Bend Over and Ask for More…
GUILTY of not using human brain power of thinking and communicating…
More Please…
How many of you can honestly state with all sincerity the appraiser is better off today with the use of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs)? How many of you can say with all sincerity the consumer is being protected with the use of an AMC? How many of you can, with all sincerity state your business model is how you want it? How many of you are happy with the current environment of the industry?
If you answered yes, congratulations, you have found your peace. You should stop reading now, as you will not like what I am about to say. If you answered no, well, let me be blunt, you not only allowed this to happen, you agreed, bent over and asked for more. Before you get all bent out of shape and start cursing me, let me explain.
The world is changing. We are in a high tech digital world with some pretty amazing tools to help us. But let’s be honest, these are only tools. The human brain is complex and is superior to any computer that is made or will ever be made. The logic is so simple that people lose sight of the fact that a human brain created the computer and the computer programs; therefore the human brain is superior. It really is that simple.
My oldest child is graduating high school in a few weeks and during the college shopping experience with him, a common theme was evident. Every speech by the College President was basically the same thing, “Today’s graduates do not know how to communicate.” Sure they can text and use Instagram, SnapChat and other social media, but they cannot talk to other human beings. Each and every College President stated employers were not finding candidates that could work well in groups and communicate various ideas amongst themselves. In other words, candidates were so reliant on technology, they were severely lacking the skills necessary to use human power… thinking and communicating.
I was reading a post on Facebook by an appraiser that was angry about an order from StreetLinks for $250 that was sent via text message. The poster copied the entire text with verbiage “to accept respond YES to decline respond NO”. The comments, all in some form or fashion said NO. Well this kind of pissed me off that prompted this rant of an article.
WHY ARE YOU ALLOWING ANY AMC TO TEXT YOU AN ORDER?
This is just wrong! Do you text the plumber, electrician, or even the cable guy? Do you text a Doctor for an appointment? No, you pick up the phone and talk with a real live human being. Why are AMCs texting you assignments? The bigger question is why are you allowing it?
I don’t care what state you reside, if you are a licensed appraiser, your license was issued for public trust. Even if you are the only person to receive a text order from an AMC, which we all know is not the case; the AMC has failed to communicate the necessary information to you in order to make an informed decision on the assignment. By accepting the order without proper research of the property, you have failed to use the human power of thinking and communicating. The AMC and you, the appraiser, have failed to protect the public! Rather than post on Facebook to complain to other appraisers, who cannot solve the issue for you, what did you do to resolve the issue? By doing nothing, you allow this practice. You bent over to the AMC. By accepting the order, you asked for more.
YOU BENT OVER AND ASKED FOR MORE!
On another post on Facebook, there was a lengthy conversation about TSI Appraisal and how appraisers were doing significant volume with them and now they get no orders because TSI, like so many other AMCs, now blasts orders through their app. TSI Appraisal is assigning orders based on the quickest response, not the most qualified appraiser who does quality work. How is this protecting the public? Why would any appraiser who is using the most powerful tool in existence, THE HUMAN BRAIN, download an AMC app? That should be the last app anyone has on their phones. It simply is not professional, nor does it promote public trust. Your license is about Public Trust. By downloading an AMC app, you, the appraiser, have violated pubic trust and the basic principle of your licensure.
By allowing this practice, YOU BENT OVER AND ASKED FOR MORE.
Also, on Facebook, a poster posed a survey asking which portal was the easiest to use. The main choices were Mercury Network, Appraisal Port and ANOW. One of the commenter stated and I quote:
“Whatever system Settlement One uses is by far the best ever! I get a text, I accept, I text back the inspection date and its updated. I text the word complete when done with the inspection and again it’s updated. Easy peasy. Wish everyone used it.“
Are you kidding me? A monkey could perform those tasks… Easy Peasy!
SettlementOne is by far one of the most unethical companies that exists! They have a list of disciplinary action in multiple states for unlicensed activity and other violations. Why are you even accepting work from them? I really do not like to negatively speak of other appraisers but, THIS POSTER IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM of not using the human brain. Not only did this poster not use a human brain when deciding on who to work with, they did not use their human brain when allowing the AMC to text, and also did not use a human brain when posting the comment about showing their own ignorance.
