Valutrust President Sean Pyle is one of several industry veterans quoted in HousingWire’s April feature “Lenders and Appraisers Forge New Bond Amid Coronavirus Crisis.” Phil Hall writes that, while the “COVID-19 pandemic has placed stress levels on the housing market that have not been witnessed since the Great Recession … one area of strength that has kept the industry viable during the ongoing crisis is the working rapport between lenders and appraisers.”
From the appraisers’ standpoint, Sean insists that while the onsite appraisal is something professionals agree must be preserved, entering unknown properties inevitably creates cause for concern.
He points out that the vast majority of borrowers and homeowners are trying to find ways to “mitigate concerns by turning on lights, opening doors, and trying to create an environment where an appraiser doesn’t need to touch anything in a house and can keep a safe distance from any other person that might dwell in that house. But at any point, if a borrower or an appraiser doesn’t feel comfortable, they’re well within their rights to either postpone that or cancel it or do whatever they feel is necessary for their own safety.”
Others participating in the story are Tom Dolfay, CEO of Property Damage Appraisers in Fort Worth, Texas; Michael Dubeck, president and CEO at Planet Home Lending in Melville, New York; The Appraisal Institute’s Bill Garber; Jeff Hogan, vice president of valuations at Veros Real Estate Solutions in Santa Ana, California; Jeremy Sopko, co-founder and CEO of Nations Lending in Independence, Ohio; and Brian Zitin, co-founder and CEO of Reggora, a Boston-headquartered appraisal software company.
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