Realty Check
- Treasury On Mortgage Modifications
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- Investors May Skew Housing Reality
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- Despite Government Aid, Foreclosure Crisis is Not Improving
- Housing Data Delivers Mixed Messages
- Appraisals Now Center Stage in Housing Recovery
- Underwater Mortgages Could Sink Even Deeper
- First Time Buyers Rescue Housing: Realtors
- Housing Recovery 'Still In Uncharted Territory': HUD Secretary
MOST SHARED
- No Thanksgiving Rest for Retailers in Sales Race
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff On Worries About Dubai's Debt
- Attraction of Switzerland to Businesses
- More Asia Executives Resigned to Economy Flights: Survey
- Banks Play Down Dubai Exposure, Investors Still Wary
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- Dubai Debt Delays Revive Fear of Financial Crisis
- ING Prices Share Issue at Hefty Discount
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- Car Insurance Scofflaws Raise Health Reform Doubt
- Rush Starts as Holiday Shopping Season Revs Up
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff on Dubai Debt Worries
- US Dollar Falls to 14-Year Low Against the Yen
- ING Prices Share Issue at Hefty Discount
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- Tommy Hilfiger's Estate in Conn. Sells for $20 Million
- Cheap Robotic Hamsters Are Holiday's Unlikely Craze
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
RSS FEED
Text Size 
CNBC Real Estate Reporter
“We have lost multiple loans already, due to low valuations, and we have some frustrated homeowners,” a mortgage broker in Maryland tells me.
“Start writing your story on the collapse of mortgage applications this week,” a mortgage analyst instructs me.
No, it’s not the temporary tick up in rates, well not all of it anyway; it’s partially the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. This is a new rule that Fannie Mae [FNM
Loading...
()
] and Freddie Mac [FRE
Loading...
()
] have adopted, only buying loans that came through this new system. The HVCC requires a sort of firewall between mortgage lenders and appraisers. Appraisal management companies have stepped in the middle, and are now assigning appraisals, instead of the lenders being able to rely on existing relationships with local appraisers.
Some say the HVCC will result in singular mortgage applications, rather than sending applications to three or four lenders, as was the case before. Combine that with the higher rates, and we could see a distinct drop in applications in the weekly MBA survey.
As many brokers expected, the HVCC is also resulting in some lower appraisals. Since the appraisers now may be unfamiliar with the local market, they will err on the lower side. Of course it may also be that the lack of a relationship with the lender is removing the 'expectation' of a certain appraised value. If the appraisal comes in lower than the sale price, then the deal is off.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes