Each area and each appraiser must charge what they require as fair compensation. Personally, I think $900 i s exceptionally low for anything over 1.5 or 2; especially over 3 since that is the amount that triggers higher E&O rates.

Would or have I don’t million-dollar properties for less? Sure. Not often but its happened years ago. $750 for a million five. In some areas that’s a good fee. Inothers, not so much.

Charge what you need to in order to assure you are not tempted to take short cuts that could reduce credibility.

Tom, respectfully, when licensing was implemented there was no requirement for a 4-year degree (nor imho has one EVER been needed). It’s merely an elitist soporific. Conversely, adequate specific education was and remains needed. We are all tested. It’s not an easy test. If it is however defective in some way then perhaps that is where we need to focus.

Equally important, experience is required. There are no practicum courses that can provide the equivalent of three years experience other than three years of actual experience.

ALL appraisers are required to take and pass course work in real estate law as it applies to real estate appraisal. We also have to take CE in state & federal laws.

We have redefined (seemingly) every other appraisal principle in recent years, perhaps it is also time we redefine what it means to be a professional real estate appraiser. If being recognized as professionals were all it takes to assure quality and integrity we would not have such a dishonest Congress in this country (pick from either side). We would not have medical researchers focused on treatment rather than cure. We would not have civil attorneys filing frivolous cases. There would be no malfeasance in public office.

The trappings of ‘higher education’ (as opposed to lower education for the rest of us?) and mantle of false ‘professionalism’ are used most often to hide dishonest behavior rather than to preclude or eliminate it.

When a current CA Admin Law Court case is finally settled in Superior Court, I’ll share some of the perjurious claims, statements, and observations made by State officials with ‘higher education’ and “professional” designation.

FIRREA 1989 as originally drafted had all we needed to assure legitimate ongoing public trust was preserved. But, that was never the real objective to begin with. It’s merely the slogan used to justify everything else.

The problem here seems to be that as a group, Appraisers lack a solid professional business law, process, and education. What the AMC/Lender cabal has produced, is unjust enrichment-which is illegal. So if the market is saturated with bottom feeders, then ones pretty much have hit the opportunity ceiling.

My hero today! Thank you for posting.

Im currently basing my fees on both an hourly rate and complexity of the assignment. I MAY do easy transactional work for an equivalent rate of $100 an hour but since house painters and auto mechanics raised their fees well above that, I bumped my non-expert witness fees to $150 an hour.

EW fees are still at $500 an hour. I LIKE that we are sharing our customary and reasonable fee information for various service levels. We also need to share the rates bid by AMCs.

I saw one recently where trip fees were calculated at $20 an hour plus $0.58 a mile! $20 an hour? I didn’t pay trainees that little back in 2000! My point on this last one is that when AMCs are claiming we need to discount our desktops, drivebys etc for purported time we save (we don’t actually save any time if doing we do these correctly). THEN they want us to discount fees by $100 to $250! Our hourly rate if being discounted is four to ten times higher than what they perceive our time is worth they seek bids.

Keep posting this kind of data. It is NOT a violation of Sherman Anti Trust as long as we are not telling everyone else to charge the same amount. I would never do that. I MAY suggest they are damned fools if they don’t charge a sensible rate though.

Appraisers can change this in a week. Don’t take any orders for less than $600 or what ever you feel your time and effort are worth.

AMCs will cry but Lenders will accept the fees as they NEED us.

My lowest fee this year has been $600, my average FHA Fee to this point is $713 for a 1004 and $667 for a 2055.

WHY ARE YOU GUYS ACCEPTING FEES UNDER $600

A quick look over my books for this year show the following
$675 – 1004C FHA
$775 – 1004 FHA
$700 – 1004
$1,200 – 1004 (Rural)
$850 – 1004
$850 – 1025
$700 – 1004C

As you can see, there is no reason to take orders from CHEAP AMCs

You don’t know what you are talking about. Many of the older appraisers pioneered the very systems we use every day today. Some of us ANALYZED the purported “more modern” so-called more efficient / more uniform ‘systems’ being hustled today and found them to be deceptive, to outright promotions of fraud.

WE learned USPAP and keep abreast of it. YOU may want to do the same.

Justin Judge = Troll.

MountainMan I hear you. I quit being an appraiser for many years when I burned out as a trainee. Let the license go. Swore I’d never do another appraisal. Through a series of events related to a family estate, I re-discovered my strengths as an appraiser, and the fees were more agreeable. If I hadn’t been able to re- qualify at a level above Trainee I would not have come back. The gap between being a Trainee and having a profession you enjoy is getting wider all the time. I suggest that you apply for a higher level license before you bail out, in case you want to come back- otherwise your experience credits may be lost, difficult to prove. I would say, hang in there but not sure that would be sound advice.

BETTER DATA, BETTER APPRAISERS, BETTER RESULTS.

Dont look to BREA for help. They are more interested in finding fault, or when no real fault exists, in fabricating imaginary scenarios of fault (This is based on actual evidence in a specific case-not hyperbole).

