StreetLinks Expands Warranty to Include Appraiser Competency

INDIANAPOLIS, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Fannie Mae's announcement SEL-2010-09, June 30, 2010 specifies lender responsibility and liability regarding appraiser selection criteria, regardless if the selection is performed by a third-party appraisal management company.

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StreetLinks National Appraisal Services (StreetLinks) has always provided, on every appraisal at no additional cost, an exclusive "Warranty of Appraisal Quality," which provides indemnification to lenders in the event of a verified appraisal related repurchase demand.  StreetLinks' revised "Warranty of Appraisal Quality & Appraiser Competency" provides comprehensive indemnification to lenders inclusive of Fannie Mae's appraiser selection criteria mandates.

"Now that Fannie has clarified that the liability for appraiser selection and competency rests solely on the lender's shoulders, all lenders should give careful consideration to AMC models that prioritize transactional profit over geographic proximity and report quality," explained Tony Ebeyer, StreetLinks COO.  "Appraiser proximity, geo-competency and historical quality have always been the keystones to StreetLinks' proprietary assignment methodology, IQ-Select™ – regardless of the impact on our margin."

StreetLinks has long been the industry leader in appraiser proximity, geo-competency and appraisal quality as evidenced by its approach to appraisers.  StreetLinks has never mandated fees to its appraiser partners – appraisers set their own market fees.  In addition, all assignments are processed through IQ -Select™, which ranks appraisers on proximity, historical quality, historical service metrics and capacity – NOT FEE.  (To learn more please visit https://www.streetlinks.com/assign.nsp.)

"Everything in the new Fannie Mae regulations has always been at the core of our business model which provides the highest quality appraisal reports in the industry.  Lenders can be assured that our appraiser selection and assignment methodology, backed by our warranty, is compliant with Fannie's requirements," said Steve Haslam, StreetLinks CEO.  "Fannie has officially placed the burden on the lender for compliance with best-practice appraisal assignment.  As such, lenders should carefully scrutinize the appraiser selection and assignment methodology used by their AMC or in-house appraisal management solution."

StreetLinks provides appraisals nationwide that are fully compliant with FHA, HVCC, Fannie, Freddie and all other current regulations.  An innovator in the appraisal management marketplace with its industry-first Certificate of Compliance and TILA-Trigger™ technology, StreetLinks manually pre-underwrites every appraisal for compliance with lender guidelines.

Additional information is available at www.streetlinks.com or by calling 1(800) 778-4788.

About StreetLinks:

StreetLinks National Appraisal Services is a real estate appraisal management company that provides nationwide real estate valuation services to lenders and other mortgage origination firms.  The company specializes in providing comprehensive valuation solutions that provide its clients the ability to engage StreetLinks for all real estate appraisal-related procurement, management, accounting, tracking and reporting functions.  StreetLinks operates under a "Non-Influence" methodology which maintains the anonymity of the appraiser from the originating firm, providing StreetLinks clients the assurance of compliance with FHA, HVCC and all other existing and proposed regulation/legislation surrounding the collateral valuation process as well as promoting enhanced portfolio performance as a result of appraiser independence and impartiality.

SOURCE StreetLinks National Appraisal Services