a la mode has announced that Axios Valuation Solutions has now fully integrated their appraisal management operations with a la mode's Mercury Network Vendor Management Platform (VMP). Mercury Network allows lenders and appraisal management companies (AMCs) to manage their entire appraisal workflow. It's been used by more than 200,000 mortgage professionals since 2002 to completely automate the full "round trip" of tens of millions of appraisals.Read more

a la mode has announced its new Client Relations Department dedicated exclusively to Mercury Network clients. Mercury Network is an online appraisal vendor management platform (VMP), allowing lenders and appraisal management companies (AMCs) to order and manage appraisals, all while remaining in full compliance with the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Federal Interagency Appraisal Guidelines.Read more

Each month, National Mortgage Professional Magazine will focus on one of the industry’s top players in our “Mortgage Professional of the Month” feature. This month, we had a chance to chat with one of our advertisers, Kelley Berkheiser, Branch Development Manager of White Plains, N.Y.-based Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company. Kelley oversees the hiring, licensing, transitioning and marketing of Guaranteed Home Mortgage’s offices in 27 states nationwide.Read more

Yes, we as taxpayers did lose hundreds of billions of dollars recently due to the mortgage crisis. This is the second time that this has happened during my career as a mortgage professional.Read more

InHouse Inc., a provider of appraisal solutions for banks, lenders and other mortgage originators, has announced the launch of InHouse Connexions, the industry’s first technology for managing any combination of disparate appraisal vendors, whether appraisal management companies (AMCs), appraisal companies and individual appraisers. The number of vendors is unlimited--all can be managed from a single platform.Read more

Whether you are a real estate attorney, agent, appraiser or lender, you have, no doubt, felt the effects of mortgage loan government regulation, in recent years, and particularly, in recent months. Even among those whom have been less affected in the past, there is the constant threat of additional regulation coming down the pike. Over the past three or four decades, we have seen growing government regulation creeping into our industry at practically every level of government.Read more

StreetLinks National Appraisal Services has announced that its entire Quality Control team, consisting of over 100 staff members, has successfully completed the 15-hour 2010 Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) training course. StreetLinks maintains the largest Quality Control staff in the industry to guarantee the quality of delivered reports.Read more

Pro Teck Valuation Services, a leading real estate valuation and risk solutions provider, endorses the Title Appraisal Vendor Management Association’s (TAVMA) Standards of Good Practice in Appraisal Management as an important and necessary step in ensuring consistency and quality from all appraisal management companies (AMCs). TAVMA has published its standards as a set of guidelines for participants in the appraisal management industry.Read more

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) is attempting to link valuation fraud to the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). I wish NAMB would give up the ghost on trying to stop HVCC because it is depleting NAMB’s resources. As a member of NAMB, I would rather see NAMB place its efforts on membership, training/certifications, and fight proposed legislation like HR 4173, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.Read more

Amidst all of the discussion of the mortgage crisis and the implementation of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), there has been lots of finger pointing, concerning who was at fault for the meltdown and what should and should not be done to fix the problem(s). Unless you have been in seclusion for the past year, you have heard of the attempts of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to keep appraisers separated from loan originators.Read more