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Has the mortgage mess stalled your career?
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- Appraisers Blamed for Killing Market Recovery – Washington Post
- Tighter appraisals are hurting home sales – Houston Chronicle
- What Role Does Today's Real Estate Market Play on Workforce Mobility? – RISMedia
- Mobility and the Current Real Estate Market Survey– Weichert Relocation Resources Inc.
- Who pays for my corporate relocation? – Findwell Blog
- Mortgage Underwriting Becomes Stricter: What are your Options? – Mortgage Calculator News
Recently the media’s been filled with stories of a stalled housing market recovery. Seems everyone involved in the relocation process is pointing a finger at someone else inextricably involved in the decision chain.
Here’s some interesting reading from the last week. Don’t overlook the comments in the first two links. They’re as informative as the articles and survey. The last piece explains the workarounds – and the hazards to individual consumers if used.
Right now most fingers are aimed at appraisal management companies (AMC) as being the source of the problem. Mortgage companies, real estate professionals, HR departments and corporate move managers claim AMCs have boosted fees to consumers by around 40 percent. Reportedly they’re drastically cutting the amount paid to the individual appraisers doing the actual work - and pocketing the difference.
Sound familiar? That’s the same criticism that realtors, appraisers, van line agents, independent movers and third party service contractors have had for years about the way professional move management and corporate relocation companies have leveraged their way into preexisting contracts. Most feel this added layer of involvement has eroded the profitability of national account business for those responsible for actually doing the work and providing the service.
When Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the New York state attorney general recently implemented the Home Valuation Code of Conduct on May 1st, the idea was to provide protections to borrowers, buyers and investors by making the home appraisal process more accurate by ‘enhancing the independence of appraisers’. Notice that there is no mention about protecting the cost to the company responsible for relocating the families of the borrowers or buyers.
The new regulation prohibits lenders from accepting appraisal reports by an appraiser selected by 1) mortgage brokers, 2) real estate agents or 3) anyone else whose compensation is based on the closing of a mortgage loan. Appears that requirement effectively undermines (or at least partially derails) some of the fiscal motivations built into the popular Buyer Value Option (BVO) programs of the last ten years and/or lucrative corporate tax incentives and generous third party commissions behind the hyper-inflated appraisals popular during the housing boom. The reality of the result is an increase in the process cycle time as everyone jockeys to find a new financial foothold.
The problem might just be that there are too many extra-large hands in the small mouth of an empty cookie jar. And each still expects to curb their appetite with a huge fist full of goodies that are way too rich for the waistline of the shrinking economy.
Has the mortgage mess created some unexpected speed bumps in your career goals or disrupted your family's relocation plans? If so, what are your plans now?
Still at your wit’s end? Check here for more professional tips on How to Find a Reputable Mover; or, send a note to RELO RoundTable.com and let’s discuss your concerns. It’s free!
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