The AMC will continue this harmful and unprofessional practice because the poster BENT OVER AND ASKED FOR MORE.
In a recent conversation with a young attorney, I asked what his thoughts were on the use of text messaging in a professional environment. He stated “texting is not professional and I would lose credibility with my peers if I used texting in my profession.” He also mentioned that electronic communication is not secure and it should not be used as most communication is considered confidential. The conversation turned to the appraisal profession and blasting appraisal orders via text or AMC app with the first to respond gets the order. His response was priceless…
“I would not want that person to appraise my home”
Most states with AMC Statutes and Regulations have language about protecting the public. It may be time to turn these AMC‘s in to the licensing boards for not protecting the public. How many examples of abuse of the consumer do you personally have?
The point of this rant is that The AMC cannot exist without appraisers. Stop allowing yourself to be abused by these entities. I would be guilty of not using a human brain if I did not offer ideas for solutions. Here are some. Please add your own to the comments.
- Stop accepting AMC orders without researching the property first.
- Do not accept any text message from any AMC. Block their number. Remove the app from your phone. Report them as spam if you have to. Let the FCC go after them.
- Determine your fee based on your human brain. Do not let the AMC dictate your fee. You don’t tell a plumber you are only going to pay X dollars to fix your leak. The plumber tells you this is my fee. Appraisal Services are no different. Stop letting AMCs control your business.
- Meet with your Federal and State Legislators. Sit down face to face and discuss the issues. Show examples of abuse to the consumer by the AMCs. Offer solutions.
- Find better clients. They are out there.
The time is overdue…..
THE AMCs NEEDS TO BEND OVER AND BEG YOU TO WORK WITH THEM ON YOUR TERMS
On Friday, May 19, 2017 TSI Appraisal sent out a newsletter to appraisers. Why they are treating vendors as employees is a discussion for another day. What they are recommending is shockingly unbelievable. Every appraiser needs to realize how TSI Appraisal is severely lacking in brain power.
In the newsletter, they are recommending staying logged into their app all week long in order to not miss an assignment. Those people at TSI Appraisal need to use some human brain power and think! This is not a safe practice. Cyber crime is everywhere and providing an open invitation to thieves is just irresponsible. It is your data on the phone and your identity. This is nothing more than common sense. TSI Appraisal is GUILTY of not using human brain power of thinking and communicating.
Elsewhere in the Newsletter…
TSI Appraisals wants your client contacts!
If this is not a wake-up call to appraisers, there never will be!
TSI Appraisal is the very same company that believes the cost of the lettuce and tomato on a hamburger is not important to the consumer nor is the cost of an appraisal. TSI Appraisal is also hiring staff appraisers throughout the country. This is not there role and does not protect consumers. AMC staff appraisers contradict the intended purpose of an AMC, an independent third party between the lender and the appraiser. TSI Appraisal is also a member of REVAA, the AMC trade group that is going around the country making false statements to Legislators and bullying everyone in their way.
Please, use your human brain power and make intelligent decisions on who you do work for and how you work! The AMC cannot exist without appraisers. Use your human brain power and take control of not only your future, but the future of the industry.
By John J. Appraiser, Certified Real Estate Appraiser – author requested to remain anonymous
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Whoever you are that wrote this article…. you just became my most favorite person. Well said, well written and bravo to you for using your Human Brain. We need more Human Brains like you.
Oh the irony.. “Bend over and ask for more”? Who’s unprofessional? If you think this language and what it insinuates is professional, we are definitely not in the same profession.
I used to read this blog often and found much of the information insightful. This is the last post I will ever read. Besides allowing your point to be clouded by your own anger, the message is dangerous, and that’s the new trend for this blog.
If you are a responsible entrepreneur, I suggest looking elsewhere for responsible opinions. There are plenty of sites out there with partial and insightful information.
Paul is probably an AMC troll because the email address he provided is invalid. We emailed him earlier today and our email bounced back!
Not an AMC troll. I just don’t want your spam.
