Last week HUD launched a new website to track bank-owned properties. The goal of the website is to help REOs be absorbed more strategically in the market, particularly for those using the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). The real positive of the site is to be able to see foreclosures lumped together in a neighborhood or city and quickly identify who has the most REOs (HUD, FNMA or Freddie). However, a tool like this is really only useful if the data is fresh and accurate. See the HUD REO website HERE. Thanks Dave Towne for the link.
Ultimately, I wonder whether investors and home owners would actually use this tool when many of them have Sacramento MLS at their disposal either personally or through a stellar local agent.
What do you think? Do you see any real use here or is this simply a neat tool with little impact? If you use another foreclosure tool, how does this website compare? I’d be especially curious to hear from investors and real estate agents.
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It’s my youngest son’s birthday tomorrow and it’s also the one-year anniversary of the 
Secondly, the consumer pays more for a real estate appraisal now. Under the direction of HVCC, appraisals geared toward Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac cannot be ordered directly by a lender or broker, but must be ordered from a neutral third-party (often times an AMC – Appraisal Management Company). These companies charge the consumer more than what an appraiser would typically charge, and many times pay the appraiser quite a bit less than what is customary in the market. There are some upstanding AMCs out there that I am thankful to do business with, but on the other hand it’s too bad to see some companies really taking advantage of the situation at hand. For example, I received an email yesterday from an AMC offering appraisers $125 for an appraisal order, while their website shows fees at nearly $500.
Ultimately, I’m thankful that HVCC only applies to loans geared toward Fannie & Freddie (HUD/FHA has something similar in place now too). I still do many appraisals for investors, Realtors, and home owners, and these types of valuations are NOT affected at all by HVCC. Of course I’m not immune to some of the consequences of HVCC as I mentioned above, and the whole thing upsets me, but I’m choosing to focus on other things. I may be limited in business right now with what I can do for loan appraisals, but I can still chase other avenues of appraisal work such as bankruptcy, divorce, estate settlement, investor valuations, and assignments from local governmental agencies. In fact, just yesterday I had another Sacramento estate settlement retrospective appraisal come my way.