HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY BUFORD DAM ON MONDAY 3/1/10. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FROM HAROLD MARTIN, ALSO A GREAT FRIEND OF OURS, WHO TOOK MOVIES OF THE DAM BEING BUILT, AN OLD BOAT HE BUILT IN THE 50'S AND HIS FAMILY SKIING BEHIND THIS BOAT ALMOST 60 YEARS AGO!
WHERE DOES THE TIME GO, SURE BRINGS BACK GREAT MEMORIES FOR THOSE WHO WERE AROUND BACK THEN, WHICH ARE FEW! I WAS ONLY A GLEAM IN MY FATHER'S EYE IN 1950!
ENJOY THE VIDEO AND LAKE LANIER THIS SUMMER, WHAT A GREAT HISTORY THIS LAKE HAS HAD.
HERE IS LINK TO THE ENTIRE STORY IN THE GAINESVILLE TIMES.
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/30094/
They just picked the last lottery applicant which I believe was 281. Wucinski in Dawson County was the last name if I heard them correctly Congrats! Here are the last few winners of the lotto off the Corps website:
I am sure those thaat had applications in for quite some time are not happy if they do not get picked over someone who just put in an application a week or a few months ago.Not sure how fair that process is, seems that first in would be the first ones to get the docks. They likely had well over the number of applications in house as they related to the number of dock permits left over, so they decided, give them till 10/13/09 to apply and give all in the "pool" a shot at a permits.So we shall see how it all shakes out.Congrats to the winners of the Lottery.
Last October I was interveiwed by The Weather Channel due to our severe drought and how that would impact Real Estate Values. It was not a pretty picture as we were 18 feet below full pool at that time.I contacted The Weather Channel last week when we hit full pool to tell them the good news and that they should do another story about Lake Lanier hitting full pool and what good news that is for all concerned. Well, they contacted me and today at Aqualand they are conducting an interview with myself and Len Jernigan of Aqualand Marina , to talk about Real Estate now and Business now with the lake being full. Should be a much happier story!
aqualandmarinafullpool.jpg
** Interview to air tonight 10/21/09 on their evening edition 6 or 7pm or both**The only bad news is the average Lake Home Sales price declined 25% from 7/08 - 10/08 as compared to the same time this year. But the GOOD news is that we have seen 2 times, yes double the number of sales in this same period on Lake Lanier and we have 19 homes pending, of which 30% went under contract in October and 80% went under contract in the months of September and October combined.I plan to tell them that we have 3 things in our favor, dock permits being gone by the end of October, water levels above full pool and the market seems to be stabalizing.I also plan to tell them that Lake Levels seem to be tied to the DOW interestingly enough, whether that little tidbit will make the cut, who knows! So I will let you know how it all turned out and when they plan to air the show.Have a great day everyone. Remember if you need a current value on your Lake Lanier home you know who to call.
Yes it is true, just yesterday, September 18th FHA sent out a Mortgagee Letter to all lenders that they are adopting HVCC in most of its current form.
By now most of you know about HVCC, if not please check my previous blogs on the subject. Fannie Mae adopted HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) on May 1st. as they wanted to insure appraiser independence. In short this means that mortgage brokers can no longer order appraisals from appraisers. It is now being handled by AMC's (Appraisal Management Companies) or the Banks directly. No production staff that is paid commission based upon a loan closing can order appraisals.
Due to this change, what was happening was FHA loans were on the rise BIG time as the brokers still had control over the appraisal process. That will end January 1st. FHA does not want to take on any more risk than they already have and FHA does not want and they are not asking the Federal Goverment to bail them out. They have enough in reserves to deal with any loses they have. So FHA must make sure that appraiser independence is guaranteed to minimize on this lending risk. I am not surprised at all, I really was expecting this from FHA.
What does this mean?
1. Good news for appraisers, the AMC's who normally pay CUT rate fees and who care less about quality appraisal reports and experienced appraisers and more about making money, must pay appraisers based upon normal market rates for completing FHA assignments. However the borrower will wind up paying more for FHA loans as the appraisal fees will be even higher....at least this is my take on the situation as the AMC's will jack up their prices to the banks to pay the appraisers what they should and to make profit for themselves as well.
2. Mortgage Brokers will no longer be ordering appraisal reports. So this repsonsibility will go to the Banks or the AMC's.
