Richard Glesser's (richardglesser) Blog

While much of the country got clobbered this past winter, Michigan dodged the bullet as a whole.  No snow until December and bare ground in March with temps forecast to reach near 80 by Friday.  After 250" of snow last season, this was a welcome relief.  We only hope Mother Nature isn't lulling u...

Out of the Obama Administration has come a new purposal to allow lenders to use BPOs rather than appraisals for Home Equity loans.  Aside from the many obvious arguments, one must consider if they are prepared to enter this new arena.  BPOs are used by lenders to reduce the costs from that of a t...

In my market of Northern Michigan, it's very common to find property owners with several parcels.  I have always offerred the advice to only encumber those necessary to attain the loan being sought. This provides flexibility in the future if it becomes necessary to do something with the extra lan...

In my market of Northern Michigan, it's very common to find property owners with several parcels.  I have always offerred the advice to only encumber those necessary to attain the loan being sought.  Years after I once gave this advice, I met a woman who I'm sorry to say I didn't recognize but re...

Over 20 years ago, the S & L Industry collapsed at a tremendous expense to the taxpayers.  The result was new regulation and licensing of appraisers who were made out to be the scapegoats.  Over the past several years, the subprime and then the entire real estate market collapsed with the taxpaye...

Watching the prices at the pump the past few weeks sends a shiver down my spine as to what may lie in store for the American driver this summer.  At the same time, some questions come to mind which, so far as I know, have never been answered. Can the fragile economy survive another round of gas g...

A movement has begun and is spreading quickly across the country.  Beginning apparently in Illinois with ICAP, a total of 17 states have begun statewide organizations of appraisers for the sole purpose of lobbying and advising their state governments on appraisal-related issues.  These state orga...

Talking with other appraisers it seems the mortgage appraisal business has absolutely dried up during the past 3 months.  However, while it varies state to state, I've had a flurry of tax appeal requests during the past week.  I don't know if it's a widespread conspiracy on the part of assessors,...

Don't know if this is a common occurance or an isolated act.  A client went through a foreclosure and lost their home.  The property was sold by the lender.  Now a collection company is attempting to collect on the entire mortgage by (This is unbelievable!) sending collection notices and threats ...

With all the posts and conversation about poor appraisers, I just wanted to take a moment to provide some insight to exactly what appraisers deal with from AMCs and underwriters.  Remember, neither the AMC nor the underwriter have any local knowledge and limited, if any, appraisal training. I rec...