Appraisal Nation’s Payment Issues Again!

Baggins says:

Yeah Diana, but the thing is, the most important point; Lenders immediately drop amc’s if they can’t get order fulfillment through them, but can readily get that same fulfillment from more simple to manage utilities like mercury and scope, etc. So many have done that already, and continue to do so with each appraiser whom simply says no to the amc model.

Lenders just use the amc’s, because it saves them that one or two employment positions they would otherwise have to pay for to run a panel. It’s remarkable because a lender can pay a small group of people a professional wage to accomplish what takes an amc an entire squad of underqualified telecom workers to accomplish.

Each appraiser that finally acquires a clue and sees how this really works, and subsequently drops out of the amc game and drops off of the amc’s lists, is another step forward, a return to sanity and lender direct. I simply marketed down the list of hundreds of lenders and had more direct assignments than I could shake a stick at. I had to turn it down and pick only one or two of them and I’ve been rolling full fee ever since. I think it’s been 4 or 5 years now, and sanity as returned to my little one man office. No more fee quotes, no more bidding emails, no more unnecessary phone calls, and no more funny payment numbers and I’m back to fees which jump by the 50’s and 100’s. Rotational assignment and you don’t get undercut. And with lender direct assignment I typically work with better qualified people so the stips and illogical revision requests are so far down, I hardly ever deal with kickback anymore. Except when I make an actual mistake, and I’m glad the lender has people there whom know what they are doing that I can readily access and rely on. You can know right off if the lender is worth your time or not. Either they hire an actual appraiser with an actual current and valid appraiser license to manage their internal panel and day to day distribution operations, or they do not. There is no middle ground, it’s a black or white issue. The specific reason amc’s refuse to hire appraisers for those positions is they want to sidestep the accountability which comes with working with licensed professionals. Many lenders do that too, hiring people without licenses to be in charge of their appraisal departments, so it’s not super easy, but escaping amc’s is not all that hard either. And that’s why the companies whom got away from amc’s and hired licensed appraiser managers are doing better than their counter parts in terms of better origination fulfillment, higher closing stats, etc. Support the good guys.

Amc’s don’t rake appraisers over the coals. The appraisers do that to themselves by accepting the engagement. It’s a client quality issue, there are all types out there. Amc’s are not even the worst. Try the 50 year rent to own easyknock thing. It can get a lot worse. Or it can get a lot better. It’s each appraisers own decision whom they work with and how they engage in solicitation. It felt good to email the mortgage managers directly and simply tell the, oh, that’s too bad, well keep my number and ring me when you get away from amc’s. Stats point to only 1 in 4 actively licensed appraisers being willing to accept amc work. Their grand claims of coverage are severely overstated. Cheers.

Image attached, fyi. This group started out selling amc lists for fifty dollars a pop. They marketed for amc’s before they actually became an amc. I dealt with 10 years of harassment from this company even though I refused to bid or quote or accept orders. Only after I repeatedly threatened to file state complaints against them if they kept contacting me, did they finally 10 years later take me off their lists. I think appraisers whom like telemarketers are naturally drawn to amc’s, they’re remarkably similar business models. “Keep calling boys, eventually you’ll land that sale.” With amc’s, the appraiser is the customer. The appraiser funds the entire show. No order placement, no sale.

Baggins says:

Genius Mr Ford, the voice of reason. Isn’t there some sort of legal mechanism that appraisers could utilize to audit their books and know more? When other companies say things like this, they get immediately audited by their creditors. The appraisers whom are owed money are their creditors in this instance. And who knows what else they might find.

This would not be happening if there were appropriately separated fees and the lenders forced the amc’s to bill separately for their services. But lenders would never do that because what it boils down to, is the lender is not willing to pay for amc services, but rather has offloaded their appraisal panel management and distribution costs to the appraiser themselves, via mandated third party amc integration. Appraisers continue to give raises to their oppressors.

Stockholm Syndrome, now with a side case of hypochondria. Sounds more exhausting than nihilism, I’ll pass.