Hi, this is Tom Heath with the Mortgage Guidance Group at Nova Home Loans and this is our weekly installment of mortgage and real estate related matters. This week’s topic is desktop appraisals. You’ve probably noticed, for the last several years, we’ve had the opportunity to waive appraisals in some situations. We run the file through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s automated risk analysis system, and if there’s enough data, then those agencies may say we need an appraisal for the transaction, and we get that property inspection waiver.
That has been very helpful in speeding up the loan process. Now, sometimes we don’t get that and we have to do a full appraisal. But recently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced a middle ground, something that if we don’t get the appraisal waiver, we may get the opportunity to do a desktop appraisal, which is still an appraisal, but it doesn’t require a physical inspection of the home. It’s data-driven. So an appraiser will still get that reports do compile it, but they won’t actually physically visit the home. That should also speed up the process. So now, when we’re reviewing these files for conventional loans, we’re going to be looking at whether we need an appraisal, a desktop appraisal, or we may get the appraisal waiver. There’s been no change to VA or FHA or USDA, we still have to get the full appraisal on all of those.
If you have any questions on this or ever have a topic for us to cover, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. And you can find more information on our website, mggrouptucson.com.
