When I took over the supervision of those properties, I soon developed a tracking system, so I knew where every invoice was in the process,and eventually the roadblock of the Controller’s slush fund was exposed. When confronted, he said” well your properties are the only ones that cash flow, so I have to take from them!!” Then he said, “well, you want to get paid, don’t you?” I said, not like this I don’t. I will never forget sobbing for an hour and a half in the ladies bathroom at John Wayne Airport. I simply couldn’t believe that my team and I had been lied to, for months on end, and I knew I couldn’t go into a meeting with clients, especially the Pritzgers of Chicago and lie to them about how their properties were doing! I went straight to the managing partners in Northern California on my return home, and they were incredulous! At first could not believe it! We are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars btw. They immediately had a “come to Jesus” discussion with the skank partner Geoffrey Stack and his lewd sidekick Lyle Lansdell; one partner in So. CA resigned in disgust, and the abuse became less flagrant.

Eventually they “crammed down” the vendors for pennies on the dollars, and their wives continued with the country clubs, Maseratis and other fame whore accoutrements. but don’t forget, “THE CHECKS WERE MAILED”. And the bookkeeper might even believe it, or want to believe it, or rationalize her lying—but no one should mistake my low key, understated reaction to their attempts to make a living off of my back for weakness. There is definitely a special place in Hell for people who not only cheat other people, but LIE about it.

MAF as Mark noted, there is an appraiser Guild (union) that is very active in fighting against abuses of appraisers. We have helped over 200 appraisers (maybe closer to 300 now since I haven’t updated my stats in awhile) defend themselves against wrongful accusations at the state levels; to get removed from do not use lists, collect back payments overdue, have influenced state and federal legislation, routinely communicate with federal agencies including the ASC in relation to appraiser issues and attempt to rally appraisers for special issues as they arise.

We also provide free appraisal review for members to assist them in early risk identification.

The annual fee is $365 I believe. Contact Janbellas@appraisersguild.org for more information or to join. Our website is http://www.appraisersguild.org

I agree. It’s a convenient fable to justify a seemingly unselfish but none the less purely self-serving business decision of the AMC. The only way checks are not getting cashed is if they mail them to the wrong addresses OR have written so many bad checks in the past that appraisers won’t absorb the bank charges anymore. The latter would be accompanied by a demand for certified funds though.

My PRIMARY objection to ACH is the ability to the AMC to ‘chargeback’ or claw back the payment at a later date. It’s just another way to hold our fees hostage to compliance with what are often impermissible demands.

For me its that piece of paper that comes in the mail 2-7 days late for my bills or for VA payment after several collection attempts and added late fees.

I understand Chase. But lost in your opinion, and with the companies we work with, is that it should be up to the independent business owners to set THEIR payment requirements / preferences, and not with the clients we work with.

Next time you go get gas for your car, do they give you an option to pay with cash for a discount? Maybe, maybe not, but in general they can set their own payment policies. Prior to HVCC (2009), most appraisers collected in advance of the physical inspection, or at the door, otherwise the work would not be started.

This is a new problem (2009), that the powers that be have created.

Seek the truth.

I’m not defending this particular company’s practices.

But in general, the rest of the world is way ahead than us with payment tech. There’s no reason appraisers can’t get paid with a transfer to their bank account immediately after report completion. A physical check is another excuse (and the expensive of printing and shipping the check, time to go in and deposit) to delay payment.

We have one and I’m the president of it. It’s called the American Guild of Appraisers. We aren’t your normal union as we are a guild with Union backing from the OPEIU AND AFL/CIO. I’d love to discuss with you more about what we do and what we are looking to do in the future. Right now we help our members with a variety of issues and have a great success rate of positive returns. Reach out to me at MarkSkap.aga@gmail.com.

1.50 to mail a check is an issue? What do they do to earn the other $148.50 times thousands of appraisals? Phone calls and emails repetitively

20 years in this business which is half of my life. I am a nobody but I want a change Do You??????

How do 80,000 nobody’s make a change? How many appraisers do you Know? How many do they Know. It really seems to me that 80,000 abused and used appraisers could join together and stand up. If everyone here stopped chatting and started contacting/recruiting 3 appraisers a day to stand together and they did the same in 3 months with 40% of the 80k it is done we have a union.

I will help will you?
MAF

First and foremost Chase, appraisers should be looked at for what most are which is independent, licensed business free to establish their own policies including how we wish to get paid. Instead, and without true independence (certainly since HVCC / 2009), we are constantly forced to react to others instead of others reacting to us.

Can’t wait to go to my favorite hole in the wall deli today for lunch, but I’d better take cash because that’s all they take.

Seek the truth.

no one is arguing that point. What the issue is is the way they are going about it. Be transparent. Don’t say it’s because we appraisers aren’t cashing their checks.

So many to choose, which one to select…. Good times.

We use Dairy Queen, Disclose & Qualify…..again for CYA. Took a really good USPAP update (not an oxymoron I promise), we added a few points in our limiting conditions and assumptions because of it.

My bank sent me a policy change notice on ACH just last week. ACH charge per transaction increased I think to $1.50 from $1.25, and limit for free transactions before the individual charge occurred, reduced from 150 to 125.

It was geared towards individuals, not companies. Probably volume companies get a better deal. They do save money because these days, cutting checks is yet another outsourced activity, specialized security print paper and all of that.

Still though, I want a paper mailed bill, and a paper mailed check. Because that’s what works best for me. It’s too easy to miss the email notice, too easy to forget to print that, and then on top of it, money is not always available in the same time frame and same manner as simply depositing the check. I like to hold them off for weeks, sometimes months, then cash them all at once in good times.

My first year in business for myself I accumulated $10,000 of outstanding unpaid billings, 1972. I essentially shut down appraising and busied myself collecting, Gained valuable experience in a different BUT essential aspect of business. Maybe that experience is unteachable, it’s just essential

Nobody to date has actually done a real analysis on how much funds the amc’s have siphoned from the appraisers pockets. It must be substantial, with so many of them bragging about record setting business growth, and free lunches. I want record setting growth.

FNMA CU supposedly has all that data, through the integrated vendor and title fees consolidated accounting as individual loans are finalized, bundled, and sold.

Serious request: FOIA for CU data. And there are so many possibilities, why list them all. Actual figures of appraisers that refuse amc work. Actual yearly amc billable disparity compared to appraisers fees. Proportion of repurchase actions tied to amc’s vs those which did not have an amc involved. Sky is the limit on CU system FOIA. (Freedom Of Information Act requests). I’m not going to do it but really, anyone here could if they wanted to read up and make a serious request. Search FOIA and the agency you want records from on a search engine, see what you get.

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R42080.html