According to Peter G. Miller's 9/6/2011 HSH Blog article, "New appraisal standards to impact mortgage rates", the answer is YES!

Mr. Miller says, "They may allow us to unearth faked, falsified and incompetent appraisals and thus prevent loan fraud, illegal flipping and bad mortgage investing. And such improvements in the valuation process might actually lead to lower mortgage rates by removing excess risk from the marketplace."

He feels that illegal flipping and "faked appraisals" were key factors in the mortage meltdown and that, "Tighter appraisal standards [will] make it easier to catch cheats and, also, to drive bad appraisers and lenders out of business."

He concludes that "the new appraisal standards will allow lenders and government officials to quickly review past appraisals to see if they conform to national standards. If yes, fine. If not, lenders are likely to provide less business (or no business) to the appraiser with the bad rep."

Fewer cheats ------> Reduced lender risk  -----> Lower mortage rates?

What do YOU think? 

• Do you think that appraisers and flipping were the cause of the mess that we're in? 
• Will the UAD actually prevent bad mortgage investing? 
• Will improvements in the valuation process really lower mortgage rate?  

Source:  http://www.blog.hsh.com - article   [Thanks to Bill Cobb for posting this article to his FB page Real Estate Appraiser Tips]