My belief is that the confidentiality requirement covers it but that is merely MY interpretation. To me the mere fact that a borrower is refinancing a property, going through a divorce or any other intended use is their personal business. Those that disagree will parse their use of such services in the best possible light but in the end, the borrowers personal business is no longer being kept confidential or ‘personal’ when such services are used.

Supportive data tidbit; 326474000 estimated 2017 US populace / 73500 appraisers = .000225%.

And we’re to blame for every financial crisis to do with mortgage origination!  It’s tough to find current total MLO figures, or perhaps I don’t know where to look, but I found a relatively recent figure.

‘At the end of the first quarter of 2013, more than 10,500 federally chartered or insured depositories were active in mortgage originations, with more than 394,000 MLOs registered.‘

On average, there are 7 appraisers available per federally chartered insured depository. On average there are .186 appraisers available for each 1 loan officers. Basically loan officers outnumber appraisers over 5 to 1.

Don’t let the amc’s or mlo’s sell you short, it’s written plain as day on every wall.  Appraisers are vital to checks and balances systems.  Service shuttlers (amc’s) and mlo’s are a dime a dozen.  I tried to also find total amc employee figures nationally but could not locate any.  I’m convinced there will be more amc employees than actual appraisers soon, if that’s not a fact already.

RA/David, you know that’s untrue. There is a huge difference between being spineless and being caught in the Catch 22 of our legal system.

WHO would we sue? Obviously FNMA since they have best documented their own data theft up through 2014 for CU (and presumably ongoing), but who else? FHLMC?. Please explain where the court of jurisdiction would be? Would we have fifty different lawsuits with fifty different states rules? Or, would we have one giant class action federal lawsuit where FNMA would argue that the feds have no jurisdiction because they lack federal regulations that prohibit stealing our un copyrighted and unlabeled intellectual property?

How about on the basis that CU requires some form of “human intervention” to determine if the use of it’s additional data would result in a different result? SOUNDS like a review to me but lately states seem to be taking a different approach than they did 10 or 20 years ago on services called something else…even if they function as an appraisal or review.

Don’t misunderstand me. I absolutely WANT that type of lawsuit; but I keep hearing negative responses to inquiries about how feasible it would be. Why hasn’t CFPB engaged in such a suit? Yes, it is theft of product from us directly, but it is also charging the consumer for one thing (an appraisal), and then using the results of that appraisal for something else altogether.

Of COURSE CoreLogic and others would file briefs as interested parties. Heck they might even counter sue saying that OUR use of THEIR data paid for through public record subscriptions and MLS dues was an unauthorized use (admittedly that would be weak).

I think we’d still have a case from issues arising from our professional opinions…but the obvious counters would be factual data such as room counts; GLA, amenities and yes, even ‘market derived adjustments’ are all public domain. We’d counter that the measurement of those market derived adjustments is proprietary but Im not sure how far that would get us.

Anyone know any federally qualified attorneys willing to take this in or even an anti trust lawsuit (against banks, mortgage bankers, brokers and AMCs that bind us to a fee based on TRID)?

Seriously. 73,500 of us left. Surely we must have someone that knows decision makers in a deep pockets lawfirm?

California already does that. It’s the only way they can keep

the department running. FINES and big ones.

As license revenues decline expect citations; fines and revocations to increase. Cash strapped states have found a (short sighted) way to replace lost license revenue.

The non USPAP compliant ‘reviews’ sidestep meeting any known appraisal standards of performance by calling themselves investigative analyses or credibility analyses “similar to those used by AMCs all the time.”

Apparently walking, quacking and looking like a duck is no longer evidence something really is a duck anymore

GWS Send me your email address and I’ll give you a list of Congressional contacts on both sides of the aisle for you to contact. These are real contacts-not generic website emails only able to be received if you are in the right zip code district for members.

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.

