Fannie Mae's announcement SEL-2010-09, June 30, 2010 specifies lender responsibility and liability regarding appraiser selection criteria, regardless if the selection is performed by a third-party appraisal management company (AMC). StreetLinks National Appraisal Services (StreetLinks) has always provided, on every appraisal at no additional cost, an exclusive "Warranty of Appraisal Quality," which provides indemnification to lenders in the event of a verified appraisal related repurchase demand. StreetLinks' revised "Warranty of Appraisal Quality & Appraiser Competency" provides comprehensive indemnification to lenders inclusive of Fannie Mae's appraiser selection criteria mandates.
"Now that Fannie has clarified that the liability for appraiser selection and competency rests solely on the lender's shoulders, all lenders should give careful consideration to AMC models that prioritize transactional profit over geographic proximity and report quality," explained Tony Ebeyer, StreetLinks chief operating officer. "Appraiser proximity, geo-competency and historical quality have always been the keystones to StreetLinks' proprietary assignment methodology, IQ-Select—regardless of the impact on our margin."
StreetLinks has long been the industry leader in appraiser proximity, geo-competency and appraisal quality as evidenced by its approach to appraisers. StreetLinks has never mandated fees to its appraiser partners—appraisers set their own market fees. In addition, all assignments are processed through IQ -Select, which ranks appraisers on proximity, historical quality, historical service metrics and capacity.
"Everything in the new Fannie Mae regulations has always been at the core of our business model which provides the highest quality appraisal reports in the industry. Lenders can be assured that our appraiser selection and assignment methodology, backed by our warranty, is compliant with Fannie's requirements," said Steve Haslam, StreetLinks chief executive officer. "Fannie has officially placed the burden on the lender for compliance with best-practice appraisal assignment. As such, lenders should carefully scrutinize the appraiser selection and assignment methodology used by their AMC or in-house appraisal management solution."
StreetLinks provides appraisals nationwide that are fully compliant with Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and all other current regulations. An innovator in the appraisal management marketplace with its industry-first Certificate of Compliance and TILA-Trigger technology, StreetLinks manually pre-underwrites every appraisal for compliance with lender guidelines.
For more information, visit www.streetlinks.com.
