The housing industry continues to see an appraiser shortage, according to United Wholesale Mortgage’s monthly video.
“It’s really a supply and demand issue,” UWM President and CEO Mat Ishbia said in the video. “There’s more appraisals needing done than appraisers out there to get them done.”
Ishbia goes on to list some solutions that are being considered:
- Getting rid of the four-year degree before appraisal school requirement
- Shorten the amount of hours it takes
- Allow trainees to do different things
Ishbia moved on to his second point: GSE loan limits could increase soon, by anywhere between $5,000 to $12,000.
“We see the indicators that say they’re going to raise it,” Ishba said. “Now are they going to raise it a lot? No, we don’t think so.”
In the second quarter of 2016, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index was almost identical to the level of the index in the third quarter of 2007, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Once the HPI reaches pre-crisis levels, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can raise the conforming loan limits — the maximum mortgage origination balance the GSEs are permitted to buy.
Lastly, he talked about a new program from the National Association of Mortgage Brokers that will allow loan officers who want to start their own mortgage broker shop to do so with a credit of up to $10,000.
“The more people that are in the broker world, the better it is for consumers, the better it is for loan officers, it’s better for all of us,” Ishbia said.
