NATIONAL NEWS
NAHB CHAIRMAN ED BRADY TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ON APPRAISAL PROCESS “The current appraisal system is impaired due to inconsistent and conflicting standards and guidance, inadequate and uneven oversight and enforcement, a shortage of qualified and experienced appraisers and the absence of a robust and standardized data system.”
This is the message that NAHB Chairman Ed Brady sent to Congress Nov. 16 while testifying before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance during a hearing on modernizing appraisals. Major reforms in appraisal practices and oversight are needed to ensure that appraisals accurately reflect true market values and do not contribute to price volatility, he added.
NATIONAL NEWS
NAHB believes in standardizing appraisal requirements throughout the housing finance system so all parties are operating under the same set of rules.
To improve the quality of valuations, NAHB told the committee it is necessary to strengthen education, training and experience requirements for appraisers of new home construction, particularly as it relates to energy-efficient, green building and other evolving new construction techniques.
NAHB Chairman Ed Brady (second from right) prepares to speak to members of the congressional committee.
This is the biggest flaw in the current appraisal process: Buyers, sellers, builders and real estate agents can be held hostage by the current inability to promptly address legitimate questions on a valuation.
Brady also called for development of a standard process to expedite appeals of inaccurate or faulty appraisals.
NAHB CHALLENGES FLAWED WOTUS RULE NAHB and its industry partners presented their first brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that challenges the Waters of the U.S. rule.
NATIONAL NEWS
“The Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay of the Waters of the U.S. rule because it is deeply flawed, arbitrarily written, and provides no clarity or certainty to members of the regulated community,” said NAHB Chairman Ed Brady in a press statement.
“It could be more than a year before we get a final decision. Therefore, Congress must act now to prevent this rule from moving forward,” Brady said.
“The brief hammered home those points and several others: The water rule does not conform to Congress’s intent or Supreme Court precedent and is not supported by scientific evidence. Further, the EPA deprived the public of a meaningful opportunity to comment on critical aspects of the rule and the agency violated the law by conducting grassroots lobbying. “Meanwhile, two reports from Congress, one released just last week, corroborate these facts and highlight that the rule was politically motivated and based on flawed scientific analysis. While there is a high likelihood that the EPA’s water rule is illegal, builders face an increasing backlog in obtaining federal permits. In turn, these bureaucratic delays increase project costs and harm housing affordability.
Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
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Building Buzz | December 2016