My New Blog

Death Threat to HVCC Architect

December 23rd, 2009 3:48 PM

This happened a week ago, and was bound to happen. It doesn't sound like a real death threat, that's just how people talk in New York. There are many appraisers, loan agents and realtors who have said much worse about Andrew Cuomo (the instigator of HVCC).....but they didn't call up Cuomo's office to say it.

But a $500M bail? Read this New York Post article for yourself:

Death threats made against Cuomo

By FREDRIC U. DICKER, State Editor

Last Updated: 10:16 AM, December 17, 2009

Posted: 3:58 AM, December 17, 2009

ALBANY -- A disgruntled, 45-year-old Long Island businessman was being held on a staggering $500 million bail yesterday for allegedly threatening to shoot Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on the Long Island Expressway.

Jack Geoghan, of Bayport, was arraigned in Suffolk County on charges of making a terrorist threat and aggravated harassment after calling the Attorney General's Office with this warning:

"If that f- - -er Andrew Cuomo is on the Long Island Expressway and his head is blown off with a 30.06 [a high-powered rifle bullet] you'll know who did it," according to an official in the AG's office.

Geoghan also sent at least one e-mail to the attorney general's Web site threatening to kill Cuomo, the official said.

Geoghan "was apparently upset over some of the actions [Cuomo's] office has taken regarding cracking down on mortgage-related fraud," according to the official.

Geoghan was arrested by Suffolk cops, and was ordered by Judge Patricia Filiberto held on what the official described as possibly an unprecedented $500 million bail.

The Suffolk DA had asked that he be held without bail, the official said.

Geoghan's father, John, 77, said his son runs a real-estate appraisal business and had been upset about Cuomo's attempts to regulate appraisers.

But the dad believes the judge overreacted.

Posted by Jim Nishimura on December 23rd, 2009 3:48 PMPost a Comment (0)

Subscribe to this blog

HVCC

December 4th, 2009 11:00 AM

If you have done any Fannie Mae loans since May 1st, then you are certainly aware of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). HVCC is an acronym for "havoc," which is what it certainly has caused.

For Fannie Mae loans, the broker is not allowed to choose his/her own appraiser. Even the bank is supposed to choose an unbiased appraiser or Appraisal Management Company (AMC) who will not be pressured by anyone to hit a certain property value.

There's a big petition that has been floating around to revoke this HVCC policy, and there's some proposed legislation to put an 18-month moratorium on it. But so far, from what I can tell, nothing has changed, and the moratorium bill hasn't even been voted on by congress yet. Of course there are political pressures to keep HVCC as is, including Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of New York who is the instigator of HVCC.

Anyway, so far I haven't heard anything positive about HVCC from realtors, loan agents and appraisers. The only ones benefitting seem to be the AMC companies. But these AMCs take a significant portion of the appraiser's fees, as much as 50% in some cases. I personally am not working with AMCs, and I've found that it's not easy to even get onto their roster of appraisers. In the past, generally speaking the appraisers who joined AMCs were the less experienced ones and/or the appraisers who couldn't or didn't want to find their own clients.

But don't forget the HVCC only applies to Fannie Mae. So FHA, VA and jumbo loans are exempt, as well as loans from a direct lender.

Posted by Jim Nishimura on December 4th, 2009 11:00 AMPost a Comment (0)

Subscribe to this blog