And by the way, I agree with a lot of the article and most of the comments. It’s the tone of article that I find to be irresponsible and dangerous. I also find blanket condemnation to be one of the biggest problems facing our society in general. Your blanket condemnation of mobile technology use is downright irresponsible. No way around it.
Paul, we emailed you because we wanted to see if you’d be interested in authoring an article. We wanted to give you a chance to voice your opinion since this blog is for ALL appraisers not just a few. So, we’re not sure why you’d consider an email from us SPAM.
We know that you’ve commented on previous articles and that you have never used the same name the few times you commented. So it’s hard to know if you are indeed an appraiser. Most of your comments are pro-AMC though. You were critical of VaCAP’s AMC petition and thought their letter was not “well crafted”. You also stated that thanks to AMCs appraisers are “better shielded from value pressure” and that “you don’t mind AMCs all that much”.
Anyhow, our offer stands. Let us know if you’d be interested in writing an insightful article. If you don’t agree with John J Appraiser, then you can write a rebuttal article. There is no need to condemn the whole blog and all the articles written by various appraisers because you don’t agree with this one or a few others.
BTW, this article was written by an appraiser who wanted to remain anonymous. We only published it.
Keep ’em honest AB!
To “AppraisersBlogs Team”:
First of all, I maintain that I am no troll. In fact, I am the administrator of an appraisal firm employing about 20 appraisers (not an AMC). Though I am not an appraiser myself, I have been in the industry for a long time, so I believe I do have some insightful opinions.
It is true that I don’t inherently mind the AMC model as it works well for the size of our firm, but I certainly understand the complaints regarding AMCs, and specifically, I absolutely condemn the price gouging and scope creep that most AMCs participate in. It is true that I have a good relationship with what I would consider the few good AMCs, but again, I know they are the minority. I certainly am not going to stick up for the AMC industry as a whole as it’s largely run by appraisal industry outcasts.
Also, though I do have a few AMC clients, I do not think this fact automatically discounts my opinion on the technology push in our industry. Truth is our clients are not using technology of this caliber yet, so I can’t really comment on any specific initiatives. However, I do know that some level of automation is absolutely going to take hold in our industry in the near future. I’m not saying I am a proponent of the trend, but I do think appraisers need to be conscious of this trend and prepare themselves appropriately.
Lastly, I want to thank you for your offer to write an article. This was a very nice offer, and one that I truly appreciate. However, I must respectfully decline. Truthfully, I believe the authors and contributors of this blog are woefully out of touch with the fast-changing appraisal environment, and it is my belief that there are better, more open-minded forums where seeds of change can take root. Any opinion I have expressed here has been met with wild opposition (even insults) purely because I don’t 100% agree with something that was said. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of forum that moves the industry forward.
Again, thank you for the opportunity. It means a lot that you were willing to allow me to express my opinion.
Paul, thank you for your response and taking the time to explain your perspective. We really appreciate your point of view and hope you will continue to offer your insights as that is a contribution in itself. Best debates are always made up of opposing viewpoints. However, insults are never constructive and certainly not helpful.
Paul, in my state if you “employ” 20 appraisers you ARE an AMC – whether licensed or not is another issue. Why would anyone hire an appraisal firm that is not administered by an appraiser-owner?
Reminds me of a former neighbors observation after working on his diesel boat engines all day to no avail “Well I guess that’s what I should have expected when I hired a carpenter to fix my engines.”
Paul, free speech is a god granted inalienable right. You don’t need to thank people for utilizing that right. You should however stop frequenting those other sites you speak so highly of, where censorship is rampant and ongoing. There is nothing more offensive than censorship. Furthermore, stating you’re not a troll, does not give you permission to troll. You’ve said many negative things, and offered no other redirection except to discredit this forum and the hard working professionally licensed people whom participate in it. Well, if people whom you don’t agree with offend you, tough cookies. Go cry a river somewhere else. Your iphone is calling, you’d better answer it and do what it says. You’re just not efficient or fast enough bro, no two ways about it. So tell me Mr authority on the industry, does your firm use unlicensed individuals to complete appraisal inspections? Does your firm violate the spirit of ethics rules and charge a substantially different amount for the same work orders, if sourced from a C&R lender vs a non C&R amc? Objecting to unethical behavior means nothing if all you pay that is lip service.
