Mike Lay's (mikelay) Blog

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Real Estate Appraiser - Appraisal House Texas
RECENT BLOG POSTS
I was perusing the June issue of Money magazine when I came across a short article entitled "The Benefits of a Beautiful Outdoors".  The gist of it was that good landscaping adds about 10% to a homes value according to a Michigan State study.  Normally I would have just laughed at that and moved ...
06/01/2009
Dear Andrew, Now that we are a week into May, I wanted to personally thank you for your efforts in regard to creating the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (affectionately known as the HVCC, or "Half-assed Values at the Cheapest Cost" to those of us in the appraisal industry).  But seriously, I appl...
05/05/2009
Here is an email I wrote to a good mortgage broker client I've had for the past few years, in response to one from them asking me to please sign up with Fiserv as required by Crescent Mortgage, one of their lenders: Hi Bob, Tom also sent me one for Taylor Bean & Whitaker, who is using some compan...
04/09/2009
Not sure if everyone has seen this, but here is an email I got with an update on the status of the lawsuit.  Feel free to donate to the cause, every little bit helps!   Dear NAMB Member, As you know, on February 23, 2009, NAMB filed a lawsuit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over...
03/26/2009
Well, the first of two important dates is almost upon us.  On April 1st, Fannie and Freddie will require the 1004 MC Market Conditions Addendum with all 1-4 unit property appraisals.  And that means most appraisal types, not just the 1004.  It also applies to the 2055 (exterior only), 1073 & 1075...
03/24/2009
I don't do a lot of review work, but have several good clients that will ask me to do them on occasion.  I also received one through Appraisal Port recently that really made me question both the "training" that new or potential appraisers get, as well as the general ethics that some appraisers ha...
02/16/2009
Lenders, I would like to relay a firsthand account of what kind of quality you might expect when you choose to work with AMC's: A very large bank, in fact one of the largest BANK's in AMERICA, uses eAppraiseIt for appraisal management services.   Now, I would agree that if you wanted to deter hav...
02/05/2009
I am very excited today because I found out that we NO LONGER NEED TO FIND AND USE THE "BEST" COMPS IN OUR REPORTS!  Nope, it looks like that old, outdated method of choosing the most comparable sales is going the way of the wooly mammoth.  From now on, the only important attribute of a comparabl...
01/20/2009
My 1999 Ford Expedition recently turned over 200,000 miles, and I am very proud of myself.  I've never owned a car that lasted more than 120,000, so this is a definite milestone.  It runs great (knock on wood), is still in great shape, and has had only some minor repairs over the years.  I bought...
01/04/2009
To all appraisers and mortgage professionals: I have posted a letter on my website that I have provided to all of my clients that outlines the HVCC, including what it is, what it does, who it affects, and what they can do about it.  I think it provides a reasonable summary that would be beneficia...
12/29/2008
Rainer
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Mike Lay

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