In a report earlier in January, the Government Accountability Office called on the congressional Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) to improve its procedures for monitoring the appraisal process.
According to an NAHB story, flaws in the system have been leading to inaccurate appraisals, which, in turn, often leads to lost sales. Appraisers have to be ASC approved, through the states, to make apprisals for federally insured banks.
“These findings underscore the need to establish an effective oversight system to ensure that appraisals accurately reflect true market values and don’t harm aspiring home buyers or builders,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev.
The law, the GAO said, charges the subcommittee "with monitoring the appraisal requirements of the federal financial institutions regulators, but ASC has not defined the scope of this function – for example, by developing policies and procedures – and its monitoring activities have been limited."
Created in 1989, the ASC is an independent agency that is a subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. It has six members designated by the heads of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Thrift Supervision, National Credit Union Administration, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