Idiot
Mr Paul, don’t get ‘triggered’. Your response was just as emotional as the authors approach. Problemo? Y 4 U throw baby out with bathwater? Don’t taze me bro, it wasn’t me.
In a related note, I find it ironic that facebook was mentioned. Never had it, never will. Face crook. My private data is not for sale. My web surfing habits and interests are not for sale. I reject unethical mega corporations, their tools, and the majority of their technical offerings. Tools for control, rats in a maze, infinite problems, very little emphasis on constitutional liberty. Just look at how it attracted this Hoffman guy whom commented below. This is an industry specific blog there Hoffman, deal with it. You’re not a special snowflake and if you’re not contributing industry specific information, please reserve the blogging for only content you can either relate to, have a solid understanding of, or have legitimate reason to communicate about. Some people. I’ve got 2 amazing letters which follow the tone of this article from just today, I may post them here condensed, may submit anonymous article not sure yet. Glued to complex order right now, will update again soon. Ha!
George, George, George….Take a chill pill dude! All John was trying to say is we need to be selective of our clients and in fact, the headline got my attention. The AMC’s are turning a lot of appraisers into appraisal prostitutes. Whoops, did I hurt your feelings!
AMC’s are the puppets that the lenders control. As the appraisal is a zero tolerance item like a $20 credit report (TRID), it starts with the lender from 25 states away blindly quoting a $400 appraisal fee. If you live in Idaho Falls where the average home might be in the $175,000 range, you could make a good living (cost of living), but to quote the same fee in my area of practice ($900,000), is to completely not understand reality.
We can pass laws that in the title state “Consumer Protection”, however lenders are not in the business to protect the consumer when it comes to selecting and paying for an appraisal. Cheaper and faster.
George and Paul, The author is stating the reality of industry. I agree a thousand percent with what he is stating. It is factual, not fiction! The AMC Has been the demise of appraisal quality, appraiser professionism, and appraiser income. Consumers too have been abused by over paying for sub par quality appraisals. Not sure what type of appraising either of you are doing, or even if you are an AMC troll, but wake up and take a good hard look around. We got here because appraisers allowed it. It is time to end the nonsense and the only way it is ever going to happen is when appraisers make the change, Someone recently said to me, lead, follow or get out my way. Words I respect!
Be rid of them already………Use portals like Mercury… They just assign orders and don’t shop appraisers with the lowest fees
Corelogic is 2 days away from ruining Mercury permanently. Corelogic owns that now through what appears to be a hostile take over through stock majority. It’s only a matter of time before you get a corelogic order through corelogic mercury then research through corelogic mls. Corelogic should rebrand itself as conflict of interest, that’s what such a monopolization represents. Everyone should immediately reccomend clients use other suites not related to corelogic, that means no more appraisalscope, no more mercury, and working with someone else. Mercury just took a nosedive and is losing altitude fast. Expect fees to increase and user functionality to be altered in ways that do not help appraisers, immediately after corelogic takes complete control of mercury.
Mike, that was quite a leap to deduce from my comment that I don’t agree with the author. I agree with every word he said. My comment was about his choice of idioms being, in my opinion, crude and unprofessional.
Confession time… There is an employee, or former employee, of RELS who heard this very unprofessional idiom said to them approximately 7 wonderful years ago! Plus I added “and then you want me to thank you and ask for it again.” He was so shocked he made me repeat myself. I did.
It was on that day that I burned the RELS bridge and realized anytime I have become that unprofessional, I need to either get new clients or change my profession. So far the new clients have worked!
My take from the article is pretty basic. We have licensed appraisers who are simply not professional. The ones that try to bid for any blast order; or that continue to accept low ball fees nearly eight years after HVCC.
AMCs will be around until users of appraisals kid themselves to the point where they believe appraisal management services (AMS) like Mercury and others are “just as good” as an AMC and a lot cheaper. Never realizing that as bad as many AMCs are, they still serve a necessary purpose. Not one that couldn’t be done some other way, but rather one that WON’T be done any other way.
