Washington, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — North Dakota today asked for a federal waiver of real estate appraisal requirements that would allow local banks to make valuation assessments due to an appraiser shortage.
The waiver would help rural banks and their communities by improving the timeliness and costs of real estate transactions. North Dakota’s Gov. Doug Burgum, State Commissioner for the Department of Financial Institutions Lise Kruse and the North Dakota Bankers Association made the joint request to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s Appraisal Subcommittee.
North Dakota is the first state to make use of the temporary waiver request. The state specifically has asked for a waiver of appraisal requirements for federally related real estate mortgage loans issued by banks or credit unions that are less than $1 million for business and agriculture loans or $500,000 for residential transactions. The current limits are $500,000 and $250,000, respectively. Under North Dakota law, independent evaluations are required regardless of transaction amount and the waiver would allow North Dakota banks and credit unions to assess the type of valuation that is needed.
The shortage of available appraisers in North Dakota hurts consumers’ timely credit availability, slows economic development and threatens the viability of rural communities. Appraisals in some parts of the state are taking up to three months for residential and agricultural real estate loans in the state. And in some cases, the transactions have fallen through.
“North Dakota financial institutions are community based and relationship oriented. They are well prepared to fairly and accurately assess property values, which will provide relief to the existing supply of appraisers,” said Commissioner Kruse.
“The challenges experienced by lenders obtaining timely appraisals is impacting local communities and economic development nationwide. The fact that North Dakota’s governor, top financial regulator and banking community are raising it to the federal level sends an extremely important message that there is a problem in the marketplace,” said John Ryan, CSBS president and CEO.
