The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released a working paper “Are Appraisal Management Companies Value-Adding? – Stylized Facts from AMC and Non-AMC Appraisals” We have not had a chance to review the report in great detail, however, a quick glance has some very interesting analysis. This is a must read for every appraiser! See the “Are AMCs Value-Adding?” paper here or below. Excerpt: Are Appraisal Management Companies Value-Adding? – Stylized Facts from AMC and Non-AMC Appraisals In this paper, we study whether there are any systematic quality differences between appraisals associated and unassociated with appraisal management companies (AMCs). We find...
Amrock, Inc, formerly Title Source (TSI Appraisal) was ordered to pay House Canary $706 MILLION in damages for theft of intellectual property and fraud. Bottom line, there was a 7 week trial with a 12 person jury. Amrock (Title Source) was found guilty of theft and fraud unanimously! Amrock (Title Source) plans on appealing the verdict. Housing Wire has an in-depth article with lots of details. See it here. Things to ponder on: Should Amrock’s amc license be revoked due to this guilty verdict? Should appraisers and the public trust a company guilty of fraud and theft? Could appraisers win a law...
Please introduce me to "undisclosed-recipients." I would like to pick his or her brain to find out how he or she is getting all these orders. Now I don’t consider myself to be the most intelligent person out there, but do consider myself a fairly intelligent individual. Periodically I receive an email with an order request from different AMCs. These are unsolicited emails from amcs I do not do business with. Why I am receiving these requests is a concern and a question for another day. The emails I receive are addressed to the person who sent the email, undisclosed-recipients;...
I understand that Mr. Klosterman gets paid to deceive & misrepresent on behalf of his principals who are promoting the meme of appraiser shortage… Fellow Appraisers, In a variety of posts here on AppraisersBlogs we have had the somewhat veiled or at least unclear perspective of a banking interest lobbyist being self-promoted (Bankers League?). When I responded in a manner I felt was applicable based on his specific post he was offended. You be the judges, please. Following are copies of his linkedIn communications to me. Copied from Mr. Klosterman’s message post above for ease of reading: “Nice timing Mike,...
FTC "Price Fixing" Allegations Hearing Update On Thursday, Feb 22, 2018 there were oral arguments presented in the Federal Trade Commission building at 2 pm. The meeting adjourned just before 3:30 pm. There were 55 to 65 people in attendance, which we were told is an extraordinarily larger crowd than typical. This is a very unique case. On the FTC side there were two lawyers – one male, one female. On the Louisiana side there were four males at the head counsel table and three or four other attorneys. I have never attended one of these hearings, so I really did...
This will be better than your favorite band’s concert! Watch the oral arguments in the FTC vs LREAB case live in Washington DC on Thursday February 22, 2018! “The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or "Commission") will meet on Thursday, February 22, 2018, in Room 532 of the FTC Building for an Oral Argument In the Matter of Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board. The public is invited to attend and observe the open portion of the meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. The remainder of the meeting will be closed to the public ” VaCAP will be there...
…it will be the appraisal management companies that are going to be held to the fire, not the appraiser… In the spring of 2002 my wife and I bought our third house; an older cape cod in a great school system where our son would start kindergarten in the fall and his sister the year after. This house literally was 1970 inside. It had deep red shag carpet in the family room and sculptured avocado green carpet upstairs. Not to worry, it blended well with the sunshine yellow stove, bright orange counter top and turquoise and pink bathrooms. After 3...
Many of you have filed formal complaints against AMC abuses with State appraisal boards… The place was a small subdivision developed with coastal style homes on the Ocean side of route 12 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The bank was Bank of America. The AMC was LandSafe and the time was just before Corelogic purchase of Landsafe for $122 million. I was asked by this AMC to appraise a home for a purchase transaction. My comparable sales consisted of one recent sale of the next door neighbor, one on the same street, and two closed sales in the...
Hopefully you have been busy and have not noticed VaCAP has been quiet over the past few weeks. Not by choice, but necessity. You see, there has been so much happening, we have been overwhelmed and our heads are spinning out of control. VaCAP needs more members to volunteer to help us help you. Let us know how you can help. Let’s start with the easy stuff: The Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board Quarterly Meeting will take place on February 21, 2018. The meeting will begin at 10:00 AM and there will be a public comment period for anyone who wishes to address...
A residential staff appraiser has filed an overtime class action lawsuit against appraisal management company CoreLogic Valuation Solutions. The appraiser is a current employee and works as a staff appraiser in Southern California. On behalf of herself and a putative class of similar CoreLogic staff appraisers, she alleges that CoreLogic’s compensation practices violate the overtime pay requirements of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and California state labor laws. The case will be legally interesting to watch because CoreLogic allegedly pays its employee appraisers on a “piece work” per appraisal basis with additional compensation for based on production and other...