The HVCC/AMC fiasco started at the state and federal regulatory agency administrative levels. It was and still is ignored at the Congressional legislative level by those that choose to ignore the lessons that lead to FIRREA 1989 in the first place.
FIRREA was passed 28 years ago. It was good legislation originally. It has been allowed to be chipped away at until it has become largely ineffective legislation by the same special interests that made it necessary to begin with. Our younger members of Congress were still worried about whether they’d have a date for the weekend back then. Most still have no idea what FIRREA was all about.
Too many interests (including regulatory agencies) have developed accommodations with promoters of substandard products; or have long lost sight of what it takes to perform credible appraisals. Heck, most of those agencies no longer have any idea of what constitutes a USPAP violation and what doesn’t. As proof I offer Oregon; Minnesota, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and California. I’m sure there are more.
The next time you receive an AMC order read it to see if it states whether it is intended for use by FNMA or FHLMC. The order will not say either one-though it will have boilerplate saying its a “UAD 1004 Appraisal” (for an SFR).
Unless its a sale there will be no transaction amount indicated so you can determine if it requires a licensed appraiser, or a certified appraiser. No one will have interviewed the owner to determine if there are issues that make it a complex assignment. No one will have forwarded a preliminary title report or other legal description. No one will have provided an approximation of improvement or lot sizes so that some vague idea of complexity or time required can be estimated. Also, because we are ALL presumed to be inherently dishonest; weak willed or incompetent we cannot be given any indication of its owner’s perceived value range to shorten research time or to better understand the appraisal challenges that may exist. We simply can’t be trusted with such confidential opinions or views! .
What we WILL be given is from two to five minutes to accept this “blast order”. For most appraisers, that means violating FNMA Guidelines right off the bat about having (verifying) competency before accepting the assignment. For many it will morph into violating USPAP competency requirements once the order has been accepted because even if it is found to be outside ones comfort and competency level upon inspection, the AMC will give you a negative rating if you try to withdraw once the difficulty becomes known. Some will even threaten black listing or turning you in to a state agency! Seriously. I’ve seen it many times in complaints members send to the Guild.
Those blessed with an adequate supply of non AMC work will never understand that in some parts of the country you either work for AMCs, or you do not appraise. Refusing all AMC work is just not practical for many.
What IS practical is refusing to bid on blast orders or orders where you are not given enough time to research the property first. What is also practical is working to eliminate the onerous policies and practices imposed on our profession by others that either know nothing about it; or simply don’t care whether the product is credible or not.
GSE’s with insured loans, for instance. What could go wrong?
If you weren’t aware, not everyone who reads these blog articles is in the appraisal business. For those of us who aren’t, you may want to be careful about making too many assumptions. For-in-stance, assuming that everyone knows what an “AMC” is. I took the time to read this entire article. As I went along, I kept expecting to see a quick reference to what AMC stood for. I never did ! Oh sure, I could have googled it, but I shouldn’t have to. In the future, perhaps you should? Making assumptions about industry jargon is one of those communication traps that’s been around since the invention of the wheel. It’s a mystery to me why we still fall into it, but we do. 😉
Tom, point taken. In my own defense though it IS an appraiser’s blog so the assumption was not an unreasonable one.
To your point though, as interest in the blog grows so too does our opportunity to educate the public and other related professions and or regulators about our profession. In that context you are absolutely correct. I’ll try to keep that in mind for future comments. Thank you for pointing it out.
PS ‘Appraisal Management Company’ (AMC); aka Beelzebub, Devils Incarnate, Kitty Litter, Professional Parasites, UNprofessional parasites, Pond Scum, Opportunists, Snake Oil Salesman and “ne’er do wells”.
Sometimes crude is necessary to get the attention of the whipped, battered and beaten “managed” appraisers!
Great article John!
Whoever wrote this article wishes to remain anonymous. No wonder. If I wrote all that BS I would want to remain anonymous as well. You are totally out of touch with reality. Just because someone texts an order does not mean you don’t have the ability to research the property before responding. That is not a snapchat text, it doesn’t disappear in 30 seconds. Effective communication is the key to success in this business. Who are you to tell others how to communicate when you don’t even have the guts to put your name on a post. I would guess that the reason you are anonymous is because you don’t what the AMC to see your name and remove you.
