Quality Control in Loan Appraisal Review

3) Perry, M., More, J., & Parkison, N. (1987) Does your appraisal system stack up.

Since mid 1990s, the subprime mortgage market has grown rapidly experiencing a phenomenal 23% compound annual growth rate to 2006. The total subprime loan originations increased from $65 billion in 1995 to $613 billion in 2006. The subprime sector has become a significant sub-sector of the total residential market accounting for 21% of all residential mortgage originations in 2006. Similarly, by year-end 2006, total outstanding balance of subprime loans grew to $1.2 trillion, approximately 12.6% of all outstanding mortgage debt.

The regulation that I have chosen for this paper is amendment in the Regulation X i.e. “Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act” and Regulation Z which is for “Truth in Lending”, for establishing the new disclosure requirements and forms in Regulation Z for the most closed-end consumer credit transactions secured by the real property. This regulation is controlled by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. The role of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is to provide consumers information related to the terms of their agreements with financial companies during their application for a mortgage, choosing among credit cards, or using any number of other consumer financial products. The mortgage market is the single largest market for the consumer of financial products and the services in the United States, with approximately $10.4 trillion in loans outstanding. Since last decade, market went through an unprecedented cycle of the expansion and the contraction that was fuelled in the part by securitization of mortgages and the creation of increasingly sophisticated derivative products. This led to the collapse of financial system in 2008 and sparked the most severe recession in United States.

The recent mortgage crisis in the US was unprecedented. It led to a massive clampdown of financial institutions, occasioning one of the worst financial melt-downs the US has ever faced (Jaffe, 2008). Quite naturally, it would be necessary to examine the cause of the crisis in order to draft prophylactic measures that would prevent the same financial disaster in the future. This paper will discuss the events that led to the mortgage crisis.

The financial crisis emerged because of an excessive deregulation of business operation of financial institutions and of abusing the securitization mechanism in the absence of clearly defined rules to regulate this area in the American mortgage market (Krstić, Jemović, & Radojičić, 2013). Deregulation gives larger banks the opportunity to loosen underwriting lender guidelines and generate increase opportunity for homeownership (Kroszner & Strahan, 2013). After deregulation, banks utilized many versions of mortgage loans. Mortgage loans such as subprime and Alternative-A paper loans became available for borrowers challenged to find mortgage lenders before deregulation (Elbarouki, 2016; Palmer, 2015). The housing market has been severely affected by fluctuating interest rates and the requirement of large down payment (Follain, & Giertz, 2013). The subprime lending crisis has taken a toll on the nation’s economy since 2007. Individuals who lacked sufficient credit ratings or down payments resorted to subprime mortgages to finance their homes Defaults on subprime and other mortgages precipitated the foreclosure crisis, which contributed to the recent recession and national financial crisis (Odetunde, 2015). Subprime mortgages were appropriate for borrowers with substandard credit and Alternate-A paper loans were

The Valuation is prepared on the assumption that the Lender as referred to in the valuation report (and no other) may rely on the valuation for mortgage finance purposes and the Lender has complied with its own lending guidelines as well as prudent finance industry lending practices, and has considered all prudent aspects of credit risk for any potential borrower including the borrowers ability to service and repay any mortgage loan. Further, the valuation is prepared on the assumption that the Lender is providing mortgage financing at a conservative and prudent loan to value ratio (LVR). The valuer accepts no liability whatsoever if prudent lending practices fail to be strictly observed and/or if the lender relies solely on this valuation, and no other criteria, to advance loan

The beginning of the crisis: From the early to the mid-2000’s, high-risk mortgages became available from lenders who funded mortgages by repackaging them into pools that were sold to investors. New financial products were used to apportion these risks, with private-label mortgage-backed securities providing most of the funding of subprime mortgages. The less

Several years ago, many of us could not imagine mortgage meltdown ending. It seemed as if the foreclosures/short sales were increasing and the American dream of buying a home was decreasing. Many people felt hopeless and cheated when it came to the economy’s poor status due to the housing crash. Many lessons were learned from the collapse and although it may seem hard to believe, there were silver linings in the mistakes made during the mortgage meltdown. Today, real estate buyers are benefiting from the past mistakes and have more confidence in their home buying purchases.

