The Appraisal Institute on April 3 announced the recognition of 15 individuals as a "Volunteer of Distinction" for the first quarter.

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The 2^nd Quarter Chapter Business Meeting was held in Asheville, NC this past week.  The guest speaker was NC House Representative Brian Turner who provided an informative overview of upcoming priorities for the NC General Assembly.  He also took questions from the audience on a variety of issues.  During the meeting the chapter celebrated two new designees Laura Gourley, AI-GRS and Bill Johnson, MAI and acknowledged the Q2 education scholarship recipients Erica Butler, Joel Phillips and Mary Coltrane.

A detailed analysis of population and employment data, along with the use of fair share comparisons, increases the accuracy of assumptions made by appraisers when completing commercial valuation assignments, according to a study published this week in The Appraisal Journal.

The Appraisal Journal is the quarterly technical and academic publication of the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers. The materials presented in the publication represent the opinions and views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Appraisal Institute.

The Small Business Administration issued revised guidance March 26 stating that an appraisal may be needed to evaluate the creditworthiness of commercial real estate loans below $500,000. New legislation that aligned SBA regulations with those from the federal bank regulatory agencies eliminated the appraisal requirement for commercial loans below the half-million-dollar threshold. 

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New findings from a National Association of Realtors® survey show that more Americans believe that now is a good time to purchase a home. Consumer opinions about home buying bounced back in the first quarter of 2019, with 37 percent stating that they strongly believe now is a good time to buy, up from 34 percent in the last quarter of 2018 but down from 38 percent one year ago. Only 35 percent of respondents said that now is not a good time to buy a home, compared to 37 percent in 2018's fourth quarter.

NAR's first quarter Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey 1also found that a majority of those polled, 53 percent, said that the economy is improving – down slightly from 59 percent at the end of last year. In 2019, optimism is the greatest among those who earn $100,000 or more and those who reside in rural areas. Fifty percent of Generation X said the economy is improving, while 42 percent of urban area residents reported the same.

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By Matt Grossman

A merger between two of the country’s most active debt-advisory shops is set to create the largest commercial real estate debt practice in the country.

By Michael Tucker

Three themes anchor the U.S. commercial real estate investment outlook: U.S. economic performance, cycle maturity and the monetary policy outlook, said Cushman & Wakefield, New York.

By Kerry Curry

With late 2018 jitters gone and investor optimism returning, the commercial real estate market should experience mostly steady cap rates through the first half of 2019, although there are particular market segments and geographies that could experience some bumps.

By Jessica Guerin

Private investors are buying non-conforming mortgage loans – which are usually the domain of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – at a growing rate.

By Robert Dietz

Continuing a multiyear trend, new single-family home size decreased during the final quarter of 2018.

By David Bodamer

Although it has not been the star of this extended commercial real estate cycle, the office sector has delivered its fair share of strong performance and solid returns. Occupancy rates and rents rose, cap rates fell and development has been kept in check.

By Tim Wang and Julia Laumont

A major and unprecedented structural shift has occurred in the real estate market due to a variety of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Occupied U.S. rental apartment units rose by 20 percent above the prior 10-year period. Real estate investment managers’ allocations to institutional-quality multifamily product have risen on the ongoing strength in property fundamentals.

By Laurie Goodman and Jun Zhu

Historically, purchase mortgages have performed better than refinance mortgages, or “refis,” defaulting less often. But changes made in response to widespread appraisal bias during the crisis have improved the industry’s risk assessment and management abilities overall and, accordingly, have decreased the expected default rate on all mortgages.

The Appraisal Institute designated 29 members in February, including; and 12 who received MAI designations; 7 who received SRA designations; 9 who received AI-GRS designations; 1 who received AI-RRS designations.

View the list here.

Freddie Mac(OTCQB: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing that mortgage rates held steady after declining for three consecutive weeks.

Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, says, “Mortgage rates remained mostly unchanged this week, while mortgage applications rose 5.3 percent from the previous week. The general decline in rates we have seen recently, combined with rebounding pending home sales, hint at a strong spring homebuying season.”

The NCAI Scholarship Application for the second quarter offering is now available. Deadline is April 1, 2019.

Click Here for the Application Requirements and Eligibility.

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NCAI is pleased to offer Parking and Its Impact on Value of North Carolina Properties to it's members while also supporting the 2019 Leadership Development & Advisory Council (LDAC) Participants. This event is on April 2, 2019 at the Harris Campus Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC. Instructor Ted Anglyn is donating his time to instruct this course as an effort to raise funds for this cause.

ALL PROFITS from this course and any additional donations will go toward support for NCAI’s LDAC participants.

On March 6, the Appraisal Institute and Freddie Mac announced a partnership targeted to help real estate appraisers when valuing manufactured housing, meeting an important need for homebuyers, lenders, appraisers and homebuilders.

The Appraisal Institute’s partnership with Freddie Mac will provide practical appraisal training to all appraisers, as well as specifically-targeted training and case studies to address manufactured housing valuation assignments for Freddie Mac’s CHOICEHome^SM. CHOICEHome brings conventional mortgage financing to factory-built homes to help increase the availability of quality affordable homes that borrowers want while providing lenders with the innovative financing options they need.