RUSS. . So many AMCS broadcast orders that are snatched up within seconds due to appraiser not giving as a shit or using as company to get them the orders. Do plumbers, electricians, lawyers, bakeries, painting companies and more use these companies to get orders? Do they just see an order and just say SCREW IT I’ll accept it no matter what? NO. Even Home Advisor. They send leads and people just don’t bid. They have time to call, talk to the home owner, ask about the issues or scope at hand then they bid. No other industry has this problem. So I agree with what he says even if it was a hard way of putting it that people will be all emotionally hurt over. Everyone is entitled to run their business how they want. Yes. I have clients that send me orders and I’ll look them up and bid or give a fee but they allow me time to and ask for me too. 90% of them don’t give a rats ass. When you have appraisers just hitting the accept button on properties 50-100 miles away that they have no business doing just to make a buck that’s bullshit. How is that a professional? How is that protecting the public trust? While I agree in some aspects I disagree with some of your writing. This industry went from being professional and selling your services to lenders and more to “whoever accepts this the quickest and cheapest wins”. How the hell is that professional? I worked hard as hell to SELL my services pre HVCC AND FRANK DODD. I dressed nice, talked with them, bought them lunch or coffee, showed them my work and my work ethic. Today that doesn’t exist in the appraisal industry. Name me a professional industry where that happens? Where orders just get throw out into the Internet and whoever bids the least no matter where they are gets it. I know when I need professional services I get quotes where upon they LOOK at the issue at hand. They tell me what’s needed. They just don’t click a button to accept it. Not just submit a blind bid. If you are lucky enough to have clients that allow you ample time to look at it and bid before it’s gone that’s awesome. Kudos. But it appears the majority of AMCS don’t allow that.
Russ,
You state ” Effective communication is the key to success in this business.” I completely agree. However, texting is NOT effective communication in any business. I am not out of touch with reality by any stretch of the imagination, I live it every day. Let me ask you Russ, do you enjoy receiving text messages from AMCs at 9 or 10:00 at night? What about 8:00 AM on Sunday morning? These are times in which AMC’s have blasted orders or requested a status updates. If you enjoy a 24 / 7 relationship with AMCs, by all means continue. I for one enjoy time with my family, friends and for myself. Life is just too short.
As far as remaining anonymous, absolutely! Some of the AMCs and their trade group REVAA are simply not nice people. Take a look at what is going on around you.
I have been recommending for many years to simply exclude AMC’s as clients. The AMC’s see and treat the appraisers as vocational tradesmen and appraisals as a commodity. That’s how you fix the problem. Vote with your feet. . It works. Some AMC’s may not even realize their days too are numbered due to automation and technology. The GSE’s will see to that.
You and Fred have one quote in common….a very intelligent quote.
Here is another great quote from old Fred…one that pertains directly to appraisers. Gain knowledge guys and you’ll soon discover you deserve something better out of life than toiling in the fields for AMCs.
Quote and picture time! That’s why your my favorite disgruntled blogger in the larger blogosphere. Even the infowarriors and trolls that attack them can hardly hold a candle to your posting intensity! LOL
Pilfering by any other name, is still pilfering.
Pilfering: also known as stealing.
Unless I am mistaken I provided not the man’s name but his photo along with each of his quotes Baggy Boy. Only recently did I learn from one of Trump’s speeches that Douglass appears to still be alive. He’ll be 200 years old come February 7, 2018.
“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
“We should not yet reject free market capitalism, because the truth is we have not yet achieved that.” Ron Paul / (The appraisal management industry, of course being a great example of a restrictive restrained market setting.)
My fellow appraisers, my fellow citizens whom are not appraisers, may I please present to you the premier source for ethical education, promotion of liberty and constitutionalism, and just plainly intelligent news and historically based dialogue which hands down beats most competition. The Liberty Report youtube channel!
