Appraisal Management Companies Could Cause Further Delays - Just another day in the mortgage mess

Today, I received a notice from one of my lenders regarding their "Home Valuation Broker Conduct Training". You, the borrower, will suffer profuse delays because of banks requiring you to use appraisal management companies. My Appraiser, who is very ethical, turns her appraisals around in 24 hours. These new appraisal management companies are 7-10 business days. They want their fees collected upfront. Moreover, if there is a dispute on their appraisal or value, it will be an additional 1-2 business days. If you cannot submit a file without an appraisal, then your file will now wait 10-12 business days before being underwritten by the banks, unless the banks allow the file to be submitted without the appraisal, since they are 100% controlling the process.

In addition to this, President Obama's HARP program is pointless. I have checked a number of homeowner's to see if their loan is Fannie or Freddie. Out of all the addresses I checked, one qualified. President Obama's plan is out of touch with the front lines of this business because so many loans were closed outside of Fannie and Freddie these past few years; the homeowners are not qualifying for HARP. The HOPE line is voice mail for many. The Customer Service Rep takes the initial call which is not much, before he/she transfers you to a voice mail customer or not.

Moreover, I have the upmost respect for Treasury Secretary Geithner. I listened to him on Capitol Hill today, and I could feel his frustration. The Chairwoman of this committee seemed absolutely clueless. She wanted to know why banks were being treated so differently from the auto industry. I wanted to reach through my television and scream "are you kidding me?". The banks are the "rock" of this country, nothing functions, if they are not. In other words the financial sector of this country supports everything in this economy. The "so called" house that President Obama wants to build, it can only be built strong if it has a solid foundation underneath it. In other words, without a strong financial system, there is not a rock for a house to be built on top of. The financial industry is what gets credit moving, employment back, healthcare, and so forth. We definitely need healthcare straightened out, but our leaders are either really ignorant or just flat out unaware of the intricacies of the financial industry and the front lines. If the financial industry had not crashed and burned, the auto industry would not have been effected this severely. It is a mess.

Watching that committee today was hard, because it made feel like there was still no hope for any of us on Main Street. It is frustrating watching a law maker ask stupid questions. I should be able to watch a hearing and feel confident that the members of the committee are fully aware of the "what, when, why, and where" before asking our Treasury Secretary questions.

Seems so hopeless, but I am not losing hope. I am praying these bank CEOs will win for the benefit of all of us, the taxpayers and their customers.

Stay tuned...I have more to share. Just another day in the mortgage mess!