Realty Check
- 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
- Shadow Inventory Dwarfs Loan Mods
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- NBA D-League On The Rise
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- Australia Wheat Exporters Face Challenges: GrainCorp
- Trading Block
- Stifling Anger at Work Can Kill, Survey Finds
- Japan Export Rebound Eases Fear of New Recession
- Oil Slips Below $76 On Revised US GDP Data
- Gold Hits Record on Dollar, India Buying Talk
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- S&P to Hit 1,200 by Year-End: Chief Investor
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- 5 Big Bank Stocks Investors Should Consider: Strategists
- Gambling Drunk, Texting to Live And America's On Sale - Your Emails
- Nov. 24: Unusual Volume Leaders
- NBA D-League On The Rise
- FDIC's Bair Cautions on Risks in Bank Break-Up Plan
- Wednesday's Economic News Crunch Could Tilt Markets
- Call Me Crazy: Confessions of a Black Friday Shopper
- US Firms Hit by Payroll Taxes at Exactly the Wrong Time
- Citi Mortgage Reveals Something the US Treasury Won't
- Fed Sanguine About US Recovery, Worried on Jobs
- Amended Berkshire Filing Reveals No 'Secret' Holdings
- Holiday Guide to This Season's Smartphones
- In Time for Holidays: More Gloom and Doom on Economy
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