3. Appraisal reports will only be good for 4 months rather than 6 months.
4. Good NEWS: FHA will allow appraisal reports to be transferred to another lender rather than having another appraisal report completed.
5. The only way another appraisal report can be completed if someone does not agree with value is the report will have to be flawed in some way and it will have to be proved that flaws exist in the report
6. No one can talk to appraisers about value issues. REALTORS, you can still give Appraisers comparable sales data, that is NOT prohibited, you just cannot talk to them about value. The banks and AMC's can discuss particulars of the assignment, but no one can pressure an appraiser for value PERIOD!
7. As of October 1st only CERTIFIED Appraisers can complete FHA appraisal assignments.
8. FHA will require that the appraiser is knowledgeable in the area that they appraise. So if you find an appraiser coming from way out of the area to do an appraisal, this would be one reason to suspect the accuracy of the report. This has ALWAYS been required of appraisers as part of USPAP ( Competency RULE) but many appraisers would take the job no matter where it was and this is not good, if they have no clue about the area.
9. Banks will be liable for the loans they underwrite, not brokers, so there may be more FHA brokers coming from the picture.
To read more about it click here for the full story:
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/09182009_drastic_fha_guideline_changes.asp
Pass this along, this WILL affect your business as of JANUARY 2010.
Mary Thompson
Here are the long awaited Lake Lanier Sales Statistics for the first Half of 2009. These include only those homes that have individual boat docks or permits in place. They do not include community docks, shared or platform docks.
1/1/09-6/30/09: There are 479 current listings that range from a high of $4,875,000 to a low of $155,900. **Remember WAY back many years, when you could find a LAKE home under $200,000. Well there are some to be had again…..But not for LONG!
** Average listing price is $829,000 out of the 479 listed.
** Average list price last half of 2008 was $722,000 so we are up 13% there.
There are 24 pending or contingent sales of lake home sales that range from $169,000 to $1,799,000.
*Average pending price is $600,000. This is up 20% compared to last half of 2008 with average price of those pending at $477,000
1/1/09 – 6/30/09 – There was 48 sales that ranged from $309,000 to $1,265,000.
** Average sales price was $478,594. Average Days on Market was 162 (however this number is actually higher as many homes were listed and then re-listed at new prices and the counter for days on the market started over again) Many homes on the market for well over 6 months and many were on the market over 1 year.
** Compared to 2008 during the same time there were 145 sales from low of $150,000 to a high of $2,500,000 and the average sales price was $578,372. OUCH! That is an almost 18% decline in average sale price. Even worse when compared to the last half of 2008 with an average sales price of $671,000.
**Average list to sales price ratio for first half of 2009 was 14%. Average list to sales price ratio for first half of 2008 was 10%. So sellers are taking more of a hit off their list price to get their homes sold.
FORECLOSURE SALES: There were 16 foreclosures in the first half of 2009 compared to 8 foreclosures in the first half of 2008. This means 33.3% of the 2009 sales involved foreclosures. Only 5.5% of sales in first half of 2008 were foreclosures.
NOTE: These numbers could be a higher as the search was for Corporate or Foreclosures noted in the Special Circumstances field of FMLS.
What does all of this mean? Well it means that 2009 was one tough year on Lake Lanier! This is really no surprise to most of us when you consider the entire country had the worst year ever in 2009.
It also means people are willing to cut their loses, but not to a great degree. Fewer sales tell me 2 things. People are not buying AND people are not willing to sell at these rock bottom prices.
We have finally seen a rise in the lake up to 5.0 feet below full pool from 20 feet below in December, 2008. Recently it has dropped to almost 7.0 feet below summer pool. We are getting some much needed rain this entire week so we may just get that number back up to 5.0 feet by the end of this week, maybe even knocking on the 4.0 feet below full pool door!
In October, 2009, the last of the dock permits are planned to be issued. If the lake continues holding water, our deep recession (I really think we are in a depression) starts to ease a bit and the fact that we have more pending Lake sales than last year, I truly believe we have hit the bottom and there is nowhere to go but UP!
It is imperative that if you are thinking of selling or buying that you get your Lake Lanier Home appraised so you know what the CURRENT market is for the home and you do not make a huge mistake by either leaving money on the table as a seller or as a buyer, over paying for your new dream home!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
“Your Lake Lanier Appraiser”
www.marytappraisals.com
http://www.pinkladders.com/documents/Mary_Thompson.pdf
If you want to get to know the more personal side of yours truly and how I managed to get to where I am in business and in life today, click on the above link.