I never miss an episode of this, and find it completely enjoyable and educational to listen to dailies, I’ve even been listening to back articles as well. We play this nightly for our 6 year olds before bed, they love it, we love it, it’s real news and a great education in a sea of fakery and biased anti-constitutional advocacy. This guy positively changed my life over the course of the past 5 or 6 years, and I’ve got an entirely new take on life, business, money, liberty, patriotism, and my own appraisal business. I can’t say enough great things about Mr Paul and his staff, they lift the veil and have a much more honest unbiased take on just about every vital issue of the day, even of our time. May I please suggest listening to the several months old Mythbusters, the un american income tax episode. It’s all about private property, or at least it’s supposed to be.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJ1N-7g9Q6n7KnriGit-Ig/videos
Are we talking about dedicated professionalism and ethics? You need look no further to find tried and true historically based solutions to modern ethical problems. Cheers!
Looks like all the AMC lackeys are offended by this article!
Keep it coming John J…
Amc’s are the pimps of the appraisal business, they are bloodsucking parasites who will bow to their clients to get everything and anything done, they treat all their appraisers like garbage and then they wanna be thanked, very and very unfortunate that appraisers are their lackeys.
Never bite the hands that feed you AMC
Mr Jack of all trades, may I please restate this concept on your behalf, in slightly more professional terms? Thank you.
Amc’s have restricted what used to be a relatively free market setting for appraisers whom conduct independent business in the USA. The management companies contribute very little in comparison to the appraiser. It is the appraiser whom represents vital checks and balances systems in lending, not the management companies. These management companies have failed to apply the same ethical standards they demand of appraisers, to themselves.
Very well put Mr. Baggins. One the same note…..AMC review and underwriting: Automated underwriting-as long as the neighborhood section includes the words west, east, north and south it is ok. As long as condition and quality is the same c and q rating, all is ok. As long as you have the canned statements regarding net and gross, distance of comps, sales dates over 6 months, reconciliation comment. all is ok. In other words, no human underwriting regarding typical rationalization. Are the photos of the comps even remotely similar…don’t care..just has to pass the automated underwriting. How in the hell are their services worth the fees they charge. In most cases it is almost the same fee as they are attempting to pay these bottom feeder appraisers and the only real service they are providing is to comply with federal regulations.
TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING!
BOGO! Thanks Doug. Also, these out of the box amc’s just buy into existing digital review programs, or hire tech persons to create them. Persons with no real property or valuation experience are creating the rules we abide by. Additionally, I’ve heard the human assisted automatic underwriting quotas are 40+ a day, if not higher.
The key to appraisal happiness is simply firing all your AMC clients. I did that back in 2012 and have never been happier. Just for kicks and giggles the other day I read several YELP reviews about Street Links, (or whatever the hell they now call themselves) 9 out of 10 people wanted to give a negative rating, but one star is the lowest you can give. The appraisers they use are soooo HORRIBLE, they give all the good ones bad names, these are our bottom of the barrel peers who are making us look terrible. The way theses large AMC’s churn through appraisers by demanding fast & cheap, there is no way this is model sustainable and I foresee many of them either going out of business or changing names. As has been said many times, there is NO SHORTAGE of appraisers, just a shortage who will work for low fees and for companies like this. While I still do lender work (non AMC) there is so much non lender-private work available, once you get going, it’s all referral based, no advertising and so much better, hopefully more you can tap into that and these AMC’s will really BLEED OUT! Good luck out there!
There are some future benefits to the existence of AMC’s coming. There is economic potential involving AMC generated appraisals which are not USPAP compliant, lack credibility and have excessive values. For those doing litigation work resulting from financial losses. Somebody has to pay. History repeats itself. These things are both predictable and certain. It’s just a matter of time. It’s good not to be associated first with AMC’s and secondly with the marginal bottom feeders.
I admire the author of this article because they are made out of the same cloth I am. You asked for it appraisers…and you certainly got what you deserved because you REFUSED to take a stand against AMCs! After watching appraisers (collectively) take it up the ask from 2009 to 2011, I realized precisely where the “profession” was heading…down the crapper. Now….bend over and ask for more guys…you deserve it.
Hi. I’m standing right here and I do object. Please find this quick excerpt of a letter I just wrote to an amc today. I’m sure you will be satisfied.