The sounds of elation by all sides of the business are what everyone involved in the post housing market crash is saying these days. The age of the foreclosure and short sale (“when a house on the market is worth less than the seller still owes for it”) is slowly coming to an end as buyers and lenders are more aware of the changing factors in today’s real estate market (Momberger). The previous method that lenders used helped cause the housing crash and a higher level of home loan defaults. Before the housing crash many buyers entered their housing purchase having some debt and often would refinance to pay off debts and use the increasing value of the house they purchased to pay them off. The new ways of qualifying buyers and assessing a homes

Investors relished in these mortgage backed securities. They paid a higher rate of return than investors could get in other places, and appeared to be safe bets. Home prices increased; Leading lenders to believe the worst case scenario, homeowners would default on their mortgage, and they could sell the house for an additional amount of money. 1 At the same time, credit rating agencies continued to inform investors that mortgage backed-securities were safe investments. Investors were desperate to gain more securities. Promoting lenders to help create more of them. However, to create more, lenders needed more mortgages. This caused lenders to loosen their standards and provided loans to individuals with low income and poor credit. These are referred to as subprime mortgages.2 Eventually, some institutions begin using what is referred to as predatory ending practices to generate mortgages. They made loans without verifying income and offered absurd, adjustable rate mortgages with payments individuals could afford, at first, it became disorderly quickly. Subprime leading was a new practice at the time. These investments were becoming increasingly less safe. However, investors trusted rating, and continued to

Additionally, a primary factor in the financial crisis was unsustainable mortgage lending. Subprime mortgages increased from eight percent of total mortgages in 2004 to twenty percent in 2006 with more than 90 percent of these mortgages being adjustable rate mortgages allowing borrowers to qualify for loans for which they did not have long-term repayment capacity. Furthermore, lenders lowered their loan underwriting standards especially for loan to appraised value and repayment capacity to allow borrowers to obtain significantly larger loans than in the past. System institutions did not participate in lowered lending standards. The System is prohibited by regulation from making mortgage loans with

The real estate appraisal process is a process that affects nearly everyone who lives in a home. Most people do not have the funding to purchase a home outright and must rely on financing to purchase their homes. Banks require that a real estate appraisal be conducted to determine what the market value of a property is so they know how much the property is worth as collateral for the loan. Therefore the appraisal serves as the basis for factors such as determining a fair market price, how much collateral a property can offer a lender, or in some cases even how much a property should be able to earn in income in a "best use" scenario. This report will outline the basic steps of evaluating the value of property as well as discuss some of the considerations surrounding the appraisal process in general.

In the new system, an investment banker buys the mortgage from the lender, borrowing millions of dollars to buy thousands of mortgages, and every month he gets payments from homeowners for each of the mortgages. The banker then consolidates all the mortgages and splits the final product into three sections: safe, okay, and risky mortgages, which make up a collateralized debt obligation (CDO). As homeowners pay their mortgages, money flows into each of the sections, with the safe filling first and the risky filling last, contributing to their respective names. Credit agencies stamp the top two safer mortgages with a triple A or triple B rating, which are then be sold to investors who want a safe mortgage, while the risky slice is sold to hedge funds who want a risky investment. The bankers make millions, pay back their loans, and investors also make a worthwhile investment. So pleased are the investors, however, that they want more. Unfortunately, back at the beginning of the cycle, the mortgage broker can no longer find qualified mortgagers

The company’s incentive system also encouraged brokers and sales representatives to move borrowers into the subprime category, even if their financial position meant that they belonged higher up the loan spectrum. Brokers who peddled subprime loans received commissions of 0.50 percent of the loan’s value, versus 0.20 percent on loans one step up the quality ladder. For years, a software system in Countrywide’s subprime unit, sales representatives used to calculate the loan type that a borrower qualified for, did not allow the input of a borrower’s cash reserves (Morgenson, 2007).

In the second half of 2007, the banking industry and financial market showed signs of considerable stress by raising the default rate of mortgage and the decline in the value of residential mortgage-backed securities. This had led to a re-pricing of many debt instruments. By the end of 2007, Citigroup declared that the fair value of its U.S. sub-prime related direct exposure could decline by 20%. This affected Citigroup’s financial results and would incur further losses in the future.