Local vs Out of Area Appraisers

I went to a great seminar last night on real estate appraisals. On May 1, 2009, Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) went into effect. This code states that the lender and the appraiser must be seperate. This means that many lenders can no longer have in-house appraisers. This brought about Appraisal Management Companies (AMC). AMC's have now become the middle man for lenders, agents, sellers and buyers.



The HVCC does prevent lenders and appraisers from acting in collusion with each other. Unfortunately, AMC companies hire appraisers that may be from other areas then the one being appraised. Appriasers give there opinion of home values based on similar home values in the area. If the appraiser does not know the surrounding area, then I feel they can not do as good of a job as local appraisers.



That's enough of my opinion. What do you think?

DOJ vs Columbia MLS

Things are changing in Columbia. The Consolidated MLS in Columbia and the Department of Justice, just reached a settlement. Columbia will soon be allowing Exclusive Agency. This means that Sellers will be allowed to negotiate directly with agents.

Agents are trained perfessionals in the art of negotiation and sales. I don't think that Sellers should take the decision to negotiate on their own lightly. On the other hand this should be their decision to make.

Flat Fee services add choices for Sellers in Columbia, SC

Flat Fee services allow sellers to to pick and choice what they want from their Listing Agent. Commissions should be negotiable, but many brokerages do not allow their agents to list for less then 3%.

This is my first time Blogging. My real interest is what other think. Please post comments and questions.

Jason King