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Roger Watland (Roger T. Watland Associates) Real Estate Appraiser

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Roger Watland
location_on Brooklyn Park, MN — Roger T. Watland Associates
Get to Know Roger Watland

Hi fellow practitioners, former and perspective customers, and casual browsers of this site!

I really like real estate, but I also like variety.  Maybe that explains why (in chronological order) I sold my contracting business after 10 years, went back to real estate sales, as a broker for a few years, specializing in buyer representation before the rules of the game were formalized. Then I commenced on what turned into a 15+ year career as a real estate appraiser, commercial and residential. My Certified General license, brokers license all current, thanks to overlapping continuing education and a continuing need for access to full MLS services.

2009 marked my 9th year as a home mortgage consultant, initially at the stage coach outfit (2 tours of duty), and I also originated loans through 2 mortgage banking companies.  As the opportunities to offer helpful products and services emerge, I am tempted to follow.

Here's some change you can believe in:  Not looking back, in the fall of 2009, I re-opened my valuation consulting business. 

 

Certifications

 

An appraiser in the '90's, I was trained by the HUD regional office to perform 203K renovation appraisals.  That came in handy for 203K loans.  Not much has changed with the original 203K program, except that a streamline option was added in 2005, for renovations that HUD deems to not require a HUD certified consultant.  The streamline 203K program is simpler and quicker than the 203k regular program, but a buyer still must commit to reasonably quick action in soliciting bids and making decisions about what items to add in addition to required work to meet minimum property standards for HUD.

In many areas, almost 1/2 of the selling activity involves bank/corporate owned properties (referred to as REO=Real Estate Owned), or sales where the owner/s are upside down and require the negotiation of a short payoff with one or several lenders with mortgages on the property.  Quite a few of these properties are in rough shape or are borderline when it comes to meeting minimum property standards for FHA, or conventional financing, for that matter.  It's a great time to be a renovation lending specialist or an appraiser with lending expertise! 

If the true condition cannot be determined by an interview with the agent or borrower, I usually take a look for myself.  Most of the time I can second guess the way the appraiser will describe the property condition and how or if the underwriter, ultimately, will condition for repairs.  How do I keep up?  Well, a "hobby" of mine is to read most of the posts on www.theappraisersforum.com  I also manage to dialogue quite a bit with active appraisers across the country, contributing where I can (12,000+ posts) and asking for opinions when I need answers.  

The odds of a successful transaction increase dramatically for all involved when a seasoned REO or short sale specialist is on the listing side of the transaction.  It is handy if the selling agent has been through this a few times, but it is hard to make up for any weak links (loan officer included), since these transactions can be brittle in the first place.  Give me an REO any day over a short sale. But, given at the helm, a seasoned agent with an ongoing relationship with the loss mitigation department involved in the short sale, and the odds aren't bad for a successful transaction on an accepted offer.

In 2007, I took interest in reverse mortgages and trained with Wells Fargo for a pilot reverse mortgage program they rolled out to select correspondents. I made sure to take a reverse mortgage continuing education class when the opportunity arose later that year.  In the fall of 2008, I received training with J.B. Nutter, the 2nd largest wholesale reverse mortgage lender. I took the HUD-AARP jointly sponsored reverse mortgage counselor training course because I was curious about the level of training counselors received, since I then had to give my reverse mortgage customers a list of 10 from which to choose.  I couldn't take the test because it is only offered to employees of non-profit HUD approved counseling agencies.  That's OK, I just wanted the training:)

In my spare time, I put together a web site that hopefully, is a valuable resource for people trying to find their way to a successful renovation loan.  I decided to include resources for my reverse mortgage customers as well since I knew I wasn't likely to find the time to maintain more than one site.  The site is a work in progress, but has lots of nice links.  Plus, I have tried to bottom line important aspects of renovation lending and reverse mortgages.  The tips will probably help loan officers entering these specialties just as much as customers. If you are a loan officer, feel free to borrow any good idea you see:)  Send me an email, if you feel you have some idea to trade.  No obligation, of course.  It is a freeware site!  Renovation and Reverse Mortgage site  .  Sorry, I took it down 11/'11 since it was getting hopelessly out of date, given the velocity of change.

 

 

 

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Brooklyn Park, MN rogerwatland@usfamily.net