After tracking/stalking an agent for 3 days regarding comments within her MLS listing (“Seller to pre-pay 2 years of HOA fees”), but yet no dollar amount was listed in the concession box of her MLS listing, she confirmed some $7,200 was in fact credited to seal the deal. In using A la mode software, and with the ability to see what other appraisers indicated when they used this comp, 9 out of 9 incorrectly indicated $0 in concessions, versus what the truth was ($7,200). Through local area analysis, the market reaction to such credits were near 75 cents to the dollar, or in other words, the comp warranted a negative dollar concession adjustment of $5,400 (no adjustment applied by 9 other appraisers).

Knowing big brother collects the data from the other 9 appraisers, and my numbers differ from a panel of my peers, a paragraph is needed to explain what the truth is versus what other sheeple have indicated. No way people are going down the rabbit hole to seek the truth on there way to completing 4 to 8 appraisals a day.

This is why Seneca appraisal reports can take 8+++ hours to complete.

Seek the truth.

Colorado just eliminated HOA manager licensing, only a few years after it had began. I read once CO has the highest per capita volume of hoa pud communities.

Thank you for adding another 10 minutes to my reporting time. Is that important, I suppose in some scenarios. Anyone have the link to that old article on how an appraiser has so many thousands of individual decisions to perform in order to analyze and fill properly for every single report? Someone wrote an article on that once.

I get it Baggins. I just spent 30 minutes looking at plat maps and working with the condo HOA manager just to figure out what phase my 3 COMPS were in. You and I both know that 90% of the appraisers out there would blindly indicate phase 1 on the sales grid without spending a minute getting to the truth. Hell, I have an entire paragraph defending my actions (HOA contact, name, documentation, etc.) because in part I can see that other appraisers (A la mode / peer comps) have labeled the phase numbers in error. I’m sure others coach their employees to spend no more than 30 seconds on such issues and as a default just follow the crowd (phase 1), but not me.

Update. I just spent an additional 30 minutes with the HOA manger regarding the ratio of owner occupied versus rental percentage on the condo cert, versus what is indicated per public record files. Turns out, the HOA sends out voluntary questioners to all owners and unless the owner responds indicating its being rented, they assume its owner occupied (40% variance from public records). Do you think the form fillers in India are placing calls to the HOA to get down to the bottom of the variance, or are they coached to ignore the difference and just blindly indicate whats on the condo cert? Some would say, “Screw it”, how can I complete 4 to 8 appraisals a day and sell my merch. to the masses when the truth takes so long to discover.Time for another paragraph.

Seek the truth.

Perhaps its your market Seneca. Being a San Diego appraiser where there’s high density (Search results often = 80 to 100 sales / year), there is a tremendous amount of time spent e-mailing, calling agents, driving sales/comps, actual trips to the building dept. (on line records date back only to 1990), not just stating R1 for zoning, and blindly saying yes to highest and best use. Give me a market where there are 10 sales to analyze anytime over a 100 and my reports would be done faster. I Without boilerplate comments, its not unusual for my reports to contain 7,000 to 8,000 words that actually explain what I did and why I did it. Hell, I just took an assignment today (1 bedroom / 33rd floor) where there are multiple class action lawsuits (builder indicated GLA versus actual GLA, HOA versus builder, windows, balconies, etc.), where 8 hours might be spent just figuring out the impact.

Seek the truth.

You cannot mandate union membership. Period. Either people join because they see a need for collaboration on common concerns with others that are like-minded, or they do not. Unions are also traditionally supporters of one specific party. While there is a pragmatic reason for much of that support; we also need to be mindful that it alienates fully 1/3 of the population that favors the other side or another 1/3 that crosses over to both sides of the political spectrum.

AGA has tried to bridge that gap. We are supportive of issues that benefit our members-regardless of the side of the political aisle they originate from.

To try to force membership is often self-defeating. There are areas where traditional ‘union shops’ still function well, but just as we see efforts to circumvent regulatory compliance among our clients, so too do unions see similar circumvention.

IF appraisers had the same level of unity on all issues, then there would not be a need for a union to begin with. We would already be demanding the same levels of professional respect nationally

There are nearly as many appraisers that support AMC / FNMA / TAF / Banking / MISMO abuses as there are that do not (figuratively-not literally).

Every time an appraiser signs on as an AMC Chief appraiser; or functionary of CRN or similar parasitic services and advocates to maintain the status quo or worse, to expand third party interference, they are putting another nail in our professional coffin.

