AMCs procrastinated or missed the renewal period We started registering AMCs about this time back in 2013. It was a slow roll from the nascent 9 applications received in March of 2013 to a peak of 42 applications received in August 2013 just ahead of the deadline to register. Since that time the number of AMCs in Illinois has ebbed and flowed. At one point we had 192. As of this writing, we stand at 155. Nationwide there are less than 700 AMC entities. The universe is small. We’ve already completed our first renewal that ended on December 31, 2014. Like...
Many residential appraisers we insure and several appraiser organizations have contacted us in the last few days about an appraisal management company’s new requirement that their panel appraisers upload a PDF copy of their appraisal workfile for each assignment they perform. The AMC is LenderVend, LLC and, according to its website, it is affiliated with mortgage lender Provident Funding. We understand that LenderVend’s requirement imposes an additional burden on appraisers. We’ve also heard firsthand from appraisers about the anxiety the policy is creating because of the unknown uses to which the workfile may be put by the AMC. As is the case with any peculiar...
Should You Include Your Workfile With Your Submitted Appraisal Reports? Appraisers, On several forums frequented by real estate appraisers, there has been recent discussions about a particular Appraisal Management Company (AMC) owned by a lender who is requiring appraisers to include their ENTIRE WORKFILE with every appraisal report submitted (as of 5/21/2015). The AMC is LenderVend, owned by Provident Funding. One reason why this has come to the forefront is because Provident Funding has had to buy back numerous loans due to alleged faulty appraisals and other underwriting issues. So by demanding the appraiser’s workfile, they are attempting to protect themselves...
Appraisers reluctant to force actual C&R fees on AMC clients… Appraisers, I’ve spent the last two days reviewing the ‘new Rule’ involving the registration of AMCs, which has – buried within it by reference – information relating to Customary and Reasonable Fees for appraisal reports. I’m grateful to an appraiser acquaintance in Pennsylvania for her assistance. Below is a 4 page document that shows the mentions of “C&R Fees” – and how those apply to AMCs. You may forward this to anyone else, or may use this information in any article or publication disseminated to appraisers, lenders, AMCs, other clients...
It is merely a SALE… Appraisers, Something’s been gnawing at my craw ever since January when FNMA’s wonderful Collateral Underwriter (CU) was unleashed to the world. And before that, when FNMA’s Appraiser Quality Monitoring (AQM) process was introduced to judge the work of appraisers. No one else has written about this. No one has even mentioned it. So I will: It has to do with the word “Comp” which is used liberally by Fannie Mae (FNMA). What exactly is a “Comp?” In FNMA’s world, it’s any property that they obtain, either by their vast AVM process which examines millions of...
North Carolina Proposed Law Would Address Reasonable and Customary Appraisal Fees North Carolina’s House Bill 577, introduced April 2, 2015, would seek to address reasonable and customary appraisal fees. Some of the proposals in the Bill would: Require the NC Appraisal Board to publish a “schedule of customary and reasonable rates of compensation for appraisals based on the market area where the real property is situated.” Establish rates by fee studies that would exclude assignments ordered by known appraisal management companies. Require rates to be “measured by the net compensation amount received by the appraiser.” Allow for payments above the...
The Texas Appraisers and Appraisal Management Company 2015 Survey Report In January and February 2015, the Texas Appraisers and Appraisal Management Survey surveyed a total of 1,421 Texas appraisers and 55 appraisal management companies doing business in the state of Texas. The questions in the survey were specifically designed to achieve the following: Clearly distinguish between the fees paid to appraisers by Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) and fees paid by non-AMC clients for residential appraisals. Capture any difference in fees paid by property type: single family, condominium, size or square footage, or other factors. Capture the impact on fees by market area...
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on March 23 signed into law S.B. 1445, which requires appraisal management companies operating in the state to compensate appraisers at a reasonable and customary rate. The legislation gives the Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board authority to take administrative action against AMCs not paying appraisers customary and reasonable fees in accordance with federal law. Prior to enactment of the legislation, Virginia law already required an appraiser engaged by an AMC to disclose as part of the appraisal report the actual fee they were paid. In 2014, the Virginia Center for Housing Research and the Virginia Tech...
The info below from AI’s Appraiser News OnLine is about the action taken by the AQB at their recent meeting in Seattle, WA, which I was unable to attend. It’s still unclear if “existing license holders” must undergo a background check at the time of their license renewal. Apparently that’s determined by individual states. And it’s still difficult to get all the multiple clients appraisers deal with, to accept “one” background check performed in a state or by a separate organization. So appraisers are sometimes faced with having to spend money to provide different background checks to individual clients. Frankly,...
Appraiser No More, Think I’ll be a Lawyer: it takes less time to get a law degree than to get an appraisal license. I heard from an old friend today that worked as an appraiser in Raleigh, NC for at least a dozen years. Shortly after 2009 and the HVCC, he (like so many others) started looking for career options. After appraisal reports kept requiring more and more pages, had more and more restrictions (far too many that were totally useless and had nothing to do with the home’s value), and his fees kept going down instead of up, he...
