Bank of America buys Countrywide Home Loans and FHA certification for appraisers no longer necessary!

WOW! Big news day for the appraising business, folks!

On Friday, Bank of America announced that it is purchasing Countrywide Home Loans for a mere $4 BILLION. The purchase is certainly to rescue Countrywide from bankruptcy after the crash of the sub prime housing market.

For appraisers that have been long time Countrywide/Landsafe vendors, this raises some big questions. Will Landsafe continue to manage appraisal assignment for Countrywide and, if so, in some sort of diminished capacity?

LSI handles appraisal assignment for Bank of America - will all of the appraisal assignments be turned over to them? I contacted the chief appraiser at LSI, George Vann, on Friday via email and asked these very questions. He replied that he does not know at this time what will happen to the appraisal assignments or how, if at all, the appraisal process will be restructured.

This will be interesting....I have always believed that Landsafe was a huge conflict of interest for Countrywide, as they openly owned the company. What is the point of having an outside management company assign your appraisals, if the company is not "outside" at all?

Even bigger news - I received a bulletin from HUD/FHA on Wednesday that I had to read over and over and am still not sure that I am reading it correctly. If I am, it states that effective February 7, 2008, there will no longer be ANY FHA certification necessary for FHA appraisals! In other words, any state licensed appraiser will be able to perform FHA appraisals!

The bulletin goes on to say that the FHA certification process was found to be duplicative and therefore, unnecessary.

WOW! That is a bombshell.....and has both good and bad connotations for appraisers. Those that are already FHA certified are certain to lose some business to licensed appraisers that may not really be qualified to perform an FHA appraisal. On the other hand, FHA appraisers will no longer have to worry about falling behind on their own personal FHA mortgages and being removed from the FHA roster as a result.

I am putting the link to the bulletin here, as well as the little paragraph that I believe states that any licensed appraiser may perform an FHA appraiser come February 7th.

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/08-8.pdf

All- Department of Housing and Urban Development24 CFR Part 200[Docket No. FR-5112-F-01] RIN 2502-AI53TITLE: FHA Appraiser Roster Requirements; Final AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing Commissioner; HUD.ACTION: Final rule.DATES: Effective Date: February 7, 2008 SUMMARY: This final rule explicitly conforms the eligibility requirements for applicants to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Appraiser Roster to longstanding HUD practices, as well as to existing nationwide industry practice. Only appraisers on the roster may perform required appraisals of properties that are to serve as security for FHA-insured single-family mortgages. Among other requirements, the current regulations require that an applicant must be a state- licensed or state-certified appraiser and pass a HUD examination on FHA appraisal methods and reporting. This final rule codifies HUD's longstanding practice and the nationwide practice that such certification or licensing comply with national criteria for education, experience, and passage of a state-administered examination. This final rule also eliminates the requirement for applicants to pass a HUD test on FHA appraisal methods and reporting, because the test has become duplicative of the national examination requirements for state licensure and certification and, therefore, unnecessary.

Take a look and let me know if that is what you read into this, too!

Big news day! And, as always, 'til next time, it's all good!