Beginning June 27, 2016, lenders will be required to use the new web-based Electronic Appraisal Delivery portal for Federal Housing Administration loans. And before using the FHA portal, lenders are required to register for and participate in an onboarding phase before the mandatory effective date.
“Each of FHA's onboarding phases lasts for 60 days, but the amount of time each lender will need to ensure they are fully prepared for the mandate will vary,” said Adrienne Ainbinder, Veros vice president of sales and marketing in an interview with HousingWire. “This may vary based on whether the lender wishes to directly integrate with the portal, use the web-based portal, or deliver appraisals through a combination of those approaches.”
Veros has been helping with the integration of this system by creating technologies a lender or vendor can use to manage appraisal delivery in a single connection.
“Veros' proprietary technology has been assisting lenders and technology vendors integrate with EAD through tools like our system-to-system integration, PATHWAY, or our web-based appraisal ordering and management system, Sapphire,” Ainbinder said.
Although it may mean more steps at first, the portal is part of an ongoing effort to make it easier to do business with the FHA, according to a release from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Federal Housing Administration’s new web-based portal will enable the electronic transmission of appraisal data and reports to FHA from FHA mortgagees and third-party servicers prior to the loan endorsement.
This portal will enable lenders to easily upload, submit and view appraisal data electronically, according to the release. It will use an industry-consistent Uniform Appraisal Dataset with FHA specific additions. The portal will also link mortgage data to appraisal data, based on the FHA case number.
Once submitted into the web-based system, the EAD appraisals will become the appraisal of record for FHA endorsements. In addition, an FHA Appraisal Data Repository will store the collected appraisal data and PDF versions of the appraisal reports in order to provide data and allow FHA staff members to see the report.
Because of integration between the EAD portal and FHA’s endorsement platform, FHA will be able to validate that a lender has submitted a loan’s appraisal data before FHA endorsement.
The FHA's phased implementation approach allows for training opportunities, testing and adequate time for mortgagees to implement the new system.