Mary Cummins, Real Estate Appraiser, Real Estate Appraisal, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins.

Mary Cummins is a real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California with 38+ years of experience. Cummins provides real estate appraisals for banks, lenders, mortgage brokers, Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), lawyers, Courts, factors and private parties for lending, lawsuits, probate, estate planning, divorce and all types of litigation. Cummins provides 1004, 1073, 1025 and other form reports, narrative reports and historical appraisals besides real estate research and appraisal advice.

Showing posts with label jeremy bagott. Show all posts

Monday, May 20, 2024

Privacy, Security in Real Estate Appraisals by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

I was asked to comment about Fannie and Freddie allegedly testing AI image scanning by a foreign business. A previous article stated "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s plan to implement photo recognition AI to analyze appraisal photos. This technology can scan a single photo and extract over 100 data points related to quality, condition, and repairs. For example, it can identify flooring types, appliance models, and even assess light levels in a room." I was told recently "Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are reportedly “bench-testing” an arrangement with a foreign AI firm in which the offshore firm will data-mine millions of images showing the personal spaces of U.S. homeowners and tenants." The article is linked below.

https://appraisersblogs.com/fannie-n-freddies-offshore-gambit-imperils-privacy-of-millions/

My comment is at the end here.

“Interior photos show the location of valuables, safes, guns, security systems, security cameras, power main, children’s rooms, entrances and exits,” said Mary Cummins, a Los Angeles-based real estate appraiser and expert witness. “Appraisers blur out people, photos of people and similar items. Property inspectors do not.

“You could end up having someone in another country looking at photos of your baby in a crib,” said Cummins. “The layout of the home is included in the [report]. Sometimes there is even a 3D photo layout which shows the exact location of the baby’s room and valuables in relation to entrances and exits. This data could end up in the wrong hands directly or through security breaches and pose a threat to the people living in the home.”

A few years ago a couple of AMCs stated that appraisers were not allowed to use appraisal assistants or report writers in foreign countries. The purpose was security of the appraisal data. I have not used any assistants in over 20 years so no worries here. Currently many people allegedly from India offer to write entire reports for appraisers for a couple of bucks. They email all appraisers. I agree that I wouldn't want someone being paid $1 an hour looking at the private personal property and family members of clients. I could see that data being sold directly or shared via a security breach and used for nefarious purpose such as robberies.

I've appraised homes of celebrities. My photos, diagram, layout show the location of the bedrooms. Most people keep valuables such as jewelry, money, guns, drugs in the main bedroom closet. I've taken photos of safes, jewelry cases, guns, babies sleeping in homes. I would never want those photos shared.

Our reports include information about the security system, video surveillance cameras, security gates, fences, main power box. A criminal could use that data to disable the power, over ride the security system and enter the home. That information should never be shared.

I keep my reports extra secure. I also digitally shred and get rid of them the second I am legally allowed. I don't want to possess any of the reports but I legally must maintain them for a set number of years. This is another reason why I have no paper files.

If Freddie and Fannie ultimately do this, I think we should be concerned. You'd think a US AI company could probably do this work and add to the US job market. There would at least be some culpability, liability, notification if a US company had a data breach. Generally the real estate appraiser is the one who states there are granite counter tops, marble floors, Saltillo patio tiles and their overall condition. The bank's loan underwriter can clearly see these items and their condition in the photos. They make the ultimate decision. An external identifier is really not needed in order to make the loan. Not only that but you can't tell if granite, marble, tile or wood is fake by a photo. You have to see it up close at an angle and sometimes feel it in person to determine fake from real.

The main value of a home is its location, size, bed/bath count and overall condition. The report doesn't even ask us the C1-C6 condition of individual elements. It doesn't ask us for the model, age of all the appliances. We are only asked for the overall condition of the home rated C1 for new never lived in; C2 virtually new/no repairs or grades needed; C3 normal wear and tear, no deferred maintenance; C4 minor deferred maintenance, some upgrades needed; C5 significant deferred maintenance and C6 severe deferred maintenance. If the property is C5, C6, they are probably not getting a conventional or any loan anyway.

When, if Freddie and Fannie implement such a program, I'll be sure to update the article. In the meantime I feel they should review all appraisals in the US with properly licensed people with full background checks such as real estate appraisers and lenders.

Article by Jeremy Bagott - Certified General Real Estate Appraiser at Bender Rosenthal Inc

Jeremy Bagott is a real estate appraiser and former newspaperman. His most recent book, “The Ichthyologist’s Guide to the Subprime Meltdown,” is a concise almanac that distills the cataclysmic financial crisis of 2007-2008 to its essence. This pithy guide to the upheaval includes essays, chronologies, roundups and key lists, weaving together the stories of the politics-infused Freddie and Fannie; the doomed Wall Street investment banks Lehman and Bear Stearns; the dereliction of duty by the Big Three credit-rating services; the mayhem caused by the shadowy nonbank lenders; and the massive government bailouts. It provides a rapid-fire succession of “ah-hah” moments as it lays out the meltdown, convulsion by convulsion.