TAF made it worse by redefining the most common perceptions of the word ‘misleading’. “Mislead | Definition of Mislead by Merriam-Websterwww.merriam-webster.com › dictionary › mislead

Definition of mislead. transitive verb. : to lead in a wrong direction or into a mistaken action or belief often by deliberate deceit His comments were a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. intransitive verb. : to lead astray : give a wrong impression exciting as they are, they mislead— E. M. Forster”

Originally USPAP intended to deal with this definition. Now, TAF has redefined it to be any form-intentional or not. YOU may report what is believed to be factual or credible data, BUT if BREA (or MA or MD) later learns (or merely interprets/alleges) your data to be wrong then your report is misleading and in violation of USPAP. Regardless of limiting conditions stated within the same report.

We all need to write to GAO in follow up to Maxine Waters’ inquiries regarding whether FIRREA compliance exists or not. I contend it does not. TAF has become a purely self-serving private corporation that was given too much trust and leeway. They serve only themselves and their “stakeholder” sponsors…under the chimera of “preserving the public trust in appraisal integrity.”

There is no uniformity among states in investigative rules or compliance with SR3/SR4 of USPAP. Many now claim they aren’t required to comply with it at all.

They are misleading the public and their legislative superiors.

What? Sure, for real, where do I sign up?

Our biggest threat is the federal reserve system and their violation of Article 1 Section 10, coining a fiat currency.

If the lenders were not backed by the taxpayer via gse’s and FDIC programs, attention to risk management would be heightened not diminished. aka; poisonous protectionism which incentivizes greater risk in both housing development and real property lending.

Ethics is at its core, supposed to be a moral guideline. It is not so easily rewritten. Rewriting ethics is a reaction to a changing morality of society. How’s globalism working out for your personally?

The government’s purpose is not to save you from yourself.

You asked for it by signing up with those companies, and you got it.

Standard safeguards include a company having a standard base fee you can rely on which is acceptable for you. I was getting 650’s regular during the rush and am now regrettably back down to the 500-550 per range. I take the good with the bad and avoid bidding. tat’s vary per client, the good ones have 2 weeks standard, sometimes 1 if the deal is heated, others go 1 week standard but are open to negotiation.

Although mercury allows fee entry, staying on the high side will help assure you won’t leave money on the table and then your reliable direct assignment clients will just send you at the number slightly lower than your fee and it’s all good. The big mistake is pandering to discount clients because then direct assignment people won’t even add you to panel because they’ll know you’re probably cutting corners to provide such a superficially lower fee. The 1 dollar for all products fee entry is a viable alternative but as your profile then auto populates at the top for all the slimebag amc’s whom use standard search by fee features within assignment systems, you get a lot of amc harassment. I went with higher side but still validated C&R fees from older workingre mag fees instead.

Not asking for the lions share of orders, but instead inquiring if there is a fairly balanced workload assignment trend are effective marketing strategies. If an appraiser tries to compete by fee within quality direct assignment panels, they become an instant red herring.

Appraisers are tasked with analyzing deals which are put together by some of the most successful and often most cunning salesmen in this country, realty agents. If appraisers can’t skip past the jr ameture hour sales crowd which populates the majority of amc houses, they really have no business trying to stick around in this industry.

Look left. Look right. Identify the fish. If you can’t, the fish is you.

First one to say a number loses.

ABC. Always be closing. I want those glen gary glen ross leads!

The nightmare ends when appraisers quit enabling the process and instead market to lenders directly, refusing all amc work.

Appraisers are providing a thing of value to the amc’s by simply accepting the requests. It should not be surprising that as long as the financial incentive remains, the business model will not change.

We all would like complete industry corrections. That seems to be an impossible task as long as providing a thing of value to be the preferred appraisal order assignee remains a legal option.

You can escape the nightmare individually by simply engaging in dedicated marketing and contacting lenders directly down the line, finding out whom abuses appraisers with use of amc’s, and whom does not. Sign up where you can, continue marketing, repeat until you have a fair amount of direct assignment work.

Many appraisers I’ve spoken to in person are surprised to find out those same lenders they see posted on amc orders also have a body of direct assignment work and direct panels. The deal is if they learn or know you are willing to work for amc’s, you’re far less likely to get accepted on those panels for consistently higher fee work. That and you really have to bring it with quality detailed work product and have a good ability to get the job done without supervision, can’t use their review services as a stop gap and just turn in reports fast and furious, have to proof read ahead of time. The enticement to use typing services, runners, auto programs, that all falls by the way side when you’re dealing with the heightened requirements of direct panels.

Sharing the appraisal fee is for the birds.

I do agree USPAP is outdated.

I’m not sure how we are over-regulated. Actually, if congress didn’t require us to be used, they wouldn’t use us. They would just use AVMs. They don’t now, because the feds won’t let them.

USPAP does not dictate the form or the scope. That’s the lender’s and AMCs. And most of that is coming from a big-shall-not-be-named-PITA big bank. And FNMA. And now the Treasury, which has recommended eliminating appraisals.

Our biggest threat is Congress.