Category: Appraisal Technology

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Drive By Comp Pictures and Appraisers Safety

Rethinking Drive By Comp Pictures I posted the following true (and scary) experience on Facebook a few days ago: “I just had to file a police report. I was taking a picture of a house from the street for a drive-by pre-foreclosure. The owner ran out of the home and stood in front of my car. He demanded to know what I was doing. He walked around to the driver’s window, and I calmly explained to him that I was taking a picture for the bank. He got very verbally abusive and demanded to know why. I told him it was...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News

Shouldering the Weight of AMC Hidden Costs 5

Shouldering the Weight of AMC Hidden Costs

…hidden costs introduced by AMCs… Thinning wallets and dwindling fees for work performed are nothing new for the appraisal community. Yet in their latest income-reducing move, AMCs have sparked an outcry by requiring appraisers to foot the bill for additional services. These charges are further cutting into appraisers’ fees, which already suffer from AMC management fee deductions. Recently, FREA uncovered three hidden costs being introduced by AMCs – which of these have you experienced? Technology Usage An increasing tendency among AMCs is the passing of technology fees on to appraisers. When an AMC orders a home valuation, the appraiser must...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News

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Appraisal Advisor Ceases Operations

It’s with deep sadness that I’m informing you that Appraisal Advisor (www.AppraisalAdvisor.com) is ceasing operations on February 1st. We began with a simple goal of providing transparency to the industry regarding client quality, and tools for appraisers to collect from non-paying clients. The transparency benefited all parties: appraisers, good AMC clients, lenders, and regulators. Unfortunately, the lifeblood of Appraisal Advisor – appraisers submitting client reviews – fell prey to the age-old “80/20” rule. Over 79% of our many thousands of ASC-verified appraiser members submitted zero reviews, while only 3% submitted more than 5 reviews. That was far below what we...

a la mode / AMC / AMC Ratings / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News

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Appraisal Advisor Now Completely Free for Appraisers

Appraisal Advisor is completely free for appraisers from here on out. They will not be charging appraisers anything to rate and review clients, and appraisers won’t be charged to view other appraisers’ reviews either. The OCC is now requiring that lenders “assess the third party’s reputation, including history of customer complaints or litigation,” and “assess the third party’s financial condition.” What does this mean for appraisers? It means that lenders are required to listen to what you’re saying about AMCs based on your scores, the invoices, reviews, and fees

AMC / AMC Ratings / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology

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OCC bulletin regarding AMCs, lenders, and Appraisal Advisor

On October 30, the OCC issued a bulletin to all national banks and savings associations entitled “Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management Guidance.” The bulletin, in a nutshell, outlines how lenders should manage and ensure compliance of their third party vendors. AMCs, third parties in the OCC bulletin, must be managed by specific guidelines in order for lenders to maintain compliance. Appraisal Advisor offers compliance with that regulation by providing lenders, AMCs, and appraisers with its ratings and reviews system. Appraisers’ constant scoring of AMCs on Appraisal Advisor is now, more than ever, THE key deciding factor in which AMCs lenders use....

AMC / AMC Ratings / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology

Extinction of the Appraisal Industry - Image courtesy of Nujalee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 23

The Imminent Extinction of the Appraisal Industry?

Late yesterday afternoon a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would alter the mortgage process and ultimately the way millions of Americans receive a mortgage. HR 1108 would eliminate the need for an appraiser to appraise a home prior to the funds being disbursed to the

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Technology

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Appraisal Advisor, a Real Estate Appraisal Technology Company, Launches Nationwide

Real estate appraisers find, rate, and manage clients using Appraisal Advisor’s new platform. Atlanta, GA – Tuesday, April 16 – Appraisal Advisor, LLC announced today the launch of an exciting new service focusing on helping real estate appraisers better evaluate and manage the clients, appraisal management companies (AMCs), and lenders that they do business with. Appraisal Advisor provides appraisers with instant access to client ratings and reviews, written by other appraisers, and gives appraisers an avenue to have complaints and non-payment issues be heard. Already boasting an unprecedented database of hundreds of thousands of individually-verified clients and thousands of reviews...

AMC / AMC Ratings / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology

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Rate AMCs and Lenders

Because life’s too short for a bad client Appraisal Advisor provides a suite of tools to anonymously view, rate and review AMCs and Lenders using criteria that only matter to appraisers like you. You can search for good and bad clients, view average payment time frames, see average fees, gain a better negotiating stance, and much more. Founded in 2011, Appraisal Advisor is a real estate appraisal technology company that gives appraisers the tools to better manage their clients. It provides an anonymous community to score AMCs and lenders with its review and ratings

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News

1

There’s An App For That!

There’s An App For That! Finance Management Apps For Your Appraisal Business Americans love their mobile devices!  We use them to browse the Internet for information, text our families and friends, email our business colleagues, post statuses in social media platforms, and much more. To put things into perspective, consider the recent data provided by Business Insider. It shows the landscape of the US smartphone market, its popularity, and usage. Let’s look at the numbers. There are approximately 310 million people in the United States. Comscore.com says 114 million used smartphones in July 2012. Flurry.com reports that there are at least 165...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News / Business Development

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FloodInsights Provides National Flood and Florida Sinkhole Reports

Sinkholes have become a very hazardous and costly risk in Florida. There are certain counties: Pasco, Hernando, and Hillsborough where the land is inundated with sinkholes. However over the last few years the risk of sinkhole and subsidence events has been spreading geographically. According the state of Florida, 211 property insurers noted that claims increased from 2,360 in 2006 to 6,694 in 2010.  The total dollar amount of those claims was near $1.4 billion dollars. There has not been a simple answer to why sinkhole incidents have been on the rise in Florida.  It is believed that

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Technology / Appraisers News / Business Development

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