..… the person providing property information to the appraiser must have entered into an agreement with the appraiser to do so.
……the person who provides to the VA fee panel appraiser information must sign the appraisal report in the “Appraiser” section of the left side of the appraisal report.
See the announcement by the Veterans Administration basically telling lenders and appraisal management companies we are going to protect our Veterans with sound appraisal practice.
Thank you for being part of VaCAP!
Now THAT is how you do bifurcated appraising. Proud to be a VA appraiser.
Now, Fannie and Freddie would be way smarter than they appear if they adopted the same policy ASAP.
The lenders would have little to no choice but to allow Trainees/new blood
1. I see no basis whatsoever for reduced fees or compressed turn times on these. None at all. They are essentially full appraisals of the type that we all used to do as appraiser trainees working under the guidance of our mentors. VA does appear to have solved the alleged or feared future appraiser shortage with this program. Well done.
2. There will also not be any significant processing time savings normally. While some efficiencies may result on a case by case basis, there is no reason to believe or forecast any across the board time savings on these. I need to reread and study this further but it does appear as if the VA may have done this right.
3. Under no circumstances should these AAPP appraisals be referred to as bifurcated hybrid appraisals! They are ‘bifurcated’ only with respect as to who is allowed to do the fieldwork. They are not however hybrids. They are full appraisals. ALL of the requirements and expectation of a full appraisal are expected for these as well.
4. One requirement that will become quickly if not instantly ignored is the requirement for the LENDER to verify in advance to the appraiser that the property is non-complex and qualifies for this program. IF VA intends that non-complex assignment be excluded then VA needs to define complex. It’s a term that’s long been around and left 100% to the subjective interpretations of whoever is doing the assignments or coercing those doing the assignments to define. Even TAF has miserably failed to clearly and uniformly define complex appraisals. Even though license levels and certification levels use that as a criterion for who is allowed to do the work.
This no complex work prohibition means that (in my interpretation) there would or should be no increased fees for complex appraisal assignments. There may be arguments for increased fees for other purposes (large-sized housing; distance etc.) but I suspect VA may simply use the no complex property requirements as a higher fee exclusion.
5. There may be some bumps to be smoothed out in the AAPP system, but as near as I can tell this is as close to the ‘old tried and true’ way that we all learned under. With careful attention to compliance, all VA appraisers should benefit greatly, and there should be increased training opportunities for entry-level appraisers doing VA work. It would be prudent for supervisors to actually sit down with their field appraiser trainees (who else qualifies for doing these?) after each field inspection to confirm data and findings. There is also an opportunity for trainees to do the preliminary analysis and draft report writing as part of their training.
6. One bump may be where lenders include complex property (because no one has defined what those are) in orders; the trainee will identify the complex conditions and report back to the mentor. The Mentor/Supervisory appraiser will have the choice of going out inspecting (NOT in agreed scope of work) OR stopping the order at this discovery stage; notifying the VA that it is complex and obtaining authorization for higher fees; while collecting ‘trip fees’ for the trainees ‘discovery’ work.
I respectfully disagree with some of your points. My youngest daughter has just become a licensed appraiser. I know of many instances where the VA assignments are non-complex. Obviously all of our assignments are researched before visiting the property. If it’s complex my assistant will not be doing that alone if it’s a 1400 square-foot rancher why should she not be able to collect all that data come back and work on the report. She has training, she is licensed, she is registered with the state, and she is insured fully .
This is more than just the VA in my humble opinion going forward.
“Complex” is nothing but perception. Our licensing laws are presently illogical. Think about it – a trainee, traditionally, spends two years learning under a certified appraiser and during that time, spends time assisting and eventually co-appraising properties their supervisor is permitted to appraise. That individual becomes licensed and, because of the “3 tier licensing” we have, is no longer permitted to appraise properties they have primary experience appraising…
What sense does this make…?
This will eventually be realized by the big wigs and we will see licensing “go away” and/or be absorbed by Residential Certification. I believe this is also why FHA is re-thinking permitting licensed appraisers to complete their appraisals – because they’re presently refusing appraisers who trained under their FHA Roster Appraisers. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the VA do the same thing eventually.
Specific to this subject matter – I applaud the VA. It’s long overdue that the appraisers are given back the reigns to run their own practice. We take the liability for everything in a report so let us decide which risks we want to take with respect to inspections. Well done VA!