Cummins Real Estate Appraisals

05/07/2026

False bias claim against a real estate appraiser dismissed. "If you read the original article about Steve Orlowski, the Illinois appraiser dragged through a multi year circus over a baseless bias allegation, you probably walked away thinking that surely this nightmare had to end at some point. The state had already taken its shot, the facts were already sitting in plain view, and nothing in the report supported the accusation. But as every appraiser knows, once a complaint enters the system, it tends to move forward on momentum alone, even when the foundation underneath it is paper thin.

Now we finally have the federal conclusion, and it is exactly what anyone familiar with appraisal work expected from the beginning. HUD has officially dismissed the complaint and issued a Determination that there was no reasonable cause to believe any discriminatory housing practice occurred. Five years of investigation, and HUD ended up right where most appraisers would have landed after reading the first page of the report."

HUD ends a baseless bias accusation, validating the appraisal and exposing how far the system drifted from the facts.

04/07/2026

A San Diego County judge ruled against the Carlsbad condo owner who tried to convert his garage into a rental unit over the objections of his homeowners association. https://cal.news/48ulnlY

📸 Adriana Heldiz

03/01/2026

I remember the Desert Storm war 1990/1991. It caused a temporary dip in prices and volume in the real estate market due to uncertainty. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the new Iran war and real estate. "The real estate market during the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1990–1991 was characterized by temporary uncertainty, with potential buyers and investors pausing transactions due to the conflict. While major conflicts can cause capital to flee from affected areas, the short, decisive nature of the 42-day war in the early 1990s meant that the housing market largely weathered the crisis, with experts suggesting that quick, victorious, or averted wars have a less severe, often temporary impact on the real estate market."

02/21/2026

A friend of mine posted that his real estate blog is 17 years old. It made me wonder how old mine is. Turns out my blog is 20 years old and my real estate website is 29 years old. I've been licensed in real estate since 1983 for 43 years. That's what happens when you get old and keep doing the same thing ;-) And on that note I need to update them.

02/18/2026

I generally don't have an issue with revision, clarification or even ROV requests. Still, sometimes it feels like the underwriter, lender just don't want to give the borrower the loan for whatever reason so they make up a bunch of illogical impossible requests for the appraiser. It feels like they want to deny the loan and blame the appraiser. The appraiser can fully reply and explain everything but some revision requests are impossible to complete. As an example, "please, find a closed sale within last three months within 1/2 mile with the exact same view, upgrades, number of garages, ADU, workshop, basement, type of lot... It's just not possible sometimes.

02/18/2026

People offering appraisal prices from 40 years ago. $275 is what we got in 1983. That is what they offer for a full inspection 1004. They're also all rush orders and not close. We do just as much work as we did back then if not more. While we have technology we have more forms and more data to provide. Price of software, insurance, licensing, CE, gas, car expenses...have all gone way up. Expenses have doubled.

02/17/2026

The public thinks rent control helps tenants and keeps rent lower. It actually does the opposite. Economists and real estate experts all know it causes housing scarcity and higher rents. Politicians push rent control to get votes because most voters are tenants. Here's some research on rent control from American Enterprise Institute. Link to article first comment.

02/14/2026

Seeing a similar trend in Los Angeles.

Fresh stats. January 2026 was softer than one year ago. Sales volume was lackluster overall. I added a few categories. Let me know if you like seeing properties that sold above and below the original price.

02/14/2026

:-)

Real Estate: It’s Gray Time!

02/12/2026

My iPhone’s lidar. Measurement per building and safety was 34. I did this over a fence from a distance.

02/10/2026

Housing Finance Watch 2006 Week 6 from American Enterprise Institute.
*The median purchase rate remained effectively constant at 6% in week 6, 2026

*According to Mortgage News Daily, the avg. 30-year rate was 6.15% on Feb. 10th.

*Purchase rate lock volume remains muted, down 40% from the same week in 2020 and down 11% YoY.

*Preliminary YoY HPA was 2.1% in December 2025 and projected at 2.0%, 1.9%, and 2.1% for Jan. 2026, Feb. 2026, and the first week of Mar. 2026, respectively.

*Projected YoY HPA has continued to slow, largely due to subdued purchase activity, relatively high rates and inventory, and a diminishing pool of well-qualified entry-level buyers. Mary Cummins