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary, Cummins, #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, certified, single family, condo, condominium, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, fha, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, brea insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, 1073, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls, historical appraisal, facebook, linkedin

DISCLAIMER: https://mary--cummins.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer-privacy-policy-for-blogs-by.html

Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate Services has been in real estate since 1983, over 35 years. She is licensed by the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. Mary Cummins was an agent and broker licensed with the California Department of Real Estate selling residential income, commercial buildings, raw land and homes for Merrill Lynch Realty in Beverly Hills and Westside Properties in Los Angeles before concentrating on appraisals. Mary Cummins currently provides real estate appraisals, expert witness testimony, historical research, legal real estate research for mortgage brokers, banks, lawyers, factors, insurance companies, financial consultants and private individuals. Mary Cummins was born and raised in Southern California. Cummins attended Beverly Hills Good Shepherd Catholic School and Beverly Hills High School. Besides being on the Dean's list, Mary Cummins was a top ten national swimmer and competed on the men's water polo team. Mary Cummins began college at the age of 15 attending the University of Southern California on scholarship, majoring in Psychology/Sociology. http://www.animaladvocates.us http://www.facebook.com/AnimalAdvocatesUSA

Friday, August 11, 2023

AEI Report Shows Andre Perry's Paper is Fraudulent. Same Difference in Home Values in White Areas.

This is from an email from Jeremy Bagott, MAI. AEI used Andre's Perry own dataset and methodology to study race and home values. February 2023 the report was updated. Andre Perry previously stated the main difference in home values between white and black is race alone. Perry blamed that on home valuations. AEI's research has proven the main difference is caused almost entirely by socioeconomic factors and not race. I've been yelling this from the mountain tops since Perry's paper first came out but AEI has nailed it down with facts and independent research. People who make more money have more money and buy more expensive homes in more expensive areas, period.

Maybe lower income white people should be yelling about home value differences compared to higher income white and black people. Maybe they should be demanding money, free homes, cheap loans, debt relief like Andre Perry and his following have been doing. "Rich white people have stolen $46,000 from every poorer white person's home value in the US!" Maybe all poor people need their own type of reparations for being trapped by low wages and poverty for generations. It won't solve the problem because the income gap is the main cause for everyone but the story will probably sell online media ads. We need to reduce the income/wealth gap among everyone. AEI stated this in their summary but the government will not listen to facts for some reason on this issue.

https://mailchi.mp/0b513ed845f9/report-finding-of-bias-in-home-valuations-fails-by-own-measure-8037698

"REPORT: FINDING OF BIAS IN HOME VALUATIONS FAILS BY OWN MEASURE

VENTURA, Calif. (August 11, 2023) – In an updated refutation of the findings of Brookings Institution researcher Andre Perry, Edward Pinto and Tobias Peter of the AEI Housing Center demonstrated just how broken the Brookings research was.

Perry’s 2018 research, titled “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods,” pinned the nation’s racial wealth gap on 80,000 state-licensed real property appraisers.

Unfortunately, these now-discredited findings have been levered by housing-industry lobbyists, partisan policymakers, agitators and grievance groups to malign the nation’s 80,000 real property appraisers and hollow out America’s mortgage underwriting safeguards.

A dataset provided to Pinto and Peter earlier in the year by Perry allowed the AEI Housing Center to fully refute the latter’s conclusions.

While their original refutation was still largely correct, Pinto and Peter have now updated their key findings and takeaways using the new dataset. To the surprise of no one, their redacted study found that what Perry et al. had characterized as race-based differences in home valuations were almost entirely due to socio-economic status, not racial bias by real estate appraisers.

Using the dataset and Perry’s own methodology, Pinto and Peter created a simple case study of so-called “entirely white” tracts (tracts demographers rate as 97.5% white or greater). In those tracts, racial animus, by definition, is ruled out as a factor. The duo then compared high and low socio-economic status in these so-called all-white neighborhoods and found differences as large as – or even larger than – the ones Perry et al. incorrectly attributed to racial bias.

But much damage has been done by Perry’s now-discredited findings. Perry’s 2018 report took the nation’s real property appraisers from the table and onto the menu. The flawed findings have most recently served as a pretext to justify the current administration’s whole-of-government effort to insert race into every corner of the mortgage underwriting process, including collateral valuation.

Pinto and Peter determined:

• That while lower socio-economic status may leave blacks at a large income (and wealth) disadvantage relative to most whites, this is not due to any statistically relevant bias in home appraisals

• The primary remedy would be policies that work to address the income and wealth gap, not those that scapegoat appraisers.

• The focus should be on increasing financial security, creating generational wealth, and shrinking the socio-economic gap through sustainable home ownership. This is largely a buying power issue, not a valuation one. To do otherwise risks repeating the mistakes of the past."