I thought you were professionally very clear and concise…and on the mark.

The proof of ANY check being sent by a debtor is the canceled check. Otherwise, it is assumed to have either been lost in the mail; misaddressed or simply never sent. Saying I sent check number 123 on February 2018 means NOTHING except that payment has never been received by the creditor.

An HONEST debtor would have immediately said “Obviously it has been lost. Let me cancel it and reissue it today.” An ETHICAL debtor would not permit his creditor to remain unpaid so long beyond any remotely reasonable period. IF it were me, I would not treat such a debtor as being either honest or ethical. Turn them over to collection company agents.

One person fighting a battle has much less chance for success than many. You can do a lot. I don’t mean to discourage you by any means, but could do even more with more people.

Legislators and regulators respond to numbers. Frankly they also don’t care at all about the interests of real estate appraisers.

Read the laws. They are always couched in language describing how what is being done is for the benefit of “The People”, taxpayers or consumers. Any proposals made should show how those interests are benefited by timely payments to professionals.

Insert [taxpayers-voters-consumers-The People] are not being served by professional appraiser fees being held hostage by AMCs. As consumers we pay AMCs in advance. Why are they allowed to collect ‘float’ interest using our money? Additionally how do we know as consumers that our appraisals were not subjected to undue pressure where appraisers simply do as AMCs tell them to do in order to get paid?

Marty I think payment should be required on receipt. AMCs collect their fee right up front just as we used to. The only exception to payment upon receipt I could justify is where they have NOT been paid up front. In such cases 30 day payment is reasonable but cannot also be conditioned on their receipt of payment. If they do not get paid that is their cost of doing business under a bad business model. Most that I know of charge the clients credit card before they ever set the appointment.

PS AGA will send you email in support

Thanks again Chris for the info. What I/we need is signatures/emails as I requested above. If we get 3000 appraisers dedicated to the cause I think we can make some changes.

Marty, they won’t do it….period !  I’ve been through the whole bit and won’t disclose the fine details but let’s just say i didn’t get paid, they pressured for value, and they put me in time out(DNU list) for not doing what they wanted me to do…..all of it was wrong, unethical, and more or less illegal and i pressed every button and filed every complaint…got every possible political personnel and office i could muster involved and it got me nowhere….all i say is….good luck with it and i mean it !

Chris, On the contrary, the state can bring disciplinary actions against AMC’s, and it is the state legislation we want to have changed to reflect AMC’s must pay appraisers within 30 days of first receipt of an invoice, which in turn the commission has to follow and enforce. There are other things we would like to see happen as well Like AMC’s can only use independent fee appraisers unless there aren’t any in the area they are trying to serve. The use of staff appraisers by AMC’s who we all knows many are owned by banks/lenders, is a direct violation of HVCC even though they try to hide it, It is Coercion & Collusion. Congress is going to have to realize that by allowing this continued practices by AMC’s is hurting the consumers.

Getting good responses so far, please keep em coming. If your state enforces less than 30 days on AMC’s to pay that’s great. However we need legislation to at least get it down to 30 in states that are currently longer. Kentucky has mandated that AMC’s must pay in to an appraiser fund I believe that its $2000, with an additional $300. I was told that if an AMC goes belly up owing appraisers, they can get paid through this fund. Sounds like a great idea.

good luck Marty….i too live in MD and filed complaints on 7 AMC’s and been through the whole bit….the DLLR, Hogan, MD commish, and all involved including Simonaire…didn’t do diddly !!! They pass the buck and go right back to their standard rule under Senate Bill 658 that removes them from placing disciplinary action or criminal sanctions against these scumbags….it’s a joke, however i’m optimistic and not pessimistic in your efforts….but do not get let down if nothing happens….been there done that !

“THE COMMISSION MAY NOT BRING DISCIPLINARY ACTION UNDER § 16–702.2 OF THIS TITLE OR RECOMMEND CRIMINAL SANCTIONS UNDER § 16–706 OF THIS TITLE BASED SOLELY ON SUBSECTION (A) OF THIS SECTION.”

GA requires 14 days unless you agree to other terms with an AMC. You should have to wait 30 days after you turned in a report.

I was originally mildly annoyed with my favorite National Membership Coordinator for sending me a link without telling me what it’s about.

This is for a webinar registration that features a cast of characters that alone makes it worth attending or watching.

It’s titled “What’s Going to Happen to Appraisers in 2017”. It’s to be moderated by Jacob Gaffney, editor of Housing Wire.

Usually I’m pretty careful about who I give an opportunity to pollute my mind but this cast of characters includes a truly noteworthy Rogues Gallery. Their bios are interesting.

“Brian Coester, CEO, Coester VMS “For nearly a decade, Coester has immersed himself not only in the appraisal industry but in the mortgage industry as a whole. As a certified appraiser, he has a firm understanding of what is important in a valuation and how it affects the industry.”

Alan Hummel, Chief Appraiser First American Mortgage Solutions (Anyone remember the folks that bought ACI or developed PACE PRO?) Now for the good part:

“Alan is a past national president of the Appraisal Institute and is also a representative member on the Appraisal Subcommittee Advisory Committee (ASCAC).

Zachary Dawson, Director Collateral Strategy & Policy. FannieMae “Responsible for Fannie Mae’s Single Family collateral strategy as a whole, covering both Selling Guide policy and use of collateral technology tools including Collateral Underwriter®. He also oversees the Appraiser Quality Monitoring initiative, collateral analytics & reporting, and other strategic appraisal initiatives”

I’m deliberately leaving the fourth off because I have no knowledge of them other than info that speaker is a reported partner in a multi county Florida appraisal firm owned by MAIs, and that he is a former Florida State Regulator.

Seeing who the featured speakers are helps us to better understand why the state of our profession is what it is today.

AB one name he could probably use without too much concern would be his own…Brian Coester?

I have not completed an appraisal for them for years. However, around December 2010 they owed me for a few appraisals. I tried collecting. I was told- check was in the mail. January- no check, called “check was in the mail.” February I got on AF and posted about it after I called them to see where the check was. The very next day I got a call from them saying the funniest thing happened, the check had been laid on a desk and was under a pile of other things when they thought it had actually been mailed. Darndest thing and they were sorry. The sad thing is, while it represented a lot of money to me at the time, it was only for $1200.

complete and utter scum….call you round the clock asking for the report immediately following the very next morning and then wanting you to rearrange the report to appease their client….all about lender gratification and AMC benefit….i called in every month demanding my money and they paid me 97 days after submission of the report……would not work for them if they were the last appraisal business on earth….why do it ? hoping you might get paid…..they will be another JVI or ES Solutions….they will go under !!!

this asshat lost his license in MD, as you can look him up in the disciplinary action section of the DLLR, and yet he swindled his way back into the spotlight…..totally unacceptable practices and disgusting and yet he uses his money to get out of it all…..no more!!!