The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC)
If not a “black Friday” – Friday May 1st, 2009 will certainly be dark gray for most mortgage brokers and lenders. New requirements take affect that will instantly change the way most mortgage professionals do business.
HVCC is a joint agreement between Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the New York State Attorney General to “enhance the independence and accuracy of the appraisal process, and provide added protections for homebuyers, mortgage investors and the housing market.” Under this new requirement, most appraisals will be ordered by the lender through an Appraisal Management Company (AMC.) This agreement poses many additional challenges to mortgage professionals including;
- Broker contact with an appraiser is now all but eliminated and comp-checks prohibited, it will be much more difficult to obtain an estimated valuation prior to determining if a mortgage is viable for that applicant or property.
- The cost concessions demanded by many AMCs and additional work requirements (form 1004mc – Market Conditions Report) are forcing many of the most experienced appraisers out of business. The AMC process rewards those appraisers with the lowest fees and fastest turn time – neither of which supports higher quality work.
- The appraisal will not be available until AFTER the broker has submitted the loan package rendering much of the documentation submitted incomplete or inaccurate. This further complicates loan processing and decisioning. and will significantly increase the work load on already over-burdened lenders. Some project 3 times the number of applications being submitted as the broker cannot effectively weed-out non-viable transactions.
- Increased costs and delays for consumers – It will typically take much longer (weeks) to obtain the property appraisal, which may significantly alter the lending terms. Should a different lender be required – there is a high probability that the new lender may not accept the previous appraisal and require a new appraisal be ordered at significant cost to the consumer and resulting in additional delays.
The May 1st implementation of the HVCC makes access to quality AVMS critical for all originators.
Credit Technologies provides online access to the AVM reports used by top mortgage lenders, appraisers, Realtors®and attorneys nationwide including Freddie Mac’s Home Value Estimator (HVE), First American CoreLogic HPA, PASS and Fiserv, Inc.’s Case Shiller Weiss CASA AVMs – All delivered in seconds at a fraction of the cost of a traditional appraisal. View a Sample AVM
Click Here to Enable Access to AVMS Though Your Existing Account – There are no setup costs, and you gain instant, online access to the top AVM appraisals used nationwide.
Not a client yet – no problem. Click Here to Setup Your Free Account, or to Order a Single AVM
For more information on Automated Valuation Models, including samples of each, please visit www.EasyAVM.com, contact your sales rep or call 800.445.4922, Option 1.
Both GSEs provide additional information on HVCC at:
FNMA – https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/relatedsellinginfo/appcode/pdf/hvcc.pdf or
FMAC – http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/home_valuation.html
