Written by:  Nathan Thomas

This just in: Client pressure is a huge issue and concern for most appraisers. In a recent survey the Appraisal Advocacy Coalition found that when asked about the importance of 14 different issues appraisers rated client pressure the most important of all, tied with data theft. (The AAC is going to summarize its survey findings and report to everyone who took the survey, and we'll run something in the newsletter here, too.)   Read more...

Now that Fannie Mae makes the cost approach optional, many of you aren't doing it anymore on single family residential assignments. Many of you still are because your clients sometimes ask for it, and you like delivering a more complete, even more attractive, report. Many of you would include the cost approach if you could upcharge for it, while some of you are reluctant to do so.   Read more...

Last week Washington Mutual announced it was cutting some 900 jobs, including hundreds in its in-house appraisal department, in favor of outsourcing appraisal management to two Appraisal Management Companies, LSI and a First American unit. The transition is underway and will proceed "throughout the remainder of 2006."   Read more...

You're hearing and reading ideas all over the place for diversifying your practice and attracting new business. If you're feeling a pinch the best place to start, 100 percent of the time, is with the business you already have and value.   Read more...

Last edition we asked you to write the Appraisal Advocacy Coalition if you have experience being placed on a lender's do not use list mistakenly or for reasons unknown. The extent of your response was, well, disheartening. Because so many of you wrote in.   Read more...

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- MILA, Inc., a leading e-commerce wholesale lender based in Mountlake Terrace, Washington, said it has evaluated a la mode's new SureDocs electronic document creator for mortgage originators and will accept electronically signed RESPA disclosures generated by SureDocs from its 40,000-plus broker/subscribers.   Read more...

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - a la mode was honored this month with inclusion on the annual Mortgage Technology magazine list of the "Top 25 Mortgage Technology Vendors," confirming its role as one of the most mission critical and influential technology companies in the real estate industry.   Read more...

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an interagency unit devoted to money laundering and other financial criminal activity, reports periodically on official complaints or reports of suspicious activity and the nature of the complaint. Last month the agency reported that mortgage fraud allegations increased 41 percent from 2004 to 2005.   Read more...

We're thrilled that we've been named a Top 25 Mortgage Technology Vendor by SourceMedia's Mortgage Technology magazine. The list was published in the June issue.   Read more...

On display at the Convention is a 2006 Range Rover Sport the company will give away this summer to celebrate its 21st anniversary ORLANDO, FLA. – Welcoming hundreds of appraisers to a three-day event focused on making their businesses more efficient and profitable, a la mode, one of the most mission critical and influential technology companies in the real estate industry, kicked off its second annual Summer Convention at Disney's Contemporary Resort here today.   Read more...