The FDIC sincerely wants to hear from Appraisers!! I forgot to add in the Bank’s name on my complaint and below is the letter I received from the FDIC wanting the names. 

They want to hear about everything that diminishes Appraiser Independence, Public Trust and Customary and Reasonable Fees. This includes but is not limited to low ball fees that the AMC forces you to sign their agreement letter stating that the $245.00 fee is Customary and Reasonable. Heavens forbid you try to negotiate a real contract or Fee due to complexity only to find out that the order has removed from your queue and now you don’t hear from the AMC for months. 

The FDIC also wants to hear about Price Fixing by sending blast e-mails and text messages only to have the fastest trigger finger to get the assignment of a whopping $238, $240 or $245 fee. 

The FDIC wants to hear about the AMC’s that blasts orders to a massive distribution list of Appraisers for BIDS, and you guessed it! The lowest bidder receives the order. 

Labor Day is Sept. 5th, won’t you Please consider contacting FDIC’s either by website or telephone and report these violations!

Customer Assistance Form
FDIC Consumer Response Center
1100 Walnut Street, Box #11
Kansas City, MO 64106
1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342)
(Monday – Friday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm EST)
703-812-1020 (Fax number)

I have corrected my omission and sent them a revision with the Banks Name, Address and phone number.

From: FDIC STARSMail [mailto:StarsMail@FDIC.gov]
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2016 2:19 PM
To: AMC_Compliance@activist.com
Subject: FDIC Reply [SCC2016K-002829-0]

August 15, 2016

Ref. No: XXXXXXXX (omitted)

Dear Appraiser:

Thank you for your correspondence dated August 8, 2016. You expressed concerns with two appraisal management companies (AMCs), CoreLogic and Valuation Solutions Management. You state concerns with how these two AMCs select appraisers to perform appraisals. You reported these AMCs select the lowest bid, which enhances their profits and reduces the fees received by the appraiser. You did not mention any specific bank involved in this process. 
 
The FDIC is a federal banking regulatory agency, supervising various state-chartered banks and is responsible for enforcing federal consumer protection laws and regulations. The FDIC also protects depositors of insured banks located in the United States against the loss of their deposits if an insured bank fails. If you have concerns related to state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve, you may contact the FDIC with this information. 
 
Thank you for your correspondence.

Sincerely,

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection
Consumer Response Center
1100 Walnut Street, Box #11
Kansas City, MO  64106

1-800-378-9581
Fax number 703-812-1020

RA, you guessed it! Here is another AMC bonus for dummies explanation!

From: RV Management <ValueitManagement@rels.info>
Date: 6/28/16 11:55 AM (GMT-05:00)
Subject: From Rels Valuation Mgmt: New Bonus Program

Good morning:

The purpose of this email is to make you aware of a newly created bonus process. This new process is rolling out on a limited basis within the next few days. When implemented, it will provide the opportunity to earn a bonus on select orders when all of the required criteria have been met. 

If an order in your pipeline is selected for this process, we will notify you via email. The email will reference the specific order number, the potential bonus amount and the date that the completed appraisal report must be delivered by Rels to the lender in order to qualify for the bonus.   

Because the payment of the bonus is contingent upon Rels delivering the completed appraisal report to the lender by the specified bonus due date, this involves more than the appraiser simply delivering the appraisal to us by a particular date. As such, payment of the bonus is contingent upon all of the following required criteria being completed in their entirety prior to the stated bonus due date:

1. Appraiser completes the applicable appraisal report, ensures compliance with all order guidelines and ProQuality rules, and causes it to be delivered to Rels via our approved delivery process.
2. Rels reviews the appraisal report and if applicable, communicates any needed revisions and/or corrections to the appraiser.
3. Appraiser completes all revision/correction requests and if applicable resubmits the revised report to Rels in accordance with our current processes.
4. Rels reviews the appraisal report for completeness and when all applicable items have been confirmed to have been properly addressed, Rels causes the appraisal report to be delivered to the lender.

