“No. I do not tamper or alter photographs on request nor am I required to do so. Every reasonable effort is made to avoid inclusion of people and body parts but its not always practical to do so.”

Good for you! Some demands are so egregious that even treating them seriously is a disservice to all. Thank you for standing up for OUR flag.

Yeah, if ye be called a blaggard, show them th’ aft and fore, but never show the bilgewater in th’ hull. If ye be a seadog with sealegs, ye be a buckaneer of the high seas, and never walk the plank. If they shout from the crowsnest, hold them in irons for a flogging, and call for an able body seaman to stop the mutiny!

seriously, if you saw the room why are you driving back out. either the owner, or one of their kids has a phone that takes pictures. it happens once in a while and those phone pictures are pretty good. make sure you explain how to take that picture.

Everyone looks at these extra requirements as a best case scenario. Maybe we spend .5 hours more per report for the photos, and that is just best case senerio

On the upside, I rarely get stipped and to date have never been disapproved over those reporting issues. Seeing is believing. Have you ever field reviewed a skippy report and said; Those are not the correct comps. 100 pictures takes like 10 extra minutes. Photo the meters, the rooms, the 4 corners, the crawl, the cfans, the utility, some material samplings, drive, garage, shed, other appealing photos, and that’s much better than eventually being a privateer held against the mast. If you can’t pop in a total photo documentation of the home, you deserve extra lashes. If you allow the reporting to become generic to the point where questions are routinely deserved, you may have crimped your fellow mates. Blimey! Blow the man down!

You are 100% correct Liz. Appraisers FEEL like they are in control for the moment because of low interest rates. Once the rates go up…demand drops…and so will the fees.

It amazes me that appraisers are jumping for joy over getting 2009 fees while doing twice the work per assignment. I suppose that ignorance truly is bliss.

“100 pics every report”!!!!.  there’s the problem. seeing that, then they start whipping us 30 pic’s appraisers harder. there’s always someone on this cruise of the damned who has to row harder. just too funny. throw the baggins scoundrel overboard. oh wait, he chained to him oar like the rest of us. chop off one arm, that should slow him. ahhhh!!!!!!

If the cross offends, people are free to get back on the boats, and go back to wherever their ancestors came from. I like to just casually ignore and string along those requests. When it comes down to missing closing over a cross in a picture, whomever causes that is likely to get fired. By delaying, you put the requestor in a pot of water with the temperature steadily increasing as time passes. Copy the other interested parties, and they’ll gang up on the requestor instead.

Don’t forget to tag your signature in a big waving American flag, just to let them know. 

That’s the only one which is never removed, and always photographed. I never miss a chance to highlight a flag in a report.

Since day 1, my qualification criteria has been a fair shake. You always ask the consumer what they are being charged, regardless of any illusionary amc agreement was in place.  “keeping them honest.”.

Speak for yourself about getting paid less and working more. I’ve been working less and getting paid more. It’s all about positioning and if appraisers cannot best some corny telecom desk worker who positions like a telemarketer to drive wages down, well……  That says more about the appraiser than the amc worker. Stand tall, walk the line, and know when to hold em, and know when to fold em.

Pictures are cheap, quick, and easy to include in reports. I stack 15 pics per page photos in my report, after about a half dozen of the 6 per page, totaling around 100 pics each report. But yeah, it’s silly to be asked to crop anyone or anything out of photos. It’s important to remember the investors are probably as ignorant as the amc workers in many regards. Just because they’re into real estate, does not elevate their intelligence by proxy, as many industry workers might presume. That goes all the way up and down the line. More photos is more honesty in reporting.

Want to be an appraiser? No problem. It’s as easy as memorizing about 20,000 pages of regulatory text and guidance. If you don’t have a license, you should not advise an appraiser about anything. More reasons why every single amc worker should be individually licensed with criterea perhaps even more stringent than that for appraiser qualification. What we have now is the delivery boys advising the chefs how to cook a pizza, and how much to charge for it.

i dont miss that nonsense AT ALL, and i have no idea how i managed to keep my sanity all those years.

are they still in business? i believe so.

the insanity continues . . .

It was so much easier in the 1980’s, doing hand-written Fannie Mae 1004 reports for a major lender. I could usually get all my subject and comp photos for a typical home or condo on a 12 shot roll of film. The quality of appraisers was also better in the pre-licensing days.

There are a pair of feet in the bedroom photo. Please crop out feet from photo…

Do they dwell on the same planet as the rest of us? Justifying their crappy jobs!