I did an appraisal for Appraisal Nation that was a subsidized apartment building in a small, rural, underserved community in Oregon. It took me two months, most of the time the job was on hold waiting for the income and expense history since the building was purchased in 2015; that recent information was not forthcoming despite 20 requests with the property manager and the AMC, reporting to them every step until I put it on hold. All my sales were confirmed and I had apartment building expense comps, and just waited for them to give me what they were supposed to and charged them an additional fee for the inconvenience and extra work chasing info. They paid it; then I said I am not going to wait; I want a special check cut because they impacted my cash flow and I can’t wait another 30 days! They sent the check within one week.

We have to make our own contracts, cross out what you don’t like and initial it, then put it in the report. These pimps are going to profit on our lack of demands when we need information or have a complex appraisal. Let those bottom feeders get those low fees. I learned why I originally decided not to work for AMCs until 2015. The lenders, wall street and mortgage bankers have more lobbyists and therefore, when they repeal Dodd-Frank, and say anyone can appraise, then the owners will fill out a post card saying what their value is and the mortgage banksters will loan the money we as tax payers will have to come up with next time the corrupt guys come up with a new ponzi scheme because the biggest crook in our country is the guy in the white house, but not for long….

They are a local lender and are not an AMC but are truly ignorant when it comes to complex assignments. They have no appraiser guidelines to follow (USPAP only) (no cost approach, no active listings, no reviews, no reconsiderations, etc.). and pay within a week. I cherry pick assignments and rarely go further than a few miles. On a per hour basis I do okay. On a side note, they know there place and treat me like the expert I am.

What a joke! Who’s the amc? Blacklist their a$$

You have the power and are part of the problem by even allowing that email to hit your inbox without continually placing it in the spam box. Go with the three strikes policy, that sounds like a good one to me. I like this quip;  appraisers do not exist to save anyone a dollar or a day. But if you’d like to save the borrower some bucks, you’re free to cut discounts off of your end. For every amc or any other distributor that wrangled me around, I would make a daily solicitation attempt down the line. I built so much potential energy that I literally cannot even answer the phone any more, disregard messages and bids, place bidders on spam, go on long term vacation setting after a mere 1 strike, so all I have time for is direct orders anyways and even have to turn them down. If you’re even dealing with those companies, you are providing them the coverage to maintain their client relationship and stay in business.  Write direct letters to the lenders and appeal to reason and offer devoted service. Condition that on them either taking control of the amc’s engagement and guaranteeing minimum fees X or better, or simply go direct via mercury, etc. Appraisers who just posture ‘don’t work for amc’s’ miss the big picture. If only lenders would control the amc engagement. So those actions come around eventually and I’ve been the first one called when the lender finally released the amc, years later. Again, build your potential energy and don’t waste time with the time wasting per diem infinite micro management goon squad, aka; unlicensed inexperienced telecom distributor staff (amc or not, it hardly matters any more). You’ll know a good distributor by several criteria; Assign direct for most. Have solid standard fee that is appealing compared to all other amc’s, give 1 week standard or more, do not call you on phone unless you’re over due, and most importantly they will have a senior person in charge of assignment who has experience. If they don’t have a senior guy doing the assignments, you’re dealing with the gossiping nancy circle whom will play favorites w/ order assignment. Absolute best is true rotational and flat fee standard. That’s what you seek out and promote. The truth is out there, you just have to believe. Remember that distributors play the lenders, and game the appraisers to get there. Only support the ethical ones. Deny service to the rest or upcharge them to the point where you’re compensated adequately for the per diem most unreliable and unpredictable order structure. All these guys think there is some mystical pool of appraiser resources still yet untapped. And the next one tomorrow thinks the same thing. They’ll never learn.

Throw in a Big Mac & Fries and I’ll come out of retirement to take the job.  😉

Fees truly have become a cruel joke.

Here is a good one.  Just came up with this.  MOMM  Monstrously Oversized Mortgage Market.   Add in a Yes on the end, and you’ll be crying for MOMMY before you know it.  Excercize emergency maneuver Alpha Riker.  Evade!

Nobody has ever successfully explained to me why there needs to be such a complex web of relationships here.  In house lending, for those whom are not aware of the term, is when there are only 3 participatory parties usually.  Lender, servicer, home owner.  And the good ones the lender is the servicer.  Think of the GSE’s like something on the stock market, answering to investors and shafting the employees to get there.  As the home owner, you fulfill the role of the employee, the worker.  Meanwhile the evil bosses rake all the surplus and leave nothing behind, constantly driving the profit machine further on.  Or you may appreciate this quip;  Monstrously oversized mortgage market.  If you’ve never read up on the wind down the GSE’s positions, you should.  There are a lot of groups asking for that, but they don’t get much traction and exposure because it is true that we’re propped up on debt.  If we did not repackage and sell refried refi’s, something like several million people including all of us would be instantly unemployed.  Plan for the future and remember the end game is getting out and staying out of debt.  Nobody but the consumer themselves is ultimately to blame if they use their home like an atm.  The truth is tough to deal with but needs spoken.  We the People have demanded this system with our insatiable desire for more more more.  I’m about to note Ron Paul again, and the merits of responsible personal financial stewardship.  Corrections start at home, with each one of us individually.  Or go spend and subscribe like you’re made of money.  The choice is entirely yours.  Be an under performer.  Be an over performer.  Or maybe just maybe, one day you’ll eventually remove yourself from this system and be a true home owner instead.

When we see FNMA (and others) packaging Mortgage Backed Securities (loans appraised by us and funded by bank of the stupid and sold to FNMA) and then sold to everyone ”’the fire department retirement fund of Holland; the school teachers retirement fund of Iceland, the Maddoff Retirement Series !, !! and ???…Come on, REALLY?

