there will be significant push-back claiming that the rules will create bottlenecks, shift work to less-experienced appraisers and delay deals," he says.
AMCs currently provide approximately 60% of all appraisals used in the mortgage industry, according to TAVMA, and the organization says that 46 of its AMC members account for about 85% of this volume. More than 60,000 local appraisers currently work with AMCs.
SOURCE: TAVMA