Clear Capital sent a letter to inform me that I was being removed from their panel. I guess the reason was that I never accepted any work from them and ignored their emails.?

In a purely limited engagement between appraiser and amc, certainly yes. It’s important for appraisers to be the professional though, as there is always a real person behind the order request, a real customer whom may have everything on the line. Of course we understand this and may level some sarcasm towards the process, but it’s unfortunate that amc management seems to prioritize their own operational needs over that of the consumers as a consistent rule. Appraisers provide services for consumers and lenders. Amc’s are different though, they provide services for lenders, and merely substitute the lenders services for appraisers. As stated in another appraisersblogs article; amc’s are not part of the valuation profession. Do you think lenders realize by this point that when they select amc’s, they literally have excluded half of this nations appraisers?  It’s not on purpose, but of personal choice of the appraisers themselves because they’re not idiots and refuse to be taken advantage of. It’s a lose lose, higher risk, fewer servicers, less reliable remote location oversight, higher financial risk factors, estrangement of previously loyal independent vendors, the list goes on. Some amc’s are great, but not all of them.

Per your argument regarding agency with this other defaulting amc story; Here you go, TAVMA clearly defines that for us on pg 2.

I guess it’s refresher after refresher month. This is TAVMA, and appraisers should know the positions of associated companies whom they may provide services to. A classic scenario of flexible positioning with biased intentions, where the argument is not fixed, but rather cherry picked for what works best in their interests at the specific point in time. “Where is my lobbyist?” Who will help me navigate this system? Kid Rock 2018!

TAVMA RE: Interim Final Regulations Implementing Section 129E of the Truth in Lending Act

Something like “Dear Sir, I miss read your order when I received it. I thought you were offering $2,500 not $250. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered the error. Regrettably I am unable to perform USPAP compliant appraisals at the corrected low fee and have no alternative but to withdraw from the assignment.

Hopefully this will not inconvenience anyone.

Sincerely,

Appraiser

Is it me or is this like an NYC Mafia shake down? Do the Banks in order to sell MBS loans need the AMC or the Appraiser?

Yes, I personally viewed an email a friendly appraiser copied me, ‘potential assignment’ first to bid, something like that.  Broadcasting with Mercury?  Sadly it’s true.  Probably just a coincidence that came on the heels of corelogic acquisition announcement.  E appraise It is running mercury now.  Um, sorry, I meant first american, er…..  wait, that’s corelogic now.  I think that’s right.

A vitally important comment Mike.  Enter phone shopping, fee bidding, spam shotgun requests.  Those ones typically do not come with lender information.  Amc’s have cleverly implemented data protection in this regard, so only appraisers willing to actually work with them, will know which lender originated those requests.  By demanding direct assignment as a primary avenue of distribution, appraisers implement their own checks and balances systems, assuring accountability up the ladder.  Sometimes companies can not place and must bid and shop, that’s o.k., just so long as it’s not the primary first choice for order assignment.

Frankly I’m pretty close to doing the same for ALL residential 1 to 4 unit loan transaction work. They want a shortage? Give it to them! Apparently they will not learn the lessons of the past no matter what we do. Let FNMA collapse…again.

Question for all “Am I bound by ANY degree of confidentiality when an order I do not accept comes in?”

If the answer is no, then anytime some asshat AMC sends an order like Diane received, maybe we should post it in public AND insure the owner gets a copy of it with the inquiry “Did they tell you the appraisal fee was only $250, or did they charge you significantly more?” “My firm declined this fee because we cannot provide competent service for 50% fees.

Who in their right mind would even consider working with Coester?