Hey GWS….for one I am not giving up without trying. I have tried over and over for years and years. I have butted that stump until there is no hair on my head. I came to the simple conclusion that some appraisers feed off of other appraisers. They sell them all type of snake oil, newsletters, expos, coaching, designations…and other foolishness! The sad part is that some of our fellow appraisers will slap you out of the way if you try to tell them how stupid they are being! OK…I say go for it…send your dues, your tuition, your subscription…send your money…send your money…HELL I do not care!

In my market…I have to admit that I cannot do one residential appraisal each day. However if I could at $500 per appraisal and five each week would equal $2,500 per month and that would equal $130,000 each year. Lets say that I am lazy (lol…not me) but only do 50% of that. It would equal $65,000 plus social security. Each of us have a different view from our window. For me…how in the world could I possibly do the highway department work, the county work, the city work, the school district work, water district work, the oil and gas, easement, etc.? There is just too much…may as well go fishing…join me! If you are a qualified appraiser and you are hungry…come join us in Texas. Sam Houston told his folks that they could go to hell as he was going to Texas! LOL May work for you too!

Never be embarrassed of being the last appraiser standing. It’s a noble ambition and someone has to win the title in the end.

There are those with intuition and those who continue to believe they can spit in the wind and defy physics. For the most part however there are appraisers out there who are clueless about the future of appraising.

So, I guess the answer is to give up without even trying.

Sorry, not in my nature. Maybe that kind of thinking is what got

us here in the first place. I do agree that Fannie & Freddie need to be shut

down. I’ll try and work on that for you too.

To GWS….no need to bring a cell phone. No need to call a senator or congressman. They are going to do exactly as they want to do without considering my opinion or yours. I am not happy with that but I accept the fact that they represent themselves and not us! If you are going to contact your senator or representative ask them to close Fannie Mae and Freddic Mac down and never to do it again! LOL

Cross the American border the wrong way on purpose? You might not get back in. Is there a TSA free travel plan available? If I want to go fishing I’ll just walk on to the lake with the old ice pick and short pole. I like the winter. No bugs. The problem with tropical climates is the bugs never die and grow bigger and bigger and bigger.

Jodi, we deserve CE credit for posting here. Tough crowd.

Just checked…round trip from Hobby to Belize in February…5-7 days was quoted at $411.00. By the time you add a few room nights, meals, fishing charter, taxi and whatever else that may interest you the price will run up to $1,000 to $1,200 per person. Do not go if you do not intend to have a hell of a lot of fun!

That guy gets a bad rap. All he’s doing is taking advantage of the advertisements for typist services which occupy every other page of the workingre magazine. Of course I object, but really, there should be a standard that outsourcing typist services is unacceptable practice.

To Retired Appraiser….It will not do any good to throw AMC CEO’s off the boat as the sharks will not bite them! It is just professional courtesy!

To Jodi….Thanks for the tax deduction idea but why spoil a fantastic fishing trip with a bunch of USPAP crap?

To Bill…..Lets leave the parasites at home! This trip is for fun…I promise that I do not want to earn one penney from you and your family/group joining us. This is for fun…not profit. (I am sick of one appraiser feeding off of another)

This trip is just for all of us “pitiful” appraisers. We can go and have fun…bring family, friends, etc. If we do this in February…just think about all of our YANKEE friends that would like to see beautiful blue water instead of snow. Remember that Belize is a world class fishing spot. Mostly catch and release! They have many caves to explore, Kayaking/canoeing, jungle tours, lots of good food!  This is NOT a cheap trip…but it is NOT as expensive as a trip to London or Germany. Expect to spend about $1,000. maybe as much as $1,250. depending on your tastes, per person for airfare, lodging, food, fishing boat with guide, etc. everyone should verify their own price as if you are coming from BFE…may cost more! LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scItMngcQek

Save some cubicle space for the Appraiser Coach Dustin Harris as he will want a booth on the boat so he can sell his mugs, promote company A, B, or C and encourage you to join his all star team so you to can complete 3 to 8 appraisals per day. Do you want to buy a DVD?