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Get ready for more Appraiser XSites features
2003 was an amazing year not only for a la mode, but Appraiser XSites as well. But we're never ones to let things ride without adding new features to make you more productive (did you get update #115 to WinTOTAL Athena version last week?).
We're not rolling it out yet, but the a la mode e-Newsletter has learned exclusively (and this took a lot of investigative reporting) that XSites users and aspirants should look forward to the
availability of some amazing new features early this year. To name just a few: 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.
Keep an eye out. Professional and Enterprise Appraiser XSites will be rolling out soon!
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Appraisal Foundation out with Appraiser's Sourcebook; two other tomes on the way
The Appraisal Foundation announced in its summary of its final 2003 Board of Trustees meeting that phase one of a project to develop a publication with the working title of A Compilation of Generally Recognized Valuation Terms and Concepts is currently underway. The profession currently does not have a definitive reference book that can be used by appraisers, regulators and academicians, TAF said. The initial phase of the compilation is being performed by the Centre for Advanced Property Economics (CAPE). Funding was obtained through a grant from the Appraisers Research Foundation and the TAF Board of Trustees.
The Appraiser's Sourcebook, meanwhile, was published recently and contains an overview of the history of real estate appraiser regulation in the United States, as well as a State Appraiser Regulatory Directory. The directory lists valuable information about reciprocity, temporary practice, license fees and requirements as well as contact information for all
states and territories, TAF said.
Finally, the Foundation announced it will release a second edition of its Digest of Court Cases and Administrative Decisions on USPAP in early 2004. Nearly 40 more cases have been added, with a total of almost 130 cases listed, the Foundation said.
Visit The Appraisal Foundation's website for more information.
Construction spending still stratospheric
The value of construction put in place in November set an all-time record -- for the fifth month in a row -- in November, coming in at $934.5 billion, up 1.2 percent from an upwardly revised $923.8 billion in October. Analysts polled by the Reuters news service were expecting a 0.5 percent increase. Total private construction, total public construction, private residential construction and state and local construction all individually set records.
Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $495.7 billion in November, 2.0 percent above the revised October estimate of $486.2 billion. Overall private construction was at a rate of $710.8 billion, 1.2 percent above the revised October estimate of $702.4 billion.
The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate of public construction spending in November was $223.7 billion, 1.0 percent above the revised October estimate of $221.4 billion. Educational construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $58.2 billion, 0.4 percent below the revised October estimate of $58.5 billion, the Commerce Department said.
New applications for mortgages fell in late December to their lowest weekly level in 2003, the Mortgage Bankers Association said last week, but buyers bought existing and new homes in record numbers in 2003.
Every AI Ready form on WinTOTAL
If your appraisals have to be in AI Ready™ format, you have to have every AI Ready form. Clients tend not to understand when you explain that your vendor doesn't have that form available, so it'll take some extra time to create it yourself. Acting like the company that more than half the appraisers in the country use -- which, as it happens, we are -- a la mode now has every AI Ready-compliant form there is (count 'em: 43) ready to go.
AI Ready (Appraisal Institute Ready) is an accreditation given to forms software packages by the Appraisal Institute, indicating that those forms comply with the Institute's residential data storage and transmission standard. WinTOTAL, which is used by more than half the appraisers in the United States, has a 2.5 "compliance level" with the AI Ready standard -- the highest available -- and is the only vendor with every AI Ready form there is.
We look at this as another way we make sure all our customers have everything they need to do business. We use software ourselves, and we know that nothing is more frustrating than having to change how you do things to conform to the limitations of your programs. We do everything in our power to make sure that doesn't happen to you. Now it won't happen to you if you send appraisals in AI Ready format!
A good example is the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac manufactured housing forms that were new in 2003. We took the lead in making those available via WinTOTAL, and we're in the lead in having AI Ready versions as well. We're the only major (more than 10 percent market share) vendor to have AI Ready versions of those forms available right now.
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3705 West Memorial Road Building 402 Oklahoma City, OK 73134
1-800-ALAMODE, All Rights Reserved.
Not responsible for the accuracy or maintenance of outside links.
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Briefs
Fortune's best places to work
Fortune Magazine released its annual 100 Best Places to Work issue. Mortgage-related companies on the list included: Third Federal S&L, Cleveland (14); Homebanc Mortgage, Atlanta (39); Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C. (52); First Tennessee, Memphis (56); MBNA, Wilmington, Del. (82); Washington Mutual, Seattle (92); and Principal Financial, Des Moines, Ia. (95). Third Federal gave all its employees an extra week of vacation this year, the magazine said, and held a "Third Federal Idol" contest with a karaoke machine for each entrant. The latter may explain why it wasn't ranked higher.
Sterling Capital Mortgage renamed for new parent
RBC Mortgage Company announced Jan. 5 that all former branches of Sterling Capital Mortgage Company, which were acquired in Sept. 2003, will convert to the RBC Mortgage brand, effective immediately. If you do business with Sterling Capital Mortgage, make a note of it. Headquartered in Chicago, RBC Mortgage Company ranks among the top ten retail mortgage originators nationwide after the acquisition of Sterling Capital Mortgage. The company said all 115 nationwide branches would change.
California forecast: continued appreciation
Sales of detached existing single-family homes are expected to decline in 2004 from 2003's record-setting pace, while price appreciation will continue to be driven by strong demographics and higher, though historically low, interest rates in 2004, according to the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) "State of the Housing Market 2003" report.
The median price of a single-family home is forecast to increase 13 percent from $369,5000 in 2003 to $417,500 in 2004, while sales are projected to decline 2 percent to 584,600 in 2004 from a record 596,500 in 2003, the group said.
If you have to appraise a fire hydrant factory, can you park anywhere near the subject? If you know the answer, or have a tip or feedback, contact the editor: mattb@alamode.com.
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