Comments on: Time to Bring Back Common Sense

By: Baggins

Baggins — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 19:44:40 +0000

Somewhere along the line, the appraisal service became the last stop for borrower cost savings. I tell the lenders and order managers if they or the borrower whom these costs should be passed off to, are worried about the extra one or two hundred I charge compared to your ‘normal appraiser’, they’ve got bigger issues to worry about and maybe should reconsider even getting a loan. I’m absolutely not the last stop for cost savings, even if I am at the end of the line.

By: Mike Ford, AGA, CA AG

Mike Ford, AGA, CA AG — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 16:02:35 +0000

Hamp, great observations!

To address your comments abut professionalism and respect. I can attest from personal experience that Federal Government agencies such as Treasury Dept (IRS/LB&I) treat (and pay) senior appraisers the same or more than attorneys just hired in.

A qualified commercial appraiser with more than 15 years experience can get hired in at the GS 13 level. Attorneys start at both GS 12 and GS 13 levels. With base pay; and 27% COLA location premiums that’s about $93,000 a year with great benefits.

The down side is that the amount of mind numbingly burdensome paperwork is phenomenal!

The federal pay scales convert fairly easily to fee appraisal work in private industry from trainees to experts. They by any measure would have to be deemed “reasonable” rather than ‘customary’. Rather than fighting the losing “customary” fee war, we should be focusing on the reasonable fee side. The minimal fee required to assure ongoing, across the board quality by assuring adequacy of compensation.

I keep hearing a few appraisers saying they don’t want anyone “setting their fees” for them. Apparently they are more content to receive $250 a day rather than $500 to $750 a day.

Setting fees based on equivalent work federal pay scales as MINIMUM fees just makes sense. Federal qualifications analysts have already researched and justified the pay ranges for us!

For those happy about not being treated as professionals, there are always plenty of $250 fees.

By: Retired Appraiser

Retired Appraiser — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 06:45:51 +0000

Hamp I completely agree with you on that point. Becoming an attorney would have been far easier in hindsight and more profitable. One thing is for certain; the legal profession will be protected from leeches (like AMCs) for all of eternity. Think of the money you could make if you specialized in bankruptcy and appraiser clients? You could retire in 5-10 years.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:59:15 +0000

I just saw an advertisement on television for a law firm looking for clients that placed their parents in an old folks home to live out their golden years and weren’t taken care of properly. Might be a good revenue stream for the new career.

By: Phil Gray on Facebook

Phil Gray on Facebook — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 14:22:35 +0000

Bye. More work for me.

By: Josh Johnson on Facebook

Josh Johnson on Facebook — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:10:22 +0000

I’m so tired of appraiser’s complaining about their careers.