Some of the more illustrious contact tales lately include; MB’s directing borrowers to scout an appraiser and giving them supposed approval to find the appraiser themselves. Amc’s continuing to solicit despite clear notices to stop over the course of months and months at a time. Larger counts for number of appraisers copied in shotgun requests. A more common position from appraisers they refuse to answer the phone. The use of amc tech departments to force the emails back into the inbox despite the appraisers use of the spam button. Email issues such as legitimate emails not going through due to other appraisers use of spam disposition. Senior amc managers getting on the phones in last ditch efforts to source appraisers. Lenders swapping amc’s on a dime actually believing the next one can source the appraisers. Stories of over 2 month delays before the appraiser is even assigned to the order.  Contacting appraisers randomly nationally shooting for the long shot. Identifying an appraiser undercutting here whom may not have been even licensed in this state. A few companies getting with the program and upping the base standard to 700+ to finally capture dedicated appraisers. Direct assignment clients readily allowing bid ups and auto approval at the peak consumer disclosure figure normally intended for add on services and such. Direct assignment companies needing to also sub end of the line work to amc’s since many appraisers failed to distinguish between a direct client solicitation and an amc solicitation for panel application request. Days and weeks where 50-100+ bids are routinely deleted from email. Need to utilize call blocker to stop aggressive repeat amc callers. Identifying that some companies are selling appraiser contact list, also likely through automated process which ties into auto telecom systems. Continued statements of amc’s taking losses and continued refusal to raise base fees permanently. MB’s playing the emotional card to try and pick up singles for those deals about to fall apart.

You’ll like this one from literally just yesterday, excerpt from the mb direct solicitation; Scenario;  tugging heartstrings, if we can’t source an appraisal our buyer will be homeless. Partial response: Mortgage companies whom work with amc’s have been putting appraisers out of house and home for a decade, so you won’t make any headway with the feelings and homeless buyer argument. – If you want immediate coverage, simply adjust your approach advertise to appraisers you’ve moved to higher permanent base fee direct assignment in house, and you will get appraisers attention. If you’re down to mass emailing for a single order, solutions are necessary.

I had an amc default servicing manager pretty mad at me for refusing to even bid. She said we’ll gladly pay more since your services are at a premium now. Their base fee was still 300. I said that’s insulting and I would be available when the base fee increased but I refuse to even bid for a company whom promotes the 300 standard. Rebuttal was something about cost of living cheaper elsewhere. So she had a self defeating argument. Which is it? Am I temporarily at a premium rate or am I dealing with likely permanently increasing cost of living issues? “I’ll be available when you get that base minimum fee up substantially.” She answered with the typical we have thousands of appraisers on panel whom do accept at those rates. And I went for the kill and struck to the heart; Well, call those guys instead what are you doing on the phone with me? Shame, I would have worked with a default servicer exclusively instead of the origination client if they would have just struck that deal. I would have dropped my premier direct client for that amc whom works with multiple default servicers if they would have just agreed to a fair deal.

“And he piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it.“

That said, I’ve decided not to take work for AMC’s anymore. Their business model is to generate income from the appraisers and impress their clients by offering more services at the appraisers expense!

i believe, based on the current price of silver, that would be approx 10 pieces of silver. the old days, before stealing was legalized, it was 30 pieces of silver. that was a good living.

Not to mention that the agent’s liability was 216,000 times lower than that of the appraiser Bill.

Well, I never was good at math. Probably explaining why I used to settle for anything less. Not anymore bro, not anymore. If they ask me to turn it back, I’ll jump ship like the rest of them. I’m a forward thinker that way, but please do not confuse me with a progressivist. I’m strictly conservative libertarian. Appraising is all about simple formulas, and if you know appraising like I do, you know those formulas are always flexible. As the late and highly esteemed Roger aka; Mentor aka JSmith used to say;  “You need that wiggle room.” That guy gave me so much great information about appraisal process and how to better position myself, it’s remarkable. The first 10 years of an appraisers career is the build up phase. After that, it’s make it or break it, and if you’re positioned right, you can be in the drivers seat. You just have to remember to put yourself there, because nobody else will do that for you.

I probably should have stuck to the brokerage end of the business, I could have retired by now 🙂 and it would have paid for a lot of happiness.

I think your ratio is a little low Baggins. I was offered $300 for a $1,300,000 purchase where the agent was both representing the buyer and seller (got to love those negotiations). His 5% take was $65,000 as compared to the appraisers $300. In that case I guess he was bringing 216X more value to the table than the appraiser.