I hope everyone’s 2017 is off to a great start. At Dart Appraisal, we’re coming off a record year and looking forward to another year of serving our lender partners. As I’m sure is similar to most people working in the mortgage industry, we have a watchful eye on the interest rate environment, trying to anticipate what volumes will look like in 2017.

Market Outlook. According to Fannie Mae’s December Home Purchase Sentiment Index, the number of Americans who expect mortgage rates to fall decreased (as expected), and even fewer consumers say their household income is significantly higher than it was a year ago. And while home values have continued to rise, the recent bump in rates appears to have caused homeowners to hesitate on tapping into their gains in home equity.

On the bright side, mortgage applications increased 4% last week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly survey. The general opinion remains that the new administration will be pro-business and pro-growth, which would lead to more jobs, rising incomes and a strong housing market. With Inauguration Day behind us, consumers and the market alike will soon get a clearer picture of what we can expect from the housing industry.

Alternative Valuations. The lending environment is constantly changing, and the market place has identified needs beyond/in addition to a traditional appraisal when it comes to valuations. At Dart Appraisal, we’re always striving to offer the most unique and efficient products that meet our partners’ needs. Already in 2017, we’ve piloted a quick valuation product that delivers real-time, property-level insights on value and risk. This product not only provides a confidence score for both purchase/sale and rental purposes, it includes a value forecast for that property, comparable housing sale prices, and analyzes the local market for inventory, economic and employment trends. This report can be ordered on a single property, or in large batches – we can turn up to 20,000 reports around within one week. We’ll have an official announcement on this product soon, but if you want to learn more today contact our VP of Sales, Marc Tatarcuk, at mtatarcuk@dartappraisal.com or 248.273.8640. We also offer a full suite of other alternate products, including AVMs, BPOs, Desktop Appraisals and Property Condition Reports (PCR), as well as a combination AVM/PCR report.

Dart Year in Review. As I mentioned earlier, Dart Appraisal had a record year in 2016 in terms of volume. We launched a relationship with a top 5 national lender, and developed a new relationship with a top 5 national credit union. We enhanced many of our LOS integrations (view a list of all integrations here), and announced a new integration with Calyx Point/PointCentral.

Dart also hired two new executives in 2016. Teressa Hupfer joined the team as Vice President of Operations, and focuses on aligning our operational strategy with client needs. She previously worked as a First Vice President for both FirstMerit Bank and Citizens Bank. Marc Tataruck came on board as Vice President of Sales, and leads our team of national account executives. Marc previously served as the head of residential lending for First National Bank of America in East Lansing, Michigan, and also has experience running his own mortgage company.

Lastly, I wanted to share that our headquarters team came together last month for a hugely successful food drive benefiting Gleaners Community Food Bank here in Southeast Michigan. Our executive team matched the staff’s donations, and together we donated more than 200 pounds of food to help our neighbors in need. I look forward to more community initiatives in 2017, and invite any of our lender partners to share information on their charitable giving efforts with which Dart Appraisal could help.

We look forward to working together with our valued clients and brokers this year, as well as to forming new partnerships in the months ahead. If there is anything we can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@dartappraisal.com.

Thank you,

Michael Dresden
President
Dart Appraisal