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

The typical driving distance traveled by independent appraisers, retained by the nation's largest appraisal management companies (AMCs), averages 13 miles in urban and suburban areas this year, according to a new survey conducted by the Title Appraisal Vendor Management Association (TAVMA). "Our members, the nation's largest appraisal management companies, track a variety of metrics, including for distances traveled," said Jeff Schurman, executive director of TAVMA.Read more

Informative Research, a provider of mortgage credit information nationwide, and ValuFinders, a provider of valuation services to national lenders and government agencies, have announced a strategic partnership which provides seamless integration of their systems enabling lenders to maximize the best of both companies’ core strengths. As a result of this strategic partnership, lenders and brokers now benefit from a comprehensive online appraisal ordering and delivery service.Read more

a la mode, the nation's dominant mortgage and appraisal technology company, announced that PCLender.com, the industry's leading enterprise web-based mortgage lending platform, has chosen Mercury Network as its appraisal workflow and management solution. With tens of thousands of appraisers covering every county of every state, plus the ability to add any lender's own appraisal panel, Mercury Network's Web-centric Vendor Management Platform (VMP) streamlines appraisal ordering and management and is fully compliant with new appraisal regulations.Read more

National mortgage banker Plaza Home Mortgage has selected StreetLinks National Appraisal Services as its exclusive appraisal management partner. Effective Oct. 12, 2009, StreetLinks will provide Plaza's wholesale operations with a full complement of compliant and warranted valuation products. "Plaza is pleased to partner with a firm that shares our commitment to excellence and dedication to providing best-in-class service," says Julie Manson, Plaza's vice president of compliance.Read more

StreetLinks National Appraisal Services has announced the introduction of its exclusive Performance Guarantee. StreetLinks guarantees that its quality and service levels will exceed the performance of any other appraisal solution or it will pay a performance penalty. "Like any other industry, not all appraisal management companies (AMCs) are the same. We are so confident in the superiority of our appraisal management solution that we back it with an industry-exclusive Performance Guarantee," Streetlinks CEO, Steve Haslam explained.Read more

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest organization of real estate appraisers, has celebrated a significant victory for the appraisal profession in the wake of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) announcement that it was reversing a policy that inadvertently capped fees to appraisers. “FHA’s action is tremendously important to appraisers, and we’re thrilled with this result that benefits the profession and our members,” said Appraisal Institute President Jim Amorin, MAI, SRA.Read more