The Limits of Statisticsin Valuing HomesIt’s only Wednesday, and I’ve already fielded three calls this week from appraisers wanting “scoop” on recent, closed sales that I’ve handled. A year-end pick-up in deals? Well, that, too. However, in each case the appraiser was working on a refinancing application. To approve the new loan, the lender needed...Read More
Adding Back Checks & Balances If you haven’t been paying attention, there seems to be widespread consensus that much of the “recent unpleasantness” (what some people in the South called the Civil War) has to do with too few checks and balances in the financial system. So, one of the reasons that securitized mortgages became...Read More
More Locked Barn Doors . . . Yet another example of “locking the barn door after the horse has escaped” is newly vigilant appraisers. Anecdotally, I’m hearing of more sales, especially in the upper brackets, that are derailing because of appraisal issues. In a typical deal, the appraisal occurs several steps along. Before you even...Read More
