COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus

Walitt Solutions encourages appraisers, firms, vendor management companies, lenders, and other interested parties to continue to monitor changes and resources in the valuation industry related to the COVID-19 novel Coronavirus and impacts of the national emergency. Below are resources: Health Resources World Health Organization See WHO’s “Advice For Public” webpage. Centers For Disease Control and […]

The Appraiser’s Workfile – Part II

In Part 1, I explored the question “What should be in the appraiser’s workfile?” The take-away is that no two workfiles will look alike; rather, the minimum standard emphasizes retaining data and information that supports the appraiser’s analyses, conclusions, and opinions. Another common question from appraisers, clients, lenders, and appraisal management companies is “What do […]

The Appraiser’s Workfile

Two common questions that come up when I’m coaching appraisers, training an appraisal department at a lender or management company, or teaching a USPAP course is “What should be in the appraiser’s workfile?” and “What do we really mean by ‘workfile’?” I’ll explore the first question here, and the second question in Part 2. At […]

The Cost of Non-Compliance: Valuation Independence Training

Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Paul McNulty famously said, “If you think compliance is expensive, try non-compliance.” In a recent introductions meeting with an appraisal management company, we discussed my performing an overall “health” exam of the company’s daily and back-office operations. Such a visit acts as a mock audit and endeavors to discover strengths, […]

Appraisal-speak: New Assignment

A fellow appraiser recently reached out to me and we had an opportunity to have an appraiser-to-appraiser email exchange. The issue related to a client’s request for a 1004D form: I received a request from a lender client to complete the 1004D Update Appraisal. I did the original appraisal four months ago. I referred my […]

Nothing New Under the Sun: the varied face of appraisal

In July 2019, I spoke to the Collateral Risk Network, a group of chief appraisers, risk managers, management companies, lenders, appraisers, regulators, and legal experts, at the Collateral Matters event in Reston, Virginia. My talk focused on Property Inspections, which – to an outsider – might seem to be a straight-forward topic. However, given current […]