As a guild, we are not prohibited from striking. On the contrary. We can strike all we want. We simply don’t believe the necessary numbers can be achieved due to divisiveness amongst appraisers. Strikes don’t work if 50% to 75% of the appraisal population would only see it as a windfall of work opportunity

Case in point. Hybrids and evaluations. There is NO LEGITIMATE reason for an appraiser to do either. BOTH undermine our profession and directly lead to our demise. Yet clearly appraisers are doing both. Otherwise, the discussion about them would have ended over six months ago. Either we are going to follow minimum standards, or we are not. As a professional, I think there must be standards.

The unenforceable crap contained in IAEG ‘final rules’ for evals are not meaningful standards. They are lip service platitudes.

Tortured USPAP reinterpretations and flat out deceptive custom forms for hybrids continue to be offered despite FNMA 1004P experimentation. As poor as 1004P are, users, don’t want to pay reasonable fees there either.

We are working on a lot of issues at AGA. Especially now that our new revised affiliation agreement with OPEIU was signed (09/06/19). C&R is still among them. The FTC put that one on hold effectively in all states, but once it is over, then there should be a lot of lawsuits in places like Virginia, where the VA fee was set as a minimum but no one enforced it.

We urge union membership. Voluntary membership. Especially new members that want to help other appraisers.

FYI-The American Guild of Appraisers, OPEIU #44, AFL-CIO is the ONLY guild or coalition or professional peer association that directly helps our members defend themselves; get removed from do not use lists, and helps recover unpaid fees.

http://www.appraisersguild.org or contact janbellas@appraisersguild.org

Do you think FOIA would apply to the CU database? What about these sought after stats regarding amc vs non amc appraisers completing FNMA work? All we have is limited data for inference.

Oh this might be a genius moment. Would FOIA apply to CU data? They’re going to need a big old mailing envelope. Ole! Who will accept the CU FOIA challenge? Any takers?

No that’s from the FNMA white paper on appraisal quality which specifically parsed the number of appraisals in their database which came from amc’s. The figure was something like 20,000 appraisers completing so many orders. They specifically parsed away all appraisers whom did not complete amc work, which is what made the analysis such a sham and why we focused on it. It’s absurd to make an argument that amc’s do not influence appraisal quality, while only analyzing work from appraisers whom work with amc’s. So many appraisers whom do not work with amc’s, do not work with them for very specific reasons.

Dive in you big shot you. Prove me wrong.

http://appraisersblogs.com/FHFA-working-paper-credibility-questioned

It’s a fact. That’s why I’m first in line when it comes to panel approval. It’s give or take, to each his own. Save up for lawyers and have another career ready, or do the job right and detailed the first time around. It’s strange, I see these amc and speedy appraisers buzz past me through the years, but I rarely see them later on. They’re like shooting stars, getting a cut and then getting pushed out.

One might argue that if someone else typed the report, someone else did the research, someone else did the inspection, and someone else’s program suggested adjustments, the signing appraiser actually did not have any opinions of their own to contribute.

1 out 4 appraisers work for AMCs? Pulled that stat out of your $%&^#

There goes Baggins again who says he spends 8 hours on one appraisal. Shhhhhhhh

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJ1N-7g9Q6n7KnriGit-Ig/videos

Also, the union is a great idea. Even without the ability to quote unquote strike, the AGA has brought many important issues to the front lines with policy makers. The way many unions work is they attain negotiation agreements and are legally set in place as the entry point for all workers whom work with a particular corporation. The union claims legal negotiating rights for all workers. That can’t happen in a national appraisal industry where we source work from a variety of disassociated corporations. Only at a state or federal level could unions be mandated in this industry. But then people may argue about political spending and influence. There are no easy answers. Each appraiser is a union unto themselves in terms of negotiating power and engagements. Every instance of individual action or non action matters. The AGA appears to be effective at policy considerations and individual defense. If you can afford a membership, go for it.

The paper light 2.5 hour appraisal for 450 that leaves you knowing less about real estate than before you read it? And conflating the issue of industry wide collusion and racketeering with car insurance? Neither one of you have a good handle on these issues.

There is no requirement to be kind or forgiving to people whom sell out liberty for a dollar. In fact, quite the opposite is true. It’s time to send so many of these people to prison.

Without consequences to a person individually, the de facto expectation is they will operate as if they are above the law. Because they are. Taxation is theft. So is bailing out corporations with taxpayer dollars.

How to fight big banks? I think they talked about that before, at the boston tea party, the signing of the declaration of independence, and other historical moments.

Abe lincoln himself regarded corporations as being more dangerous to liberty than a standing army. Drawing from the lessons of the blessed whom came before him.

Know your history or be condemned to repeat it. What’s your debt position? If it’s anything other than zero, the lenders are winning. We need loans, occasionally. It’s when citizens prioritize fiat spending over real property ownership, that’s when it gets messy. Money is power. Debt is servitude. There is no two ways about it.

As long as the government is involved in lending, expect more of the same.

