Well, 2008 is here and we are off and running. Although the year just began, we have had a somewhat eventful beginning. I guess the biggest news has been the "Are Your Aware" letter authored and distributed by some past presidents of the Appraisal Institute. In this letter, some of the past presidents raised concerns regarding the possible unification with ASA and ASFMRA and possible affiliation with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), as well as concerns with the Strategic Plan regarding Valuation for Financial Reporting, and a letter from the Justice Department of President Pugh. In response to the "Are You Aware" letter, the current Appraisal Institute Administration drafted a "Fact Sheet" addressing each of the issues raised by the past presidents.

This unique new seminar was designed to show the residential appraisal community the consistent problems found by underwriters, appraisal reviewers, quality control divisions, and fraud investigators. Although this seminar was developed around the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report form (URAR) it is not intended to review the entire form. This is a "real-world" educational experience - all class discussion exercises and examples of appraisals are from real cases, with appropriate identification information changed for the purpose of confidentiality. The seminar will review areas of the appraisal that reveal red flags that the value is unsupported.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight have announced a 45-day comment period on the implementation of the Code of Conduct signed into agreement March 3 with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The Code is part of the "Home Valuation Protection Program," which is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2009. Following the comment period, the parties are expected to review and consider modifications to the Code and/or its implementation and deployment.

In March 4 testimony before the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, John C. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency, said that his agency has seen increasing number of instances in which appraisals on file have become outdated with respect to current market conditions, making it very difficult to assess the true credit quality of these loans. In these cases, he said, his agency will require bank management to obtain new appraisals, thoroughly review those appraisals, and take any action necessary should these loans no longer be adequately supported by collateral values. He did not provide any details on implementation or timeline.

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one- to four-unit residential properties stood at 5.82 percent of all loans outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2007 on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 23 basis points from the third quarter of 2007, and up 87 basis points from one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Delinquency Survey. The delinquency rate does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The total delinquency rate is the highest in the MBA survey since 1985. The rate of foreclosure starts and the percent of loans in the process of foreclosure are at the highest levels ever.