Fannie Mae released June 24 three more revised appraisal report forms: a new 2055, and new co-op forms 1073 and 1075. As with their release of test versions of a new URAR, 1004B and 1004D June 3, their stated goal is to allow/require appraisers to "report the results of his or her appraisal in a more concise manner than our existing report formats," it said.

Our forms department is programming the new forms already, and they will all be available in July's WinTOTAL update. New forms are your business, and our "drop everything" commitment to ensuring you have the forms you need has been part of what's made us your favorite appraisal software and technology provider. WinTOTAL customers with support contracts will not only receive the new forms for free, but will have them installed automatically, through our Instant Customer Update system.

The latest test forms, where applicable, have added "direct questions... which require the appraiser to comment on key areas of his or her research and analysis." As with the new URAR, more "yes/no" areas have been added, and space has been made to accommodate a three-year history for the subject and the comps.

The Appraisal Foundation has developed a web-based survey of practitioners in the appraisal profession, which it has sent some 60,000 of you. Many of you have received the e-mail, but those who haven't, or who have yet to take a few moments to provide your input, the Appraisal Foundation urges you to do so.

"As someone who is interested in valuation, your perspective is very important," the Foundation said. "The objective of this survey is twofold: (1) to gain a better understanding of the background of appraisers practicing in the profession, and, (2) to poll practitioners on issues of importance to the profession today and what changes are anticipated in the short term."

Mortgages, car loans and business debt should become more expensive after the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve meets tomorrow and, as widely expected, raises the federal funds rate — the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans. Mortgage rates, among other things, react to changes in the federal funds rate, which has been cut six times since the disaster of September 11, 2001. Consensus seems to be that the Committee will raise the rate by at least one-quarter of one percent, the first time the rate has been raised since May 2000.

There has been much speculation that rising rates will kill off once and for all the historic mortgage refinance boom. "The latest refinance boom is over," David Berson, chief economist at Fannie Mae, told housing and mortgage reporters recently. However, during the historic purchase activity boom of the last three years, a record number of home buyers opted for Adjustable Rate Mortgages — ARMs — and refinancing into a fixed rate loan might make a lot of sense depending on the adjustment terms.

Appraisers have been seeing very little of the refinance boom anyway — estimates are that half of refinances don't involve an appraiser at all. And 2004 is still forecast, by the National Association of REALTORS® as recently as this month, to be a record year for home buying.

To wit:

The Census Bureau reported June 24 that new home sales skyrocketed 14.8 percent to an annualized rate of 1,369,000 homes. This was the highest annualized new homes rate ever recorded. At the same time, average and median new home prices fell to their lowest level in six months.

On June 25, the National Association of REALTORS® reported 6.80 million resales in May, staggering the consensus which had estimated a decrease from April to 6.50 million.

"Existing homes sales typically lag behind new home sales by one to two months," said Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Securities. "New home sales are recorded when a deposit is placed, or a contract is signed, whereas an existing home is recorded as sold by the NAR only when it has closed — a process which takes one to two months." Considering, then, that new home sales climbed higher than ever in May, we may continue to see historically high resale figures in the coming couple months.

An executive with a hand in appraiser panel management for a top-50 originator told your indefatigable newsletter editor once that when his business takes a hit, his appraisers' business takes only half that hit. Jobs, a growing economy, ARMs that get ugly after two or three years, government initiatives to spur homeownership and demographics all will offset any rise in rates and continue to make 2004 a boom year for our customers.