Collateral Vision - Big Ideas

AVM Testing: A Crash Course in Best Practices

Lee Kennedy — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 06:00:00 GMT

What does AVM testing generally entail?

Good testing requires several key steps. First, testers must find a source of clean data to be tested. The industry-accepted practice is to use recent purchase properties, as they represent an arm’s length transaction between a willing seller and willing buyer through a negotiated process that derives a true market value for the property. Other types of transactions can have pressures that skew or bias the value, rendering it unusable as...

Entering the Collateral Era:
A Perspective on Where the Industry is Headed

Bill Rayburn — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 05:00:00 GMT

Volumes have been written about real estate speculation, especially in residential real estate—with good reason. Residential real estate has become the major asset for many Americans. Yet the popular media characterizes the market as over priced, highly leveraged, and ready for a decline. Many market commentators have termed the market “frothy” at best and a “bubble” at worst.

Given these issues and widespread discussion about too much leverage in residential real...

The Future of the Appraisal Profession

Bill Rayburn — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 05:00:00 GMT

Lenders are dealing with such volume right now from the recent three-year application and refinancing boom that the biggest issue they’re worried about is speed to closing. Cost and quality are concerns, but right now, as the mortgage market experiences record origination volume, the lender focus is turning application volume into mortgage loans.

Trend analysis shows that volume is expected to remain strong but trend lower in 2003, then remain low in 2004. The future looks...

Why We Need A National Collateral Database

Bill Rayburn — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 06:00:00 GMT

The establishment of credit bureaus did a lot for the U.S. financial sector. But does anyone realize how it all started? In the 1830s, the first third-party credit reporting agencies (CRA) were established. They were one of the first businesses that were national in scope, and actually functioned much like a modern-day franchise. They were set up as a network of offices across the country. When the typewriter and carbon paper were developed in the 1870s, greater efficiencies were introduced....

MISMO Has the Edge in the Paper Game

John D. Johnson — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 06:00:00 GMT

From straight off of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization’s (MISMO) Web site, the goal of the organization: “The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization’s mission is to develop, promote, and maintain voluntary electronic commerce standards for the mortgage industry.”

It’s a simply stated quest with punch-packing speed-of-transaction implications for every sector of the financial services market. What’s the story on MISMO? Where did it get its roots?...

Flipping: The Hazards of Mortgage Fraud

Kathy Coon — Wed, 01 May 2002 05:00:00 GMT

Financial institution fraud inflicts losses upon banking institutions at a magnitude about one hundred times greater than all robberies. The FBI reports that 10-15 percent of all loan applications contain material misrepresentations, such as inflated property valuations. Many times these fraudulent loans end up in foreclosure, resulting in financial losses to mortgage lenders. Estimates show the total price of mortgage fraud could be as high as $120 billion, with the MBA estimating over $60...