United Wholesale Mortgage shook up the industry when it announced that it would be launching an in-house appraisal management apparatus.
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Hello, LOs!
On Sept. 9, United Wholesale Mortgage shook up the industry when it announced that it would be launching an in-house appraisal management apparatus. The move meant its broker partners no longer had to use appraisal management companies to complete appraisals.
On Tuesday, HW Media CEO and former LendingLife author Clayton Collins asked Mat Ishbia how the initiative, dubbed "Appraisal Direct," is going.
"It's been a huge, huge success so far," Ishbia told Collins. "Orders come in to UWM [Appraisal] Direct, we will then find the appraiser ourselves. Every penny from the consumer goes to the appraiser. We don't take a penny off it. I have 250 people on my team managing appraisals, assigning them out, handling the quality control, doing due diligence – all these things so we can eliminate this bottleneck in our industry right now."
If UWM's venture is successful, I could easily see others following suit. But don't expect it to solve arguably the biggest problem in the appraisal sphere. There's not much UWM can do about the lack of appraisers in the U.S.
"If there's no appraiser there, there's no appraiser there," Ishbia said. "If there's only one guy within 30 miles, that guy has to do it and it might take him two weeks."
Brokers – I'd like to hear from you. What has your experience been with Appraisal Direct thus far? Shoot me an email anonymously at jkleimann@housingwire.com. And if you're an appraiser, I'd obviously love to hear from you as well.
James Kleimann
Managing Editor, HousingWire
P.S. Make sure to check out our excellent two-part feature on joint ventures between real estate brokerages and mortgage lenders. It's only available to HW+ members, so if you're not a member sign up here.
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