Terra-Val

Appraisers

Tired of working with AMCs that don’t treat you like a partner? Sick of automated systems and fees well below your value? We don’t beat you up on value. We don’t beat you down on fees. We don’t give information to AVMs. We promise to treat you like the professional you are, a partner that works hard every day to provide fair valuations for a customary and reasonable fee. All we ask in return are accurate values, superior service, and consistent communication.

AMCs don’t have to mean the end of excellent client service, and communication is the key. We can’t maintain clients without effective communication, and we depend on our approved appraisers to effectively represent Terra-Val. When you pick up the phone to call us, one of our staff answers right away. No dialing extensions, just a friendly voice so you can update us on your status or ask a quick question.

To be approved with Terra-Val, we ask for the following qualifications:

• Five years experience
• FHA approval
• A functional understanding of how USPAP relates to the appraisal process
• Flagstar approval preferred

We are currently taking applications for preferred appraisers in many markets. Contact us for more information.

Lenders

‘AMC’ has become synonymous with ‘unresponsive and slow’. Do you feel like you’re constantly dialing zero for assistance and leaving a voicemail for an account rep? When you call Terra-Val, one of our staff answers and can pull up your file right away. You’ll know each of us by name within a few days.

At Terra-Val, we treat our appraisers like professionals and we expect professional service. We maintain contact with them daily so we can update you personally on status updates. With a Terra-Val appraiser, you can expect someone who will represent your company well and put in the hard work to provide a fair value.

Take a look at our services and let us know when you’re ready for a valuation management company that’s willing to go the extra mile for you, and not the other way around.

Services

We offer a full spectrum of valuation services at Terra-Val, from ERC compliant relocation to consultations to 2055 and specialty 704 drive-by reports.  We offer commercial reports as well on a per bid basis. All we want to do is help you close loans while maintaining our commitment to quality and service.

Please contact us for more information.  Or, use our online ordering system to begin working with us.

• Appraisal

At Terra-Val, we don’t just do appraisals. We provide appraisal reports to the highest standards of quality. Each appraiser’s credentials are monitored regularly with the ASC and their respective state boards and each receive regular communications while an assignment is ongoing. Terra-Val has engaged the services of several senior Certified General and Residential appraisers to assist contractors with particularly troublesome assignments. Each completed file undergoes a rigorous UCDP approval system prior to submission to the lender. And yes, we can customize our automated underwriting to our client’s specifications. Give us a call and let’s find out how we can help you with all of your valuation needs.

• Hard Money

Rehab appraisals are not easy. They carry more inherent risk and therefore require more specialized expertise from valuation staff. We are always on the lookout for specially skilled appraisers willing, able and, most importantly, capable of preparing these complex reports. Call us to find out if we have pre-qualified appraisers in your market capable of working on your most difficult loans.

• Investor Services

Are you looking for an investment value? Market value? Liquidation value? Lease rates? Cass Gilbert, one of the leading architects who shaped New York’s skyline once described buildings as machines that make the land pay. Perhaps that investment project can be adequately valued by capitalizing earnings… and maybe it can’t. If lenders require fire insurance, shouldn’t you require value insurance? Give us a call and let’s find out how we can help with all of your valuation needs.

• Appraisal Reviews

A review appraisal has to determine whether the original appraisal or evaluation is fitting for the transaction, the liability inherent in the transaction, and whether the manner by which the collateral valuation is accomplished guarantees independence and quality.

Moreover, they must indicate whether the appraisal is compatible with the letter of engagement, which describes the capacity of the appraisal assignment.

At Terra-Val, we believe that appraisal reviews are not something to sign off on after a brief check up for a low fee. We provide appraisal review services that are thorough, independent, expert, and in accordance with the Federal Reserve’s regulations.

• Quality Control

With ever-changing regulations and federal guidelines imposed on the banking industry, appraisal compliance can be taken off your desk and moved to ours. We monitor constantly changing legislation like Dodd-Frank, so our lenders and appraisers are protected and conforming to current standards. We conform to the following:

Dodd-Frank

USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice)

US Department of Housing and Urban Development

FHA rules, regulations and guidelines

Freddie Mac Home Value Protection Program and Cooperation Agreement

Fannie Mae Home Value Protection and Cooperation Agreement

Contact

I’m a lender and I’d like to hear more about what Terra-Val can do for me and my company.

I’m an appraiser and I’d like to be considered for the Terra-Val fee panel.

Send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 913-667-4144. You’ll reach a real person with no automated voices or menu prompts.

News

• Fannie Mae Announcements

December 08, 2014

Fannie Mae Announces 97 Percent LTV Option for First-Time Homebuyers

Lower down payment enables qualified borrowers to access credit

Callie Dosberg

202-752-3117

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTC) announced an option for qualified first-time homebuyers that will allow for a down payment as low as three percent. Building upon Fannie Mae’s successful lower down payment program offered through state Housing Finance Agencies, the 97 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) option will expand access to credit for qualified first-time homebuyers that may not have the resources for a larger down payment.  These loans will meet Fannie Mae’s usual eligibility requirements, including underwriting, income documentation and risk management standards. These loans will require private mortgage insurance or other risk sharing, as is required on purchase loans acquired by the company with greater than 80 percent LTV.

“Our goal is to help additional qualified borrowers gain access to mortgages,” said Andrew Bon Salle, Fannie Mae Executive Vice President for Single Family Underwriting, Pricing and Capital Markets.  “This option alone will not solve all the challenges around access to credit.  Our new 97 percent LTV offering is simply one way we are working to remove barriers for creditworthy borrowers to get a mortgage.  We are confident that these loans can be good business for lenders, safe and sound for Fannie Mae and an affordable, responsible option for qualified borrowers.”