I’ve been on strict amc strike for around 3 full years now, and had only worked part time with them before that, working various reo direct, private, and always seeking direct assignment clients. The go on strike thing is silly. 3 out of 4 appraisers nationally do not complete amc work. 1 out of 4 appraisers still continues to cross the line. If the 25% of appraisers whom take in over 80% of mortgage lending work want industry changes, they’ll simply have to learn how to say no on their own. Nobody is in the business from saving appraisers from their own poor business decisions.

If appraisers let clients or agents of clients take advantage of them, they should not be surprised the behavior continues.

Appraisers were able to adjust for extremely important features before the UAD Quality and Condition put us into boxes. I don’t doubt that quality and conditions descriptions and definitions were broad before, however they have been made entirely too narrow now. In addition, UAD being forced upon us has tied appraisers hands, along with other forced coercion of our process, and made our reports devoid of the very expert opinion we are paid to give. I’m also a Realtor and see a lot more “wild” and unsupported adjustments now than I ever did before the UAD and other forced changes.

Jaie we start out by joining a Guild, coalition of other active peer association. No one person can do it all.

The American Guild of Appraisers, OPEIU, 44, AFL-CIO engages appraisal issues on many fronts, but what we are most known for is our work in helping appraisers defend themselves against false state regulatory agency complaints.

The Guild, Coalitions, ASA and AI have occasionally come together for specific issues with positive results (stopping PIWs in TN for example; preventing PACE PRO’s first version from being released-broadening the discussion on bifurcated hybrid garbage and getting TAF to modify its former increased appraisal barriers to license -upgrades). AI is currently leading the charge to establish a Repose period (Statute of Limitations) on appraisal recourse and complaints.

There is so much more to do. All organizations need more volunteers to help us identify and respond to emerging issues. For more information contact Janbellas@appraisersguild.org

IF APPRAISERS WILL ALL GO ON STRIKE AT THE SAME TIME, FOR A GIVEN PERIOD OF TIME, guess what, we will all get what we want. There are always appraisers out there that don’t even keep up with what’s going on in our industry and will take assignments, any assignments for peanuts. If we got the word out and got even enough Appraisers to go on strike together, it will work.

Mike, respectfully those are the excuses for UAD coming into being-not the reasons. Not at all. The sole purpose of UAD was to implement the ultimate goal of MISMO for full automation of the entire loan process including appraisal. FNMA pioneered the UAD for the purpose of stealing (data mining) appraiser information without having to pay labor costs to have it transcribed from delivered pdf reports.

The ‘creativity’ you cite as being negative was actually a good thing and all the proof one needs that a C1-C5 /Qa-Q5 system is inadequate. There is not a real underwriter alive today that had any difficulty understanding what the 68+ variants of of ratings meant. Avg-gd; or avg.(-), VG-Ex were all perfectly clear to anyone with more than a years experience.

Yet (some) reviewers today can’t seem to grasp the concept that a C3 may or may not have an adjustment when compared to another C3.

Any system that requires a two-page addendum for readers to understand it is fatally-flawed out of the gate. There is no ‘added clarity’. It should surprise no one that UAD restricted fields have to be bypassed in order to upload completed reports. UAD planners & designers screwed up! THEY failed to anticipate real-world conditions.

Your valid arguments about unsupported adjustments are not addressed by UAD at all. UAD should have encouraged greater explanatory comments, but it had the opposite effect. Like so many historic FNMA ‘policies’ it had the effect of reducing, rather than enhancing appraisal quality. The added burden of conforming to computer entries and recognition software (which is more cumbersome today than when it started) is refocussing time away from appraisal quality enhancement, and toward UAD ‘meshing’.

As an aside, how, many of those reviews that you do today are both SR3 and SR4 compliant? I don’t know ANY appraisers regualrly receiving field review requests anymore. Probably because no one will pay for a quality review.

Are you doing 1 a day or 30? I ask because it makes a difference in one’s perspective. Back when I used to do very high volume ‘reviewing’ for our in house appraisers (’91-’93) I rejected 35% to 50% as being deficient initially EXCEPT that no employer; nor client will permit any reviewer to reject that many. Instead, you are forced to consider ‘marginally’ acceptable instead, as the metric.

FNMAs idiotic proposals have only been surpassed by TAFs acquiescence to special interests in rewriting standards to facilitate reduced quality. Specifically SOW Rule versus Departure Provision. Except in academically structured scenarios SOW now facilitates blurring of former mandatory requirements under USPAP simply by claiming they are not in the agreed SOW.

In 1989 USPAP was a pretty good set of guidelines for MINIMUM standards…except the mortgage industry thought even those were too onerous. What we have today is little more than a crapfest of cobbled together accommodations. A crapfest that most state regulators cant even follow.