A. It is unlawful for a person, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, subsidiary, limited liability company or any other business entity to, directly or indirectly, engage or attempt to engage in business as an appraisal management company, to, directly or indirectly, engage or attempt to perform appraisal management services or to advertise or hold itself out as engaging in or conducting business as an appraisal management company without first obtaining a certificate of registration issued by the board under the provisions of the Appraisal Management Company Registration Act, regardless of the entity's use of the term "appraisal management company", "mortgage technology company" or any other name.

B. A person, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, subsidiary, limited liability company or any other business entity seeking the registration required by Subsection A of this section shall:

(1) register with the appraisal subcommittee or the board and be subject to supervision by the board;

(2) verify that only licensed or certified appraisers are used for federally related transactions;

(3) require that appraisals comply with the uniform standards of professional appraisal practice; and

(4) require that appraisals are conducted independently and free from inappropriate influence and coercion pursuant to the appraisal independence standards established pursuant to the federal Truth in Lending Act.

C. The registration required by Subsection A of this section shall include:

(1) the name of the entity seeking registration;

(2) the business address of the entity seeking registration;

(3) telephone contact information of the entity seeking registration;

(4) if the entity seeking registration is not a corporation that is domiciled in this state, the name and contact information for the company's agent for service of process in this state;

(5) the name, address and contact information for any individual or any corporation, partnership or other business entity that owns ten percent or more of the appraisal management company;

(6) the name, address and contact information for a controlling person;

(7) a certification that the entity seeking registration has a system and process in place to verify that an appraiser is selected and retained for the network or the appraiser panel of the appraisal management company holds a license or certification in good standing in this state pursuant to the Real Estate Appraisers Act [Chapter 61, Article 30 NMSA 1978];

(8) a certification that the entity seeking registration has a system in place to review, on a periodic basis, the work of all independent appraisers that are performing real estate appraisal services for the appraisal management company to ensure that the real estate appraisal services are being conducted in accordance with uniform standards of professional appraisal practice;

(9) a certification that the entity maintains a detailed record of each service request that it receives and of the independent appraiser that performs the real estate appraisal services for the appraisal management company;

(10) an irrevocable consent to service of process;

(11) a bond or other equivalent means of security as required by the Appraisal Management Company Registration Act; and

(12) any other information required by the board.

D. The requirements of Subsection B of this section shall apply to an appraisal management company that is a subsidiary owned and controlled by a financial institution regulated by a federal financial institution regulatory agency.

History: Laws 2009, ch. 214, § 3; 2010, ch. 13, § 2; 2013, ch. 143, § 2.

Cross references. — For the federal Truth in Lending Act, see 15 U.S.C. § 1601 et seq.

The 2013 amendment, effective June 14, 2013, provided registration standards; added Subsection B, in Paragraph (7) of Subsection C, after "to verify that", deleted "a person being added to the" and added "an appraiser is selected and retained for the network or the"; in Paragraph (8) of Subsection C, after "in place to review", added "on a periodic basis" and after "management company", deleted "on a periodic basis"; and added Subsection D.

The 2010 amendment, effective July 1, 2010, added Subsection B(11); and renumbered the succeeding paragraph accordingly.