I was featured in the Pink Ladders Newsletter, a well known site all about sucessful woman and how they climbed the pink ladder of success!
Enjoy and as always, thanks for stopping by my Blog and for your business now and in the future.
Your Pink Ladders Appraiser
The news is so depressing these days and aren't we all sick of the big companies with their hands out for government bucks that we are paying for in taxes, with NO thanks or appreciation of any kind?
Well, today I was really taken back by a large company right here on Lake Lanier paying it forward to us. www.lakelanier.com Steve Burge, the owner of this very successful online company is helping a budding radio show www.lakefrontradio.com with some needed sponsorship to keep is alive and well.
The hosts of the show are yours truly and my husband Chuck Thompson. We have been fortunate enough to interview some really interesting people, from Shark Divers, to a 73 year old female aerial pilot and photographer, to Lake Lanier Islands, Navy Pier out of Chicago, a Navy Captain, Treasure Hunting Diver - Mel Fisher's grandson, etc.
If you want to take advantage of the now HUGE exposure we will be getting on this show due to www.lakelanier.com sponsoring and placing our show on their website, you too can become a sponsor and I guarantee you it will be worth the ride along with us!
We want to sincerely Thanks Steve at www.lakelanier.com for placing his confidence, financial and moral support behind our Radio Show. It makes me feel good about Big Businesses who help the little guy.
We cannot thank you enough!
Chuck & Mary Thompson - Your Hosts
In a nutshell, when this new FEDERAL law takes effect, Mortgage Brokers, Realtors Buyers and Sellers will have NO control over the appraisal process. None of the above can call an appraiser and get an appraisal done and then bring it to the lender or bank for a loan. Banks must order the report directly from the appraiser or a third party will do the ordering hired by the Banks. These third parties are what we call Appraisal Management Companies (AMC's). The banks are hiring these companies to puts a layer in between the banks and the appraiser for more independence and less lender pressure on the appraisers to "make the value".
**Any of the above individuals CAN order an appraisal directly from the appraiser if their reason for the report is not for a LOAN, IE; to determine a listing or sales price, to obtain current value, a divorce, estate, tax rebuttal appraisal, PMI removal, etc. That is NOT prohibited and is actually encouraged in this ever changing market ***
Note: Realtors, buyers and sellers will not be able to call the appraiser or email them to tell them that they do not agree with our values. That is undue pressure and it NOT allowed. As an appraiser I am happy about that, because to be honest, most of the "comparable properties" that are provided by Realtors, buyers and sellers are not comparable, but that is another whole post all together. I am here to help you today! READ ON.......
Here is where REALTORS, buyer and sellers DO have control. Just the other day I was appraising a Lake Lanier property (our specialty) and I was surprised and very HAPPY to see that in the sales contract under the special stips page was the following statement:
" Buyer shall have all the rights and provisions manifested by the Appraisal Contingency provided that the appraiser the buyers lender selects has COMPETENCY to perform an accurate Lake Front Property appraisal and has completed at least 10 appraisals on Lake Sidney Lanier waterfront properties within the past 3 years" Said qualifications of any and all appraisers hired shall be provided to the Listing Agents in writing upon request."
That is awesome! I would suggest SELLERS rights are also protected in the contract, by stating that if the buyer signs an appraisal contingency in the contract, they should also REQUIRE an experienced appraiser in the property be it Lake, Golf Course, even a particular neighborhood. I would also suggest that in the case of a special property like Lakefront that the experience be even greater at least 10% of their work is completion of this type of appraisal over the past 1 year, not 3 years as things have changed over the last year as you well know. Many lenders are requiring that the property appraised by the appraiser is no more than 30 miles from the appraiser's office. I would suggest that you narrow that down and state that the appraiser must live in the SAME COUNTY as the property being appraised.
I can't tell you how many times a lender sends someone from ATLANTA to Lake Lanier to appraise that property and unless they have considerable experience on this lake, which most do not as their primary work is closer to the city of Atlanta (45 miles from Lake Lanier) you have a disaster waiting to happen when it comes to the appraisal!
So you DO have control and you need to start adding this type of language to every sales contract. Trust me when I tell you that BANKS and especially the Appraisal Management Companies (see my previous post on AMC's) DO not care about competency of the appraiser. They select the one that can do it the quickest and the cheapest and if that happens your DEALS will fall apart on a regular basis.
