Zaio Applauds Landmark Agreement
Likely to Have a Dramatic Impact on the Lending Industry
Scottsdale, AZ, March 3, 2008 – Zaio Corporation (TSX-V: ZAO) announced today its support of a landmark agreement that is likely to have a dramatic and positive impact on the mortgage lending industry.
Thomas Inserra, Zaio CEO, stated: “As a leading advocate for restoring the independence of appraisers, Zaio applauds this agreement which will help realign the way lenders engage appraisers. We congratulate the Attorney General of New York for initiating this historic policy shift involving, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO).”
The details of the Agreement announced by those agencies today appears to contain new proposed banking policies scheduled to take effect 01/01/2009, including:
- Prohibits “…any act or practice that impairs or attempts to impair an appraiser’s independence, objectivity, or impartiality” and identifies at least 9 prohibited actions;
- Prevents the ordering of appraisals by third parties like mortgage brokers and realtors unless obtained either directly by the lender or third party management companies;
- Prohibits lenders from using internal staff appraisers, and appears to require lenders and title insurance companies to divest their appraisal subsidiaries;
- Lenders must certify, warrant and represent the appraisal report was prepared in a manner consistent with a new Code of Conduct known as the “Home Value Protection Program”.
Zaio is believed to be among the very few corporations not having affiliated business relationships with lenders or title insurance companies and is thus already in compliance with the new policies. The Company has recently built an “Appraisal Knowledge Warehouse™” database containing 140 million property records, and Zaio affiliated appraisers are now photographing, inspecting and appraising homes across America. Zaio’s independence, technology and database are starting to be viewed in the market as competitive strengths.
James Kirchmeyer, Chief Marketing Officer, said: “We believe the best way for lenders to ensure appraiser independence and comply with these new policies is to rely upon and leverage Zaio’s independence, appraiser expertise, and proprietary technology solutions that, to our knowledge, are not available from any other service provider.”
Details of the new policies and Agreement are contained on the Zaio website www.zaio.com under the investor section.
About Zaio
Zaio is a technology and database company. Zaio maintains a secure database of 140 million properties known as the national “Appraisal Knowledge Warehouse™” and is now site verifying and correcting property data, photos and appraisals of virtually every property in America. Zaio's network of local appraiser experts photograph, inspect, and appraise entire cities, one building at a time using a proprietary "GeoScore™" rating system. Zaio is ranked among the top 50 best performing companies of more than 2,000 corporations on the TSX-V Exchange, and trades under the symbol "ZAO". Additional information is available under the symbol "ZAOFF".
For more company information, visit www.zaio.com or please contact:
Thomas Inserra, CEO
(480) 575-5111 ceo@zaio.com
Rodney Mitton, CFO
(403) 830-9386 rmitton@zaio.com
Don Kelly, Chief Communications Officer
(202) 302-3870 dkelly@zaio.com
For investors who would like to be added to Zaio’s investor distribution list please contact Chris Gustafson at cgus@christensenir.com.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. This press release contains forward-looking statements which may include financial and business prospects, as well as statements regarding the Company’s future plans, objectives or economic performance and financial outlooks. Such statements are subject to risk factors associated with the real estate industry, and the overall economy in both Canada and the United States. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in this press release are reasonable, but actual results may be affected by a variety of variables and may be materially different from the results or events predicted in the forward-looking statements. Readers are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
In evaluating forward-looking statements readers should consider the risk factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not intend nor does it undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent information, events, results or circumstances or otherwise. |