Oh…but these securities are highly rated by Standard and Poors, Moody’s, etc. They are rated with such high scores as ASS minus and ASS, minus, minus — or maybe BS A++ (BS -for bull shirt) I am no financial guru but it would seem to me that the mortgages used as a basis for these securities are not valued adequately, then the whole enchilada is just crap.

I base my silly rant on the DAMN fact that FNMA is at this very moment in conservatorship with the Federal Government and may have to be bailed out again in the very near future. Is this REALLY a time to weaken the valuation process for these loans? Really with Wells Fargo recently announcing a silly 3% down payment? Come on…3 damn percent down on the million dollar Mc Mansion with the $8,000. per year property tax.

Like Ron White, I have the right to remain silent…I probably should, but I will not ever buy any mortgage backed securities or stock in any bank. Best of luck to my fellow appraisers!

https://www.change.org/p/cincinnati-zoo-justice-for-harambe

Harambe (the gorilla): Part played by the appraisers

Zoo Keeper: Andrew Cuomo

Hired Assassin: AMCs

Kid trying to get closer: Mortgage Brokers

Negligent Mother: FNMA

The mortgage brokers try to get closer to the appraiser but fall into the appraisers habitat after getting too close.  The appraisers try to do the right thing and help the mortgage brokers after they get too close.  FNMA  (negligent mother) are nowhere to be found while this is taking place and allows the mortgage brokers to do something really really stupid.  The zoo keeper (Andrew Cuomo) wants to make a name for himself so he instructs the zoo’s hired guns (AMCs) to fire at will and take the appraisers down.

The zoo keeper (who bears a striking resemblance to Harambe the gorilla) makes a name for himself and is promoted to head zoo keeper in New York.  The assassins are paid well to travel the country and take down every gorilla that tries to make a buck in the business.  The negligent mother (FNMA) not only escapes being prosecuted but she’s given a welfare check each month and fed well for the rest of her life.  The gorilla (appraiser) has his brains blown out for merely trying to take care of the stupid mortgage broker who crossed into the appraiser’s habitat, and the kid (mortgage broker) is allowed to go back home having no clue how stupid he was in the first place.

History has a way of repeating itself in a billion different variations.

If you think this ding bat mother deserves to be prosecuted for negligence please sign the above petition.

Death by a thousand cuts.

Wishing you all the best in escaping this dead end JOB Wayne.   As I’ve said ten thousands times…digging graves and shoveling manure beats appraising these days and their far more honorable professions.

The Appraisal Standards Board, Appraisal Foundation, etc. etc will do anything possible to make sure that there are sufficient appraisers available to fill the needs of any AMC or National Appraisal group wanting to exploit said appraisers. These groups MUST have chumps available to do the retard work needed to provide the large profits required by these companies. Who represents us? NO ONE!

Let’s just say that you are an appraiser and you are paying dues to the Appraisal Institute, ASA, NAIFA, etc…. STOP that and put those dues monies into a champion dividend stock…AT&T, P&G, J&J. If you do that type of thing you will be able to count a lot of money in your retirement years. Heck,,,I am old and silly…so spend your money for a VISIT TO THE expo in Las Vegas! LOL I really do wish all of your well!

Oh yes, also;  The operational overhead for lenders comes via 2 avenues.  Long term loan servicing or packaging and reselling.  Obviously the operational costs have been offloaded due to a preference to resell, and this cannot be recovered as long as the majority of loans move to portfolios via gse, instead of in house like the ‘good old days’.  Don’t hold your breath for a departure from offloaded origination costs, because the same regulatory system which supposedly protects us, has forced the lenders hand on that one.  The solution is clear but currently intangible.  Wind down the GSE’s because they’re no longer following their mantra which justified their federal charters in the first place.  Me, hell yes I acquired an in house.  It’s the only way to go.   Catch 22 because the only CU to offer in house that I could access, used SL amc as their distributor.  Nothing short of forced separation of fees will remove the financial incentive to select based on fee, rather than merit.

I would like to respond to 2 items here. Suggesting that appraiser not make an effort to weed out some of the bad seeds it wrong. If that holds true why police anything and get rid of the bad seeds? Not taking a stand is just as bad as being a bad player. The AMC model was flawed from the start by it not being a cost plus. The cost of the appraisal plus the AMC fee is what the cusotmer should pay. Sadly that’s not how it played out and whether it’s legal or not it’s the system that we have allowed to take place. AMC’s across the country say to the appraiser “you take what I am giving regarldess of what I am getting”. Appraisers cave on fees much like they continue to cave on value pressure. The whole profession is a trian wreck in some regards. Some outside sources have made it that way and some appraisers have made it that way.

Will someone please advise if this is an allowable statement and/or position for an amc to adopt.  Pay close attention to the under lined portion and let that sink in.  These concerns have been written on the wall for all to see since the inception of HVCC and everything there after.  Whom dares look?  Is it true that junk fee, unearned fee, hud rules, escrow rules, and all of that is no longer applicable?  How else could the regulated appraisal fee morph into profit sharing?  I don’t get it and would be interested to hear some other appraisers opinion on this.  This company is not the only one, and they’re just following the typical model.  But is the model legal and valid?  Not separating the appraisers and the total appraisal fees on the updated hud forms was a major mistake.  And it was one of the first actions the CFPB took in terms of reg Z compliance.  What a shame.

AMC SETTLEMENT SERVICES (AMCSS) was founded on the principle of allowing the members of AMC to benefit from the proven efficiencies of vendor management that are currently offered to the nations largest mortgage lenders, while also providing revenue sharing opportunities.