With today’s announcement, homebuyers can purchase a home under Fannie Mae’s standard offering or its My Community Mortgage^® product with a three percent down payment if at least one co-borrower is a first-time buyer.  In addition, eligible homeowners who wish to refinance their Fannie Mae-owned mortgage but do not qualify under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) can refinance their loan up to the 97 percent LTV level under a limited cash-out option.  Lenders must use Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter^® tool when evaluating mortgage applications for this product.  Today’s announcement can be found here.

Fannie Mae has implemented prudent risk management practices to ensure that loans the company acquires are appropriately underwritten, including mortgages with lower down payments.  These include essentially eliminating risk-layering on purchase money loans, requiring income documentation to avoid “low-doc” or “no-doc” lending, and requiring income verification.

As noted, private capital will be in the first loss position.  Mortgage insurers and other risk sharing partners will have to conclude that these loans are prudent to make in order for these loans to be originated and delivered to Fannie Mae in the secondary market.

Fannie Mae has also worked to provide lenders with greater clarity on what circumstances would result in a loan repurchase request.  Some lenders have said that uncertainty around these requests has led to them curtailing mortgage availability.  This new clarity is intended to help lenders make mortgages to more creditworthy borrowers.

In addition, Fannie Mae is making new tools available to help lenders better evaluate risk on loans.  For example, early in 2015 the company will offer Collateral Underwriter^®, which gives lenders access to the same appraisal review tool that Fannie Mae uses.  Collateral Underwriter will be offered at no additional cost to Fannie Mae’s customers.

 

• Freddie Mac Announcements

PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE MASTER POLICY UPDATES

EFFECTIVE DATE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR THE NEW MASTER POLICIES
Any Mortgage sold to Freddie Mac that requires private mortgage insurance and has an Application Received
Date on or after October 1, 2014 must be insured under one of the new Master Policies. If such Mortgage is
insured under any pre-existing master policies, the Mortgage will not be eligible for sale to Freddie Mac.
Any Mortgage sold to Freddie Mac that requires private mortgage insurance and has an Application Received
Date prior to October 1, 2014 may be insured under either:
• The new Master Policies, or
• Any pre-existing master policies between Seller/Servicers and private MIs, as long as the Seller/Servicer first
confirms with the MI that such policies were approved by Freddie Mac for use at the time of the Application
Received Date
In addition to requiring mortgage insurance to be issued by a Freddie Mac-approved MI, we are amending Guide
Section 27.1, Mortgage Insurance, to require Seller/Servicers to ensure that the insurance coverage is issued
under a Freddie Mac-approved Master Policy. Guide Exhibit 10, Freddie Mac-Approved Mortgage Insurers, has
been updated to include the new private mortgage insurance Master Policy form numbers.Page 2

EXCEPTION FOR FREDDIE MAC RELIEF REFINANCE MORTGAGESSM
Relief Refinance Mortgages may continue to be insured under their original master policies regardless of the new
Mortgage’s Application Received Date subject to the following conditions:
• The new Mortgage must be insured pursuant to a modification of the existing mortgage insurance certificate,
which may or may not involve the assignment of a new certificate number by the MI
• The MI did not issue an entirely new mortgage insurance certificate

CONCLUSION

If you have any questions about the changes announced in this Bulletin, please contact your Freddie Mac

representative or call (800) FREDDIE. If you have any questions specific to the new Master Policies, please
contact your MI directly.

• HUD Information

FHA ANNOUNCES NEW LOAN LIMITS TO TAKE EFFECT JANUARY 1ST
2015 Loan limits for highest and lowest cost areas to remain unchanged

WASHINGTON – The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced the agency’s news schedule of loan limits for 2015. These loan limits are effective for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2015, and will remain in effect through the end of the year. Read FHA’s mortgagee letter detailing the agency’s new loan limits.

FHA’s calculation for maximum loan limits in high cost metropolitan areas of the country will remain the same as the 2014 level of $625,500. The current standard loan limit for areas where housing costs are relatively low will also remain unchanged at $271,050.

Each year, FHA recalculates its national loan limit based on a percentage calculation of the national conforming loan limit. Depending on those limits, FHA’s minimum national loan limit “floor” is at 65 percent of the national conforming loan limit. The floor applies to those areas where 115 percent of the median home price is less than 65 percent of the national conforming loan limit.

Conversely, any area where the loan limit exceeds the “floor” is considered a high cost area. The maximum FHA national loan limit “ceiling” is at 150 percent of the national conforming limit. In areas where 115 percent of the median home price (of the highest cost county) exceeds 150 percent of the conforming loan limit, the FHA loan limits remain at 150 percent of the conforming loan limit.

Areas are eligible for FHA loan limits above the national standard limit, and up to the national ceiling level, based on median area home prices. Additional information and loan limit adjustments for two-, three-, and four-unit properties, and in Special Exception Areas, are noted in FHA’s mortgagee letter. An attachment to the Mortgagee Letter provides information on which counties are eligible for loan limits above the national standard. Borrowers with existing FHA insured mortgages may continue to utilize FHA’s Streamline refinance program regardless of their loan balance.

The mortgage loan limits for FHA-insured reverse mortgages will also remain unchanged. The FHA reverse-mortgage product, known as the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), will continue to have a maximum claim amount of $625,500, with actual loan limits based on property value, borrower age, and current interest rates. Reverse mortgages allow homeowners age 62 and older to age in place by borrowing against the value of their homes without any requirements for monthly payments; no repayment is required as long as a homeowner lives in the home. The reverse mortgage is repaid, with interest, when the homeowner leaves the home.

• View FHA loan limits in high-cost areas.
• View FHA loan limits in lower costs areas.