PropertyRate

I am proud to announce that our SVP of Valuation Policy, John Brenan, has been called up to the big leagues, so to speak. John has been tapped to join the Appraisal Subcomittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (ASC) with a focus on defining appraisal policy, practices and modernization at a national level. While we will miss engaging with him on a day-to-day basis and benefiting from his deep knowledge and experience, this opportunity will enable John to have the same meaningfully positive impact that he had here at PropertyRate on our entire industry. John has a great track-record of guiding our industry in the right direction over his career as a regulator, policy-maker and business leader. I look forward to seeing all he will accomplish at the ASC. Please join me in congratulating John and wishing him well in his new role. 

Poi and Federally Related Transactions One might ask what these two apparently random things have in common. The answer would be that if you do a lot of business in Hawaii both probably sound familiar, but you don't know exactly what either really is.   Effective June 30, 2023, Hawaii sunset its AMC regulatory program, which left many lenders and AMCs with the question of whether or not an AMC can operate in Hawaii and what exactly is a Federally Related Transaction. Significant research and discussions with Hawaii's regulators and the appraisal subcommittee have brought us to the conclusion that an AMC may continue to operate in HI with the exception of managing property valuations for the very limited number of loans that are classified as Federally Related Transactions (“FRT”). So what really is an FRT?   An FRT is technically defined as any real estate-related financial transaction which a federal financial institution's regulatory agency or the Resolution Trust Corporation engages in, contracts for, or regulates, and which requires the services of an appraiser. [12 U.S.C. 3350]. In other words, any mortgage loan that requires an appraisal and is originated, issued or held by any lender that is regulated by the OCC, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve or the RTC.   But wait...there is more. While the definition above sounds like it includes nearly every mortgage, a loan is not in fact classified as an FRT if: 1) the loan value is less than or equal to $400,000; 2) the loan is wholly or partially insured or guaranteed by a United States government agency or United States government sponsored agency (e.g., VA, FHA, USDA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac - which generally account for between 50% and 70% of mortgage originations); 3) The transaction qualifies for sale to United States government agency or United States government sponsored agency ("GSE") or involves a residential real estate transaction in which the appraisal conforms to GSE standards; or 4) The transaction is exempted from the appraisal requirement pursuant to the rural residential exemption under 12 U.S.C. 3356.   What’s is the point? PropertyRate is open for business in Hawaii and our lender and appraiser partners can count on us to support 99.9% of their property valuation needs in the state.   Oh...and poi is a tasty purple Hawaiian delicacy made of mashed, cooked and fermented taro root.

We were very excited to have our SVP of Valuation Policy and Strategy, John Brenan, featured on Valuation Review last month. As always, John offered some great insights to some of today's most relevant topics for property valuation, including technological disruption, bias and equity and regulatory compliance.

PropertyRate is incredibly excited to welcome industry veterans and property valuation thought leaders, John Brenan and Danny Regalado, to our team. John has assumed a new role at PropertyRate as our Senior Vice President of Valuation Policy and Strategy, while Danny joins us as the Vice President of Appraisal Operations and Corporate Chief Appraiser. They will provide leadership and support across our growing family of valuation services platforms, including PropertyRate, Arivs and SettlementOne Valuation. John and Danny bring more than 65 years of collective experience to our Valuation Center of Excellence, which offers a unique level of insight for our valued clients, independent appraiser partners, and team members during this period of significant change and disruption in the mortgage and appraisal industries.