NC Proposed Law RE R&C Appraisal Fees
North Carolina Proposed Law Would Address Reasonable and Customary Appraisal Fees
North Carolina’s House Bill 577, introduced April 2, 2015, would seek to address reasonable and customary appraisal fees. Some of the proposals in the Bill would:
- Require the NC Appraisal Board to publish a “schedule of customary and reasonable rates of compensation for appraisals based on the market area where the real property is situated.”
- Establish rates by fee studies that would exclude assignments ordered by known appraisal management companies.
- Require rates to be “measured by the net compensation amount received by the appraiser.”
- Allow for payments above the scheduled rates for complex assignments.
- Only apply to one to four family residential properties.
- Require AMCs to provide to the Board, at renewal time, details on the AMCs number of appraisals and net compensation data.
Rep. John Szoka of Cumberland County and Rep. David R. Lewis of Harnett County are the primary sponsors of the Bill. Rep. Jason Saine of Lincoln County is a co-sponsor. The Bill has been referred to the House Committee on Banking. If it receives a favorable report there, it is currently scheduled to go to the House Finance Committee.
NOTE: Mel Black discusses House Bill 577 as well as other current and relevant appraisal matters in his appraisal continuing education courses. Please visit www.brightpathedu.com for a full list of scheduled courses.
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GA Has a law awaiting the Governors signature as we speak on C&R.
not enough and incorrect as usual.
1. there also needs to be a R&C fee review done at least on a semi-annual basis to look at and adjust fees as necessary for increases in costs like inflation, insurance, gas, etc.. that way we arent making the same fees 10 years from now like we are now.
2. HOWEVER, i still think we should be making our own decisions about our own fees based on the time involved, complexity of the assignment and our costs, just like any other free-market business. if costs go up for a local McDonalds, are they free to raise their own prices accordingly, or does the govt tell them when and if they can raise their prices? i think we all know the answer to that.
the bleeding continues . . . . .
If they are going to go this far (as described in the article) they should go one step further and set the minimum acceptable fee that can be paid to appraisers. That way they make it illegal for the cheese grinders to do cut rate work and undercut everyone else. Talk about mass migration of appraisers to North Carolina…if they when that far with it.
I agree with making our own fees. That’s what we do now but yet you have appraisers doing work for $200-$250 and these AMC’s are making out. I charge 350 in my area. I raise it based upon complexity and then the AMC says No and another appraiser does it at 350 when it should have been done at 450-500. They broadcast the orders at these low fees. So maybe this helps establish a bottom line figure say 350 that they have to pay and you can charge whatever more you need based upon complexity.
Nope. You deserve better than that. Market more, and demand more. Stick with it, things will turn around. I only take pre lists for $350, everything else is $400+. CO lenders are getting desperate and many of them have officially moved to $450 base standard and some went to $500 base standard for all sales. They force the amc to pay that as well. Many a lender in CO recently dropped amc’s because in times of high demand volume, amc’s hurt efficiency and absolutely fail to deliver as promised. And those amc’s know they’re underpaying you, even though borrower charges are mostly likely more constant than not. Go high fee or bust. It does not hurt that much to fail and then pick yourself back up and try again. Keep doing it until you find clients whom respect you and will pay you fairly. The days of $350 orders, with inflation and cost of living increases, spell out a $750 fee today. Even at $500, it’s still not enough. Fight for high fees now or forever hold your peace. Market direct every week, and never stop until you have no more time for marketing. It works.
I’m glad to see it if it directly helps or not. At least I casts light on the issue. We really should turn down low ball fees, in the end they can only #$%&* us if we let them. I hope this will spread nation wide and soon Illinois will put something similar in place. What the lenders and AMCs have done to the Appraisers over recent years is just wrong.
Pointless at this stage in the game. Amc’s demand much more than lender direct or wholesale direct distribution avenues. Amc’s get charged more than lender direct, because they’re more difficult and more risky to work with. Their methods are simple; acquire clients, acquire appraisers, acquire more staff, run them all through the same inadequate training program, and then get more clients and expand the business. It’s fast food servicing, at unreasonable prices. The amc’s are crushing under their own weight because they do not have enough staff with proper expertise. My standard fee for most amc’s just jumped upward significantly over lender direct. Life is too short to work with companies who’s employees are trained to find something wrong with appraisers, and are trained to not trust their own service professionals they choose to work with. These are not good companies to work with. My lender direct clients are mystified how the order they could not place at their preferred fair terms, can get placed by amc’s for less and faster with equivalent appraiser vendors. They don’t understand how the amc behaves like a fierce lender advocate, whom erodes appraiser independence and applies incredible pressure to appraisers. Life is to short to work with people that do not trust you. Cstmry & Rsnble is dead, and nothing short of forced separation of amc and appraiser fees will solve the problem of ‘what an amc deserves to be paid’. Amc’s would have appraisers survive on efficient process and volume. If the shoe fits, the amc can wear it first. Cost + for amc’s. My variable cost + their fee. Distinctly different services should have seperated fees. All this cstmry n rsnble stuff was just a smoke screen and illusion to keep appraisers away from the true issue, which is inappropriate bundling of amc and appraiser fees. c7r is solved immediately if the fees are debundled. Amc’s would certainly not work that hard and waste that many hours of appraisers time in fee quoting, to save someone else a dollar. The appraiser does all the hard work, the amc’s are just paperwork clerks. Would not be surprising if there are now more amc bureaucrats and clerks, than there are actual appraisers. One feels bad for appraisers who are still unable to assert independence, and escape these overbearing big box amc’s. But those appraisers choose to work with amc’s, and choose to promote the amc model. The government cannot save appraisers from their own poor decision making process when it comes to accepting client relationships and appraisal work orders.