Real Estate Appraisal Management Company

Information designed primarily for the community banker interested in being compliant with the new regulatory mortgage appraisal and evaluation regulations: explanation of appraisal management, who is SAMCO Appraisal Management Company, the new federal guidelines for appraisal and evaluation regulatory compliance, community banking news, our real estate appraiser newsletter The SAMCO Bulletin Board, and how appraisal/evaluation order management works at SAMCO. Company goal is to make the community banker's transition into compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Reserve Interim Final Rule, the 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, HUD-FHA Mortgagee Letter 2009-28, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Appraiser Independence Requirements (October 15, 2010) simple, easy, and profitable. With over 20 years of appraisal management and community bank experience, we earn your loyalty one appraisal at a time.

Community Banks

In the past few years there have been many bank regulatory changes, and of those changes, the community bank's collateral valuation program, has been mentioned specifically. This "appraisal management" involves the ordering, reviewing, and acceptance of the appraisal. Examiners will also now require a process where the bank ensures that the vendor/appraiser is qualified, competent, and does not have a conflict of interest. With these new regulations, it is clear that regulators/examiners, as part of the examination process, will review an appraisal to ensure that the methods, assumptions, and value conclusions are reasonable. There are basically two options for compliance:

• Order appraisals through an appraisal management company (AMC), at the borrower's expense
• Create an in-house appraisal management AND review department at the bank's expense

Below is a brief explanation of each of our website's navigation bar titles. Just go to the website navigation bar above to receive a much more detailed discussion for each of these topics.

What is Appraisal Management?

The title describes the function of an appraisal management company, managing the appraiser list, ordering appraisals, communicating with the loan officer/client, and most importantly in today's world, REVIEWING the appraisal to ensure that it meets USPAP and client appraisal standards.

Why Appraisal Management?

The federal laws and standards that have defined the separation of the appraisal ordering from the loan production staff and have made prominent quality expectations of the appraisal itself are (in chronological order):

• The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) sunset (October 2010)
• HUD-FHA Mortgagee Letter 2009-28
• The Dodd-Frank Act
• Fannie Mae Announcement SEL-2010-14
• Freddie Mac Bulletin 2010-23 New Guide Exhibit 35
• Federal Reserve Board Interim Final Rule
• 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines

Evaluations Also?

Yes, the new 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines also require not just a separation of the order management of the evaluation from the lending staff, but have 14 requirements that the evaluation must meet. An auditor’s card or AVM is no longer satisfactory for the file. An on-site inspection and detailed analysis are required.

Who is SAMCO Appraisal Management Company?

SAMCO Appraisal Management Company does one thing, and that is done well - providing quality appraisals and evaluations by placing each appraisal and evaluation through a stringent quality audit. SAMCO Appraisal Management Company works ONLY with community bank lenders, no matter what their size. From smaller 50 million dollar banks to larger 4 billion plus banks, SAMCO's goal is to provide an appraisal with all USPAP and Appraisal Standards met in a timely manner.

There are so many questions that a community bank has, from "Can I use my current appraisers?" to "Why is there no cost to the bank when the appraisal management is contracted out?". Click on the navigation bar above to answer additional questions and how our appraisal management company fits so well with community banks.

The Management Process

The Dodd-Frank Act mandated paying appraisers customary and reasonable fees. Very few appraisal management companies work just for community banks, like SAMCO. Because of our unique relationship, SAMCO Appraisal Management Company has always paid the customary local appraisal fee to the appraiser. When a community bank is interested in establishing the total appraisal and appraisal management fee cost for their local CRA area, it's just a simple process of providing some basic information. We work hard to maintain your local relationships and to stay within YOUR compliance requirements!

Making the change to appraisal management has never been easier. Our process is in a simple step-by-step format. Utilizing web-based platform technology makes this process simple and accessible to all approved users. Go to the navigation bar to find out more!

New Laws and Regulatory Guidelines

There have been five major regulatory announcements in the past few years. The major goal between all of them is the separation of the lending production staff from vendor/appraiser approval, appraisal/evaluation ordering, and most importantly, the reviewing of the appraisal/evaluation to ensure it is within USPAP, the required appraisal standards, and agency requirements. As community bankers, you are aware that our country's banking regulations and real estate lending laws have gone, and are going through, major changes. The Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Reserve's Interim Final Rule, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's Selling Guide, and the 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines are all provided here for you to read in their entirety. For much easier reading, we have also excerpted out the "defining" statements that affect you, the community banker. All of these regulatory changes are important, but the one that impacts the community bank the most is the last one - the 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines (IAG). Compliance with the FDIC's 2010 Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines will be challenging, but can be simple, easy, and profitable for you. Go to the navigation bar for more detailed information!

The SAMCO Bulletin Board Newsletter

SAMCO Appraisal Management Company creates many personal relationships with our vendors/appraisers. Just as you know and respect your local appraiser, we do also. Many appraisers are isolated, working by themselves. Besides always being available to discuss challenging projects, we also send a weekly newsletter out with helpful "real world" tips about USPAP compliance and Fannie/Freddie appraisal standards. We are all in this together. When we approach the appraisal process as a team - appraiser, appraisal management company, and community bank - we all win!

SAMCO Appraisal Management Company posts different SAMCO Bulletin Board newsletters on the website every few weeks. Don't miss out on some great information. Go to the navigation bar for The SAMCO Bulletin Board newsletter.