 
Understanding that there are many steps and individuals involved in this process, the appraiser needs to deliver the appraisal report to Rels at least one or more business days prior to the stated bonus due date. This is important as getting the appraisal to us as soon as possible will improve the likelihood of the remaining required criteria being completed by the bonus due date and you successfully receiving the bonus compensation. Similarly, if there are any revisions and/or corrections that need to be addressed, the appraiser must complete them ASAP so as to improve the likelihood of the review process and delivery to the Lender being completed by Rels prior to the stated bonus due date.

If all of the required criteria have been met and the appraisal is delivered by Rels to the lender by the stated bonus due date, the bonus payment will be paid out to the appraiser separately from the actual appraisal fee. It will be paid on a bi-monthly basis while the fee for the appraisal itself will continue to be paid out twice-weekly.

By working together on these orders, we will continue to improve the level of service being provided to the lenders that we support.   

Sincerely,
Rels Management

Baggins….I understand what your saying however your “logic” will not compete with big bank lending institutions and their lobbying efforts going forward. Appraisers typically have that lone wolf mentality and can’t get together to save their lives, how do you expect them to get together and save their profession? I’ve always had a high ethics standard which has served me well in the appraisal profession and life in general, totally agree with you there. As of now, I’m currently a mobile marketing pro for one of the big auto manufacturers…..traveling the USA, meeting new people and getting to see all this beautiful country has to offer. The best part is I have over 20 weeks vacation per year…paid!!! So when I’m at home sitting on my porch sipping coffee for a three week break, I’m not worried when that next order will come through. And it affords me the time to do what I really want…trade stock market futures. It sounds like your one of the lucky few  that doesn’t rely on Amc’s and volume work, good for you! However, 90% aren’t that lucky. If big lending can find a way to get rid of us, they will! Appraisers may be reduced to taking photos, commenting on condition, upgrades and taking measurements…that’s it. Enter that info in and valuation is automated from there. Does it really sound that far fetched?

Hand you or I a $25,000,000,000 bailout check like they did Wells Fargo & Co. on 10/28/2008.  Who couldn’t “go big” with that type of welfare check in hand?

Sure…  But…. Those computers cannot compete with my logic. They are after all, still only computers. What are you doing now instead?  I’m looking forward to some down time, and will probably get to roll some easy reo work for years to come if the market stalls again. Appraisers love to talk like this industry is driven by a slave master. Me, I’m currently sitting at home next to an open door, sun shining, fan blowing, coffee in hand, and you know what, I think I’ll take a break. Why? Because I’m independent and do what I want. Corruption is widespread although particularly apparent in real estate at times. None of us can escape the consequences of these issues, regardless of where you may work. Every individual action matters and the most important take away from real estate for most people, will be having learned about ethics in a much more detailed and complex way which will hopefully carry forward to new lines of work. Stay vigilant, and prioritize liberty and this country first, regardless of what line of work is chosen. Glad to hear you’re doing well.

They need to change their name to StreetPIMPS instead!

I have a dream where the SL logo is a row of little link sausages with tire marks on them, picture perfect on some long stretch of desolate Nevada highway or something like that. Great insight Retired grumpy appraiser, great insight.

You’d better believe they’ll beat that fee. You see they’ll on one hand hold the lender to the payment of the spiff, and will on the other hand pocket the spiff with the normal routine where they stip the appraiser to death and then note the appraiser as not having complied with the terms. You can’t make this stuff up. Great insight indeed.

Yep, they’re copying Solidifi’s performance program. Solidifi tried that, but was only giving the spiff for actual sales. So $500 base fee + 100 amc hassle fee + 100 quick turn time spiff. Sounds sort of reasonable. Still not enough to afford any help, but looking better. Oh wait Street Links….  I take it all back, every word of it. HA!  When they drain your time with incompetent process, just charge more to make it worth it. A higher standard fee increase would have been much more commendable.

The scam goes beyond that. Lenders are supposed to be charging 1k+ for those, and they used to charge that much. Race to the bottom, and all of that.

They will be “assiging” files… This must have been written by one of their High School Review Appraisers.

All you need to do is “submit the fully completed, deliverable report on time”. Fully completed AS DEFINED BY Street Apes…not by the appraiser. You can submit the report on time but after they’ve made their typical 5 separate requests for addenda and comments (that you included in the original report) they will tell you that your “complete report” was late.  $5 says they beat at least 75% of the appraisers out of the extra fee in this manner.

We all know Street Apes by now and how they operate.