New Appraisal Rules Slow Home Buying

May 1 brought about a new set of rules for ordering appraisals that apparently slowed the loan process and caused mass confusion throughout the industry.
On all conventional loans originated after May 1, your friendly loan officer will no longer be able to order your appraisal from an appraiser they may have used in the past. Instead, the loan officer now has to order the appraisal from the lender they plan on using and they in turn order it from a nationwide appraisal company (some of which are owned by the banks themselves). The process has already caused delays and additional costs for borrowers. Borrowers will now have to pay for their appraisal upfront via a credit card or check.
Although this is not in effect for government loans, many lenders are already taking the opportunity to use these systems on all loans.
Here is what you need to know about how this will affect you: Make sure that if you lock your loan, that you allow extra time for increased processing times and be ready to pay for that appraisal. Be sure that you have chosen your lender because lenders are going to be less likely to transfer appraisals now and we are being told that if you go with another lender midstream, plan on doing the appraisal again.
A wild changing mortgage world! I'm just glad I have so many lenders to use for my clients so I can wade through all the nonsense and get the job done!