Appraisals

Say goodbye to Fannie Mae form 1004 and various addendum as lenders and appraisers have to get ready to work with the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report.

A headline-grabbing 2022 lawsuit alleging racial bias by home appraisers has been quietly dismissed for lack of evidence. At the same time, the Trump administration is rolling back many of the policy changes involving home appraisals that the Biden administration put in place.

President Trump and his administration have begun to scrap new mortgage lending guidelines that made it easier for home buyers and sellers to dispute property appraisals, finding that homes owned by racial minorities are routinely valued lower than comparable homes with white owners. But despite the promised regulatory relief, many mortgage lenders say the regulatory changes will not impact their lending practices.

The legislation is a direct response to HUD's effective elimination of the PAVE task force and comes amid ongoing debates over DEI policies in the federal government.

Rolling back PAVE signals a return to evidence-based housing policy and a rejection of flawed claims of systemic appraisal bias, say co-directors of the AEI Housing Center.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reiterated it has withdrawn a number of FHA mortgagee letters related to appraisals.

The new integration supports the upcoming Uniform Appraisal Dataset 3.6, which becomes available in September, with mandatory use 14 months later.

New research found limitations in current appraisal tools and methods contributing to inconsistencies that may result in incorrect property valuations.

Companies are starting to leverage tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of the property valuation and review process.

Plaintiffs alleging the lender manipulated home valuations ten years prior argued the interpretation of the rule cited in determining the case's standing was a stretch.