This week, as Congress moves to finalize new financial regulations, mortgage lenders will be attempting to soften a series of provisions that could potentially reshape how most Americans obtain home loans. At stake are regulations regarding loan repayments, the ability to sue a lender for fraud or poorly underwritten mortgages, and changes to appraisal rules.
A key issue on the table is changes to rules of real estate appraisals. Ever since the advent of HVCC, virtually every type of player in the real estate game wants changes in the current rules for ordering appraisals; these rules were established after the collapse of the mortgage market. Real estate professionals say the rules have gone too far, and often inexperienced appraisers are assigned appraisals when they do not understand or are unfamiliar with the local real estate market.
We will know soon enough if lenders were successful in their bid to make adjustments to the new regulations, and how much it will affect the currently volatile real estate market.