Fortunately fees have gone up, or I would have also been out of business by now. In the mortgage lending arena, there is literally 25% appraisers available compared to 10 years ago. Call me crazy, call me simple minded, but that just might have something to do with pointless micromanagement of individual orders and consistent downward or stagnated fee pressure. My favorite catch phrase for amc’s lately is ‘I can’t maintain a business around a question mark.’
In reading the comments this morning I just got a blast e-mail from some company I have never completed an order for.
8:41 AM (4 minutes ago)
Appraisal number … for the address … is available for acceptance. You/Your company are one of the appraisers selected to for this order. The order will be assigned to the first appraiser that accepts the order. Once the order has been accepted by one of the appraisers, it will be assigned and will no longer be available to the other vendors.
Its one thing to blast over a new order, but in this case, the client I’ve never heard of and never completed an assignment for, wants appraisers to race to accept an appraisal they can’t see in advance.
Desk review $125 Manufactured Home.
Bill, Am I the only one that’s ever fantasized about accepting ALL blast orders and then going on vacation?
I wouldn’t actually do that, but the thought is certainly there.
Mr Johnson, you may find it inspiring to learn that I personally have likely influenced the transition away from amc’s, for an unknown quantity of lenders in the past, and at least several confirmed cases. I ceased pursuing this method because I have too much direct work, and I really only manage 2 or 3 a week with detailed manual methods. I don’t need much, I’m focused on quality.
Simply find a way to identify the lender, forward the lender mortgage or underwriting managers the amc solicitations letter(s), with a brief statement of your own. I’d be more than happy to work with your company, and please retain my information and feel free to assign me orders, just as soon as you stop utilizing unnecessary amc middle management services, and are able to pay a consistent rate with consistent turn time expectations. Works like a charm, works with high frequency. Because the truth be told, that is how lenders do assign orders, it’s just the amcs are very inefficient because they have financial incentive to trade time for fee, and therefore waste time while they shop every single order. Don’t trust the amc’s to give lenders an honest depiction of actual appraiser availability vs only appraisers whom work under distressed high pressure conditions. If you need a job done right, sometimes you have to do it yourself. Trust in this method over a longer term, rewards will return one day. It’s a group effort which builds potential energy. You won’t be the pioneer, we’ve already accomplished this in places like CO. Follow up with our methods and you’ll probably make headway faster than we did. I’m just a regular nobody at a desk, if I can do it, so can you.
Very good responses to “Bend over and like it” or something like that….I recently reassigned an appraisal on a 600k sale to a lender that I used to do a lot of “direct” work for prior to the AMC debacle. I charged the original client, a local lender a higher than normal fee due to the complexity of this report. Then this new lender contacted me to have this report reassigned and they were willing to pay a whopping $50.00 fee. We settled on a lot higher fee and I reassigned the appraisal treating it as a totally new assignment with the same effective date. Time went by, about 3 weeks and the new client wanted explanations regarding a few adjustments as well as supplied other comps for me to explain why I did not use them. DUH!!! they were 1/2 of the gla. They also wanted me to change the owner to the borrowers name being he had already closed this loan with the original lender. They also wanted me to indicate it as a refi and remove sales/contract data. USPAP problems anyone? I advised them that due to the effective date of this report, I could not report that a prior sale existed by the borrower and would have to re-inspect this home to create a new effective date. How nuts can they be? The lender also stated that their normal appraisal fee was $325 and they could not pay again. My response…good luck guys. I would like to see the emotional response on the bottom feeder appraiser when he auto accepts this 600k appraisal for this chicken poop fee. STAND YOUR GROUND!!!
The sad part about it is that the appraisers represent the free market force which should have corrected these assignment issues by now. If only we were participating in a free market. Hence the applicability of the sherman anti trust act. I’m not a legal expert but I believe refusal to allow free market force corrections is a per se violation of one of the tests of reasonableness for anti trust. Don’t hold your breath waiting on regulatory correction or legislation. Those are not honest expressions of free markets anyways. Participate in the free markets in a different manner, and you’ll quickly find like I have, navigation is simple, with the right constitutional and liberty based approaches. Take heart, the liberty movement is growing, not shrinking. Be a part of the solution by testing the free markets more regularly yourself. Don’t focus on the other guys as much, they’re typically their own worst enemies.