Apex Appraisal Service

06/14/2016

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We are a team of global innovators & industry leaders who are reshaping the future of the real estate valuation industry. We have a vision for the future & push the boundaries in every market to deliver the latest in tech, expertise, & service.

06/09/2016

Since the beginning, Federal Regulation of the industry was initiated to “protect the public.” FIRREA, USPAP, HVCC, Dodd-Frank, state licensing of appraisers and appraisal management companies were inducted with consumer protection as the goal. Customary and reasonable fees, mandated by Dodd-Frank, are also to protect the consumer.

The final rules have been out less than a year. Dodd-Frank empowered the states to enforce customary and reasonable fees. However, it did not instruct the states on how to enforce customary and reasonable fees.
In Virginia, an AMC can use any presumption allowed in TILA, and be considered as having met the presumption of compliance. In order to have met the presumption of compliance, the AMC must 1) consider the type of property, 2) the scope of work, 3) the time in which appraisal services are required to be performed, 4) the appraiser’s work quality, and 5) the appraiser’s professional experience and professional record. The AMC must not engage in any anticompetitive acts in violation of state or federal law that affect the compensation paid to fee appraisers.

Check out the full story below:

https://www.appraisalbuzz.com/customary-reasonable-fees-empowered-enforce/

05/31/2016

Oh the joys of coming back from a 3 Day Weekend! Here's a great article to help get you by.

For the best advice, we asked bosses how they do it. Here are the top tips from company owners and managers for jump-starting a post-holiday week.

Start early. Since you’re just putting off the inevitable anyway, give yourself a leg up with a head start. “Try and go in a few hours early on your first day and catch up prior to the actual start of the day,” says Andrea Keating, founder and CEO of video production company Crews Control.

Make a plan. Having a to-do list is never a bad idea, but on the first day back after a holiday, it’s especially helpful to keep you mentally focused. “Spend 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of the day mapping out your desired accomplishments, [and] prioritize the tasks that are most important,” suggests Kimberly Stiener-Murphy, a branch manager at staffing company Accountemps. If your attention starts to drift, the list will help keep you on track.

But don’t start with email. Wading through all your email first thing is just going to bog you down, says Gay Gaddis, who heads up marketing technology company T-3. “I think the biggest mistake someone can make in the morning after a long weekend is to sit at his or her computer and respond to emails because it doesn’t set a good pace for the rest of the day,” she says. You’re relaxed, you’re refreshed — take advantage of that momentum by tackling something that requires action. Plowing through a list of cold calls, setting up a conference room for an upcoming meeting or teaching a new employee how to do something are all good candidates.

Full story below:

http://time.com/110777/3-day-weekend/

05/30/2016

05/17/2016

Make sure your home is summer ready with these 10 organizing tips.

Embrace those lazy, hazy days of summer with a few simple chores that, done in advance, will make your summer a warm, leisurely breeze.

1 Say goodbye to winter
Simple, seasonal interior updates are key to making your home fit for summer, creating that feeling that winter is a world away. Update your space with lighter, brighter accessories. Extinguish anything that evokes heat – fire logs, heavy rugs and draperies, heaters, and thick blankets. Replace candles with vessels for fresh cut flowers and trade in your winter mats with lightweight white ones. Winter will be out of sight and, thankfully, out of mind.

2 Make room for popsicles
Empty your freezer and defrost it fully, melting any icy build-up. Do an audit of what’s in there – certain products lose texture and flavour over time, so chuck out anything that’s been in there over a year (less time for leftovers, ground meats and chicken). With the extra freezer capacity, you can be stocked up on freezies and burgers.

3 Be ready to party
Be the diva of patio parties with a variety of outdoor entertaining accoutrements. Make sure your blender is margarita-ready and that your cookbooks have the mojito, cold canapé and summer dip recipes flagged. Invest in accident-proof dishware from serving trays to drinking glasses (think melamine). Check out some of our fave outdoor entertaining essentials!

4 Freshen your airflow
Ensure a cool, cool summer – not to mention a lower energy output – with a few simple air-flow updates. Turn your ceiling fan to counter-clockwise (the blades are tilted upward as they spin) to push air downward and create a stronger draft. Replace your air conditioner’s filter or have your central air professionally looked at. You’ll breathe easy having to deal with air-cooling malfunctions in the sweltering summer heat.

5 Put your painting pants on
Summer is the perfect time to take on a sweaty project, and update your deck, door, trim, picnic table or Muskoka chairs with a fresh coat of paint or a bright colour update. Sand the wood, piece by piece, of its existing paint and then coat with a primer. When fully dry, paint with a durable exterior paint. For help on choosing exterior paint colours, check out our expert tips.

6 Invite summer indoors
Interiors can be made summery with sun-kissed windows that have sparkling-clean glass and fresh, breezy window treatments. Thoroughly wash your windows – inside and out. You’ll need a cloth or brush to tackle some of the larger outdoor debris, an equal parts water-vinegar solution and a squeegee -- and do away with winter drapes. Clean and store those thick, heavy, double-layered draperies and replace them with thin sheers in light, airy colours that embrace the summer sun.

7 Stock up for summer
Stock up on summer essentials. Fill your medicine cabinet with sun block, aloe and insect repellant. In your linen closet, store picnic blankets and fresh and fluffy beach towels. In the pantry, keep a picnic basket prepped with colourful linens and biodegradable dishware at the ready. Fill your garage with backyard sports items such as a croquet, badminton or lawn bowling set.

