Today marks a major change in the lending landscape and the way loans are sold to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

As it becomes more and more difficult to find comparable vacant land sales in the Las Vegas market, due to decreasing sales volumes, some appraisers have turned to past sales.  The selection of past vacant land sales is, however, fraught with a number of potential problems.

Most appraisal assignments direct the appraiser to form an opinion of the market value of a specific property. If you are familiar with appraisal definitions you know that most market value definitions indicate that market value is the “most probable price” that a market participant will pay for a property. So in most instances appraisers have to consider value as an anticipation of future benefits.

Oh, the games people play, especially in the real estate business This is especially true in the short sale world with broker price opinions (BPOs)

Since federally insured lenders now often don't need a full appraisal report, demand has strengthened for broker price opinions (BPOs) in many states. Appraisers have seen real estate agents getting valuation work that they assumed would belong to them, so a move is on to find an appraisal product that will allow appraisers to compete for the work.

Appraisal management companies or AMC's have effectively become a subsitute "third-party" in the appraisal ordering process.  Many financial institutions have started using AMC's in an attempt to distance themselves from being accused of appraiser influence.  Unregulated AMC's could, however, become involved in any number of acts that could influence appraisers or bias appraisal results.  In my opinion, AMC's should be held to a high standard, and they should be willing to take responsibility for their actions.

As employment decreases, and the demand for office space and retail space also decreases, the number of defaulted commercial mortgages will likely increase. If large scale casino layoffs accelerate, per predictions, the impact to the commercial real estate market in Las Vegas could be significant. Office vacancy rates are already increasing toward 20% in Las Vegas, and the vacancy rate for retail properties is increasing toward 11%.

Standard appraisal methods are generally sufficient to appraise "green" buildings, and a short discussion of some notable differences between typical building appraisals and "green" building appraisals has been outlined in the following paragraphs:

HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) being implemented on May 1, 2009 residential real estate appraisers are about to enter a new business environment.  Gone are many of the neighborhood mortgage brokers with whom appraisers used to work.  Here are new AMCs (Appraisal Management Companies) that are gaining control over the supply side of the appraisal market, and of course most of these firms have their hand out for a portion of the appraisal fee.

In 2009 residential appraisers are facing a number of challenges.  There are new FHA requirements and residential appraisers will have to comply with the Home Value Code of Conduct (HVCC).  They will, however, be provided with new opportunities that may carry them through the next decade.