a la mode News

Beginning of the end for AVMs

April 20, 2004

Fitch Ratings doesn't like AVMs. Neither do we and probably neither do you, but when Fitch Ratings speaks, things happen.


ASC continues to accumulate a surplus

April 13, 2004

The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) took in $2,311,175 in fees from appraisers in 2003, and spent $2,030,382, including $791,317 in grant payments to the Appraisal Foundation. The information was released as part of the ASC's 2003 Annual Report, made available at the ASC's website March 31.


What will your website do for you?

April 13, 2004

Very soon we'll be announcing Professional and Enterprise level Appraiser XSites, which will add built-in merchant account/credit card order processing, advanced Themes and Flash intros, a logo builder, site statistics reports, and a built-in "marketing kit" that will help you do business — online and offline — more productively.


A new mortgage boom

April 13, 2004

Mortgage brokers' boom has busted, read a headline the April 10 edition of the Dallas Morning News. The premise of the story was that abating refinance activity was squeezing new brokers out of the profession, and slowing entry into the arena, so lucrative for two-plus years, to a trickle. They didn't ask us. We could have told them that mortgage activity is in fact as high as it's ever been — right up there with the summer of 2003, widely regarded as the history-making peak of mortgage demand.


Serve on Appraisal Foundation boards

April 06, 2004

The Appraisal Foundation said it is beginning its annual search for qualified candidates to serve on one of its three Boards. Completed applications for vacancies on the Board of Trustees, the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) and the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) must be received by July 15, 2004.


I think I’ll stick with Appraiser XSites, thanks

April 06, 2004

We went shopping for websites for this edition of the e-Newsletter. Our Agent XSites for real estate agents and brand new Mortgage XSites have gotten some buzz lately but what about Appraiser XSites, the granddaddy of them all?


IRS targeting real estate frauds

April 06, 2004

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has more than 4,000 returns under audit involving individuals and entities associated with the real estate business, everyone's favorite agency announced.


Pinellas Realtor Organization Capitalizes on a la mode’s Agent XSites

April 06, 2004

The Pinellas REALTOR® Organization (PRO) has chosen to couple a la mode's innovative Agent XSites websites along with its own internally-developed PRO/IDX tool and offer this unique bundle to its REALTOR® members.


Avoid fraud by treating E&O insurance for what it is: a serious investment

March 30, 2004

State insurance commissions, consumer groups and professional organizations offer advice on how to avoid being taken to the cleaners on your E&O insurance.


FIRREA’s laundry aired in Congressional subcomittee hearing on appraisal industry

March 30, 2004

Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, opened a hearing by the Committee's Housing and Transportation Subcomittee on Capitol Hill Wednesday by citing Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Evans' contention that bad appraisers are the "enablers" of predatory lending such as has plagued Sarbanes' constituents in Baltimore in recent years.


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