8 Flip the shed
Goodbye to your snow blower, shovels, salt and skis – it’s time to bring forward your summer sports gear, lawnmower, fertilizer, hose, sprinkler and garden tools. Have them upfront, organized and easily accessible, so you won’t be rummaging through the remnants of winter to access to your outdoor summer needs.

9 Make your deck your favourite room in the house
Create an outdoor extension of your indoor living space: comfortable, clean and filled with your favourite things. The fun part of patio cleaning is that it can mostly be tackled with warm, soapy water, a scrub brush and a hose – your deck, outdoor upholstery, furniture (depending, of course, on the finish), walkways, and even your hammock (read our great tips on cleaning outdoor furniture). After cleaning and arranging your furniture, create a moonlight mood with outdoor lights, and punctuate the space with flowering planters, candles and pillows.

10 Bring out your BBQ brawn
Muscle up and give your barbecue a deep clean. Disconnect the gas, disassemble the barbeque from roof to tray (according to manufacturer instructions) and clean with soapy water. Tackle the grill separately with a hard-wire brush – use oven or barbeque cleaner on particularly tough build-up. After cleaning, heat the barbeque, letting it run on high for about 10 minutes, before it cools fully. Finally, wipe the grates with a thin layer of cooking oil. Your grill may not sparkle like new (and nor should it), but you and your guests will enjoy better-tasting burgers!

Credit: http://www.styleathome.com/organizing/organizing-ideas/10-ways-to-prepare-your-home-for-summer/a/31242

05/08/2016

Happy Mother's Day Moms!

05/05/2016

Another successful sold out year for the annual Rib Cook Off supporting Inderkum High Schools athletic department. Thank to all that came out and supported the cause.

04/18/2016

U.S. home builders' confidence held steady in April, reflecting an overall optimistic outlook in the market for new homes even as a gauge of current sales fell slightly.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday was unchanged at 58. It hasn't budged in three months.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor. The index had been in the low 60s for eight months until February.

Find the whole article here:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/18/april-housing-market-index-at-58-vs-59-reading-expected-nahb.html

04/04/2016

This article was originally published from Patrick Barnard or Mortgage Orb, you can visit mortgageorb.com.

In case you didn’t notice, the mortgage process is becoming increasingly standardized as time goes on. Not only did the Great Recession significantly reduce the variety of mortgage products available on the market, but new rules related to underwriting and loan quality, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability-to-repay/qualified mortgage rules, have resulted in lenders taking a production-line approach to loan origination. This “factory-like” approach has done much to standardize the process.

Facilitating this assembly-line approach are today’s loan origination systems and various ancillary systems, which, in essence, are the “machines, pulleys and conveyors” that make the mortgage “factory” run. Also facilitating this new approach is e-document/e-signature technology, which aims to eliminate the manual paper-based processes that lenders have been using since the beginning.

The interesting thing is that the mortgage factories of today are increasingly using just the data that is contained in the mortgage documents – as opposed to the documents themselves. Because mortgage is moving to an all-digital process, the documents are becoming less important than the actual data – and the data has become like the fuel that makes the mortgage factory run.

As such, there has been a huge push during the past eight years for the industry to move beyond manual, paper-based processes and start embracing data as the new way of doing things. In some cases, that means replacing the “unstructured data” that was used in the traditional, paper-based processes of the past with “structured” data that can easily be plugged into today’s systems. This use of structured data not only makes it much simpler to automate the mortgage process and improve loan quality, but also enables better, faster analysis of key trends occurring internally and across the entire industry.

Find full article here:

http://mortgageorb.com/the-appraisal-report-last-bastion-for-unstructured-data-in-mortgage

02/26/2016

An actual street in good ol' U.S of A! Happy Friday friends :-)

http://www.krdo.com/news/a-sign-that-will-make-you-stop-for-another-reason/31126346

A Fountain family has put up a road sign that has become famous because of the name.

02/10/2016

Appraisers are like a box of (Valentine’s Day) chocolates. The package may even be shaped like a big heart, but you never know what you get. For instance, I hate coconut! Those are the ones I stay away from. Sometimes I may accidentally get one, but it gets spit out pretty darn quickly. Now, those peanut butter, dark chocolate ones are a different story…. OH YEAH… BRING ‘EM!

This industry has such a variety of groups and people. There are the appraisers, the reviewers, the AMC’s, the bank Chief Appraisers, Appraisal Managers, the appraisal industry organizations, the data companies, the insurance companies, and the software companies. To protect the customer and make sure we color inside the lines, we have the regulatory agencies, the CFPB, the state boards, the AQB and the ASB. I know there are roles other than those I’ve just listed, but what an eclectic group of people! Some are peanut butter chocolate, and some are coconut…and some are just nuts (pun intended)!

No one wants to have a big, heart-shaped box with just one, small candy inside. So, we are all necessary to complete the box. Some people actually like coconut, and some can’t have peanut butter. So, we are all needed in this industry. If we weren’t needed, we wouldn’t be included in the box, but I’m glad we are all here. Every day is different. Every deal is different. Every transaction varies, but we all work together in our own unique way, aiming for the same goal. We’re all a part in making good loans to good customers, and ultimately make our own contribution to the economic success of the greatest country in the world.

So…Let’s not look at that box of Valentine’s Day Chocolates and complain about all the things inside that you don’t like. Let’s look at all the goodies, and appreciate the fact that you can choose to allow someone else the opportunity to grab the nasty ones (they may not see them as nasty). All of us here in this heart-shaped box are here for a reason.

Now pass me the Reese’s!