Appraising in Central Florida

Each day my email box is filled with real estate mortgage headlines, legislative efforts on the real estate industry's behalf, home builder projections, and regional economic forecasts.  I start my day by sorting, filing, and most importantly, reading what is happening out there.  I believe that ...

Yesterday provided some  major appraisal world news that spurred me to compose a small blog for the appraiser group. The NY attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that he was suing one of the nations largest real estate management companies, eAppraiseIT (some may better know the parent company, ...

This morning I received an email from Appraisal Scoop regarding the latest  announcement from New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (reported by Reuters) regarding his (and the SEC's) probe into First American/eAppraiseIt and Washington Mutual.  I believe that there will be much more to th...

 Water - The most basic element of life.  We currently enjoy a relative free access to water with thirsty green lawns, backyard gardens, and ornamental trees and bushes, but in ten years, living in Central Florida may be a much different experience than it is now.   Drought conditions have been a...

Today it was announced that Countrywide plans to offers thousands of homeowners the opportunity to refinance their adjustable rate mortgages.  The announcement is welcomed by the distressed property owners, but I think the timing seems a bit curious?  The article was just emailed to me a short ti...

 Now that I have your curiosity piqued...Trichotillomania (pronounced: trik-oh-till-oh-may-nee-ah) is a type of psychological condition that involves strong urges to pull hair.  I am not making fun at people that are sadly afflicted with this medical condition, but appraisers must feel this urge ...

A recent newsletter from Appraisal Today  re-printed a forum discussion that was featured on the FNC site over the summer.The roundtable discussion took place in July with four "industry experts" from FNC which many of the policies that were stated demonstrate just a small portion of the quality ...

Everyone in the industry knows that now is not a "high" time in the real estate market.  In many of the appraisals that I have reviewed recently, the appraiser has opted to ignore the current market altogether.  With all of the hyped and negative media attention of the foreclosure glut within Cen...

  Most practitioners in the industry know and understand the importance of private mortgage insurance as they help support and provide protection to lenders and investors in the event that the borrower of the note defaults.  In today's real estate market, it would make good business sense that co...

In today's suspicious society, it becomes increasingly difficult to go by unnoticed as an appraiser in the Central Florida area.  Just last week  a neighbor emailed me with:"There is a strange woman out in the street taking photographs of my house without my permission...Should I call the police?...