Tagged: Appraisal Management Company

Speed Regardless of Accuracy Under the Banner of Modernization 14

Speed Regardless of Accuracy Under the Banner of Modernization

Appraisers, something – comparing and contrasting – dawned on me last week, after reading another news release titled “Dean Kelker: Appraisal Modernization is Starting to Gain Momentum“, which is basically pushing an “Enterprise” singular ‘agenda’ of valuation speed regardless of accuracy. Under the banner of “modernization.” VA does not demand appraisers complete assigned appraisal assignments extraordinarily quickly. They give appraisers 7 – 10 days (depending on location) to submit the report after assignment. VA expects good quality and accurate information. FHA/USDA/ONAP also expects appraisal accuracy using an inspection protocol that many appraisers object to, and some choose not to do...

Opportunity to Work for Free is Not a Plan 73

‘Opportunity’ to Work for Free is Not a Plan

I gave this ‘opportunity’ further critical analysis in terms of time spent versus the fee income potential.  Appraisers, I’d like to disclose a personal ‘opportunity’ that was presented to me last fall, early winter. A company with AMC roots was, or is, recruiting people to become “property inspectors” with the resulting reports potentially fed to other appraisers who do HYBRID, or maybe even DESKTOP reports. The GSEs never intended the DESKTOP report to incorporate separate ‘property inspections’ from a hired third party, but that’s been the evolution because they just look the other way. Last fall, due to the slowdown...

Staff Reductions at AMCs 24

Staff Reductions at AMCs

Making massive staff reductions in the appraisal management department, including the Chief Appraiser and the Administrative Manager, who both are licensed appraisers. Appraisers, it’s not ‘just us’ who have taken the slowdown in lending “in the shorts.” I have confirmed changes at THREE different AMCs: CoreLogic is laying off all W-2 ‘staff’ appraisers, and most of the staff administering those folks. Corelogic may continue placing assignments with 1099 vendor appraisers. My suspicion is that many of the W-2 appraisers will continue to work with Corelogic as 1099 vendors, especially in the urban areas. Clear Capital is making massive staff reductions...

"Valuable" Advice From an AMC - Valuation Connect 57

“Valuable” Advice From an AMC

The person who espouses this super valuable ‘advice’ does not have an appraiser’s license… Appraisers, if you think I’m serious about the message subject line, please reconsider! It’s time to actually call out an AMC who’s encouraging appraisers to ‘lower their fee’: Valuation Connect This outfit sent out a ‘newsletter’ to appraisers, part of which says this: “My advice would be to make adjustments based on the market. Some examples in a slow market would be adding a new county or zip code to your coverage area, lowering your fee for a product, or adding a new product to your...

FastApp AMC Alleged Violations of Appraiser Independence Requirements 52

Fastapp AMC Alleged Violations of AIR

The following court documents in the case Naftali Horowitz v. [xxx], Fastapp AMC founder v. Fastapp AMC president, confirm what appraisers have been saying all along, that if you want high-volume AMC work, you have to lower your fees to 1980’s level, have 24 hour turn times, and, above all, be a number hitter. Horowitz, Fastapp founder, filed a lawsuit in New York court on January 31, 2022 against defendant to, among other things, remove the defendant as an officer and director of the Company because, when he brought her on as shareholder in 2020, he claimed that she made...

Vote With Your Wallet. We Can’t Boycott the AMC Industry Twice 17

Vote With Your Wallet. We Can’t Boycott the AMC Industry Twice

Vote with your wallet. Vote with your feet. Vote with your time. Vote with your patronage. Vote with your clicks. Sorry to inform those who are seeking someone else to bail them out of this continued blatant abuse of power and ongoing racketeering enterprise known as Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs). We can’t boycott the AMC industry twice. It’s your turn now. And that’s the rub, it’s our industry, not some other groups industry. Without appraisers, there is no valuation services industry. The appraisal management groups presence is irrelevant unless appraisers choose to make the AMCs relevant with patronage. Each appraisers...

AMCs Constant Bid Request... It's Theft of Services! 30

It’s Theft of Services!

It’s theft of services to constantly think it’s okay to drain appraisers time and resources as if we’re advocates of the AMC; all our time and energy constantly available to AMCs so they can shop us to infinity on a per diem assignment pattern forever to increase their own profits. They condition appraisers to become advocates of the AMC or you don’t get anything. That’s not how an ethical appraiser should operate. If they returned cost savings to consumers instead of using that as a financial incentive to select the lowest priced appraiser, it would be different. But as we...

Bias & Discrimination in Reports 11

Bias and Discrimination in Reports, Yes or No?

Appraisers, should we include discussion of B&D in our reports? Wait, What?? Bondage and Discipline? No, not that. Bias and Discrimination. Yes, it must be addressed very clearly. Now, before you blow a cork or throw your mouse at the computer screen, let’s examine what’s really been impacting ‘us’ for the past 4 plus years. One of our peers, who’s become somewhat famous for the way articles are written about appraisal and other topics, had a recent article ‘rebroadcasted’ in AppraisersBlogs, FTX Bought Government’s Silence; Did Fintechs Buy Attacks on Appraisers? A statement in that article exposes some of what has...

Average AMC Appraisal Fee 2021 vs 2022 134

Average AMC Appraisal Fee to the Appraiser

Average AMC appraisal fee to the appraiser: AMCs are taking far more of the borrower-paid fee this year than they did last year.  Appraisers, I recently sent out a message asking appraisers to send me three data points comparing borrower-paid appraisal cost, and average AMC paid assignment fees in October, November 2021 and the same months in 2022 – for SFR assignments. My intent was to provide actual useful AMC-paid fee data compared to what the borrower pays for ‘the appraisal’, without revealing specific fees in any particular location. Replies to that message were much less than I expected, and only...

Hit Pieces & Diatribes Against Appraisers Based on Census Tracts 15

Diatribes Against Appraisers

What’s even more frustrating to me is none of the well-known appraiser organizations have offered any public rebuttal to any of these hit pieces, or explained how the appraisal process works as a way to defend appraisers… Census Tract data delineating RACE of the population is the only ammunition the people doing these hit pieces can use to attack appraisers. Appraisers, this is a long article but it’s important, as it reveals how you are being discredited in the work you do. Yet, ‘we’ must begin doing some introspection of what we are or have been doing, and make necessary...

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