Please pass this along to every Realtor you know, repost it, blog about it NOW. If you do then you can take control back on this HVCC law when it comes to appraisals on your sales deals.
If you have any questions about this new law, let me know it is just around the corner.
While there is truth to this it sure does not make those of us who have been working hard to keep our mortgage payments current feel a whole lot better. Many will start falling behind on their payments just to get bailout help...sad but true.
But here is the real deal on how appraisers are dealing with the valuation of your home in this foreclosure crisis. We DO NOT typically use foreclosed sales to compare against your home. We first evaluate your individual neighborhoods, streets, subdivisions and trust me when I tell you it can vary street by street in today's market.
If and only IF your subdivision, street or neighborhood is full of foreclosures, more so than your typical arms-length transactions, then we WILL using foreclosures as our primary source for analysis. WHY? because these sales have now defined your neighborhood. If there are more sales in your area which are not foreclosures then we will use those sales primarily.
Therefore your home may NOT necessarily decline in value due to a few scattered foreclosures in your area. Now here is where it gets a little muddy in the water....If you have a home right next to yours or a couple of doors down that has been foreclosed upon and especially if it looks "run down" and obviously vacant, this WILL have an effect on the value of your home to some degree regardless of the number of foreclosures in your area. WHY? because if you were looking to buy a home and the one next door to yours is quite frankly and eye sore, this has an impact on how the market perceives your home. Sad and not fair but true!
The foreclosures in your area or on your street and their proximity to yours has an effect from that point outward as if in a circle. The further the foreclosure/s are from your home, the better off you are!
Again, let me repeat, if you only have a few foreclosures scattered about your development, street (unless you only have a few homes on your street) or defined neighborhood, chances are you are not going to be heavily impacted as appraisers will use non-foreclosure sales whenever it is reasonable to do so and is not misleading to the lender to do so.
One thing I want to make clear! Appraisers do not determine the value of your home...Let me repeat this. Appraisers DO NOT determine the value of your home.....The MARKET DOES! We analyze the market and as long as we do this correctly and as long as we utilize properties that are truly comparable to yours and make the appropriate adjustments for any variances, then the market LEADS us to the appropriate opinion of value....So don't blame the appraiser for the value of your home okay? It is the market you need to blame.
One final note. Appraisers are supposed to protect banks from lending risks. Banks need appraisers to analyze NOW more than ever what the market is doing, what the value of the property is currently, what the trends have been and where they are likely headed.
Banks & Mortgage Companies in the past did not really care too much about the fact that we were trying to protect their interests as they wanted to close loans. Sad fact but true and that is why we are in this mess Today. Appraisers many times are considered a necessary evil and Lenders pressured many Appraisers to do what they wanted. Unfortunately many succumbed to that pressure.
Banks are now going the opposite direction and running scared. They are dictating to appraisers what the comparable properties should be. They are non believers in what our reports are telling them. Before they wanted the highest possible value, now they want the lowest. They are telling us based upon some National Report that we MUST report our area as declining! Well here in Georgia there are some area that are NOT declining but STABLE. I personally do not let lenders dictate to me and I know for a fact I have lost business over this...but I digress...
Bottom line is they are still not letting us do our jobs! We have no vested interest in these properties, if they had let us do our jobs from the start, we would not be looking at a Trillion Dollar plus spending bill. Can you tell I am just a little frustrated. I AM!
So as a consumer what can you take aways from all of this. Keep up with what is going on in your neighborhood and do not let lenders determine the value of your home. You get a copy of your appraisal report, review it carefully. If you do not agree with it, protest it! Many banks use review appraisers who either have not even seen your home or who have only driven by your home to refute the original appraisal report. Don't let that happen to you because these review appraisers do not know the home like the first appraiser!
As Realtors, you can do the same thing. You have access to the same information we as appraisers do and even more than we do as you guys see many of the INTERIORS of the comparable properties used by appraisers which we do not see. Sure we have photos of the interiors if you post them on MLS/FMLS but the pictures do not always tell the whole story! So help your clients in this lending process by not letting them reduce or change the value of the first appraisal report without good reason.
Okay I am off my soapbox now, I hope this has helped you to understand how appraisers operate in this market or at any time.
Any questions, just ask!
Mary Thompson-Certified Real Estate Appraiser
www.customslideshowcreations.com Custom shows for your next listing!
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