DS News - U.S. Bank

60 to rebuild that or just buy another property in the neighborhood." When the tragedy impacts the vast numbers of people often involved in the aftermath of a natural disaster, however, things can be much more challenging. "You take a multitude of people and you end up with radical changes in the real estate market overnight," Durbin continued. "Suddenly, you have a lot of people in the market competing for the same properties. e marketplace is upended until new stock is reconstructed there." Boudreau said his team in Florida prepares for its biggest local threat, hurricanes, by offering training before a disaster strikes. "We spent a lot of time training our team on how to do [inspection reports]," Bourdeau said. "When it's a little bit more predictable, or you can see it coming with these hurricanes, we start building up bandwidth for that, even lending support to some of our staff who we know the workloads going to be there after the storm." THE FUTURE e year 2020 is rapidly approaching, and appraisers are looking ahead as the calendar is set to turn over. Paquette said he anticipates lenders will be looking for faster valuations, as loans are produced more quickly in order to remain competitive. "ere is a lot of buzz in the industry about possible solutions, but there are still a lot of questions to be answered," Paquette said. "We need to ensure that independent fee appraisers remain a part of the process, as they are the only unbiased party to protect the consumer and the investor. With the demand for faster valuation products, this often gets overlooked in an effort to close more loans, and that puts everyone involved at a higher risk." Fall said while he will be watching what happens with bifurcated appraisals, and said that he is especially interested in what happens to the industry as a whole. "We've already seen impact in that with regards to some of the changes on the educational side—the appraisal qualification educational side—because we've had record numbers, and that trend seems to be holding so far in 2019," Fall said. "e number of test takers for the appraisal exam has increased dramatically, and so that's exciting. I trust that positive direction will continue over the course of the next year to 18 months. Fall is not the only one who will have his eyes on the hybrid appraisals moving forward, as Pistilli noted that appraisers that "adopt and adapt to the new process will continue to be in the industry." "Much like auto mechanics in the early '80s, when computers started to take over mechanical parts in automobiles, those who learned to work with new technology became more valuable to their industry, and in turn, are making more money today," Pistilli said "Appraisers have the same opportunity. ey ought to see this as a way to add more tools to their toolbox and to expand their services much like attorneys, accountants, and doctors do." Williamson said that the timing, cost, and uncertainty of the appraisal process will remain pain points for lenders and borrowers heading into 2020. While adding that Fannie Mae is "actively addressing" these issues, he suggested that there are many factors to consider. "Consumer expectations continue to evolve, and we must evolve with them," Williamson said. "While we recognize that all homes are unique and that buying a home is typically one of the largest purchases people make, we are also cognizant of the fact that technology, data, and analytics continue to iterate and improve, and our overall knowledge of the collateral continues to improve and accelerate." "Leveraging all of these things to deliver certainty and credible valuations in a timely manner assures that appropriate customer service expectations are met within appropriate risk tolerances," Williamson added. Bourdeau said that, as he looks forward to 2020, many of the challenges facing the industry "aren't going away." "e pressure for increased speed will continue. As we're looking forward, that's what we're focused on. We're fast, we've cut our times down, no question, but how do we get faster, how do we meet client demand for that?" Bourdeau asked. "Also, they've rolled back some of the stricter requirements required to become a licensed appraiser, which we completely support, and I'll be interested to see how that impacts our industry." "We need to ensure that independent fee appraisers remain a part of the process, as they are the only unbiased party to protect the consumer and the investor." —George Paquette, Chief Appraiser, Valuations, Springhouse

• Cover