The Federal Reserve issued an emergency order waiving all real estate appraisal requirements for banks and credit unions in the hurricane-ravaged areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas for the next three years.
The federal regulators all agreed that the devastation wrought on hundreds of thousands of properties by hurricanes Katrina and Rita have so disrupted the real estate markets in the affected areas that it will be impossible for lenders to comply with regulatory requirements for proper appraisals.
NCUA and the banking regulators decided that the disruption and the inability to perform proper appraisals would otherwise impede lending for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the damaged areas. To qualify for the waiver, the transaction must be on property located in a designated disaster area; the property was directly impacted by one of the two massive storms; there is a binding commitment to fund the transaction that is made within three years after the disaster was declared.
