New home appraisal rules stir industry backlash
Less than three months after new rules for home appraisers kicked in, the real estate industry is in uproar.
Realtors, homebuilders, mortgage brokers and the appraisal industry itself all agree the rules are causing problems. Some are backing a bill in Congress to kill them.
The new guidelines bar mortgage brokers from ordering appraisals themselves, forcing them to do so through a mortgage lender. Lenders may order appraisals through in-house staff or appraisers hired by outside firms known as appraisal-management companies. But neither may talk to the appraisers about the value of the property they’re evaluating.
* Full story available on The USA Today
