The ideal world of valuations

This is a critical time in the mortgage industry. As you shift from a refinance to a purchase market and look at developing stronger relationships with real estate professionals, it is crucial that you do not repeat the valuation mistakes that most recently -- in the mid-2000s -- brought the industry to its knees. Now imagine, if you will, an industry in which the professionals associated with the home-buying process -- including the loan originator and appraiser -- are all on the same valuation page without violating any regulations. This would be the ideal valuation scenario. By using automated regression analysis -- a mathematical process of estimating the relationships among variables -- each of these interested parties could consistently expect accurate housing values, which in turn would allow more hassle-free loan closings and therefore lead to a more stable market. It does not matter if you are a statistician or new to the real estate industry -- if everyone is using the same standardized mathematics -- a critical component to property value -- property values will be consistent.