‘Inspectors deserve protection not punishment.’

When do you suppose these principals might be applied to appraisers?

More importantly; Should we all put something like this into our standard language?

The AMC’s are sending out quotes for potential orders, which assures the cheapest appraiser (not the most competent) will receive the order. I appraise some of the highest real estate here in south Florida. A 20+ million dollar home would command a $1,200 to $2,000 fee from a independent appraiser. The AMC will send the order to a, appraiser who is willing to do the job for $600. The borrower will receive a report that reflects a low fee (not a comprehensive or well put together report). I have been able to circumvent the management company and start going directly to the lender and the borrower! I get paid directly and receive reasonable and customary fees, and the borrower gets comprehensive report that they paid for. No Need for AMC’s anymore, the are killing our industry.

Its outright price fixing.

Kevin Hescock it should be on the invoice and not buried In reports

Yes. What’s really going on is the amc industry has imposed parity pricing upon all appraisal costs which flow through their system. Because of improperly co mingled fees, what ends up happening is when an appraisal service costs less, the amc pockets the difference and the consumer never saves a dime. Then on the other side in more difficult to service or higher cost of service situations, when an appraiser charges more, often the amc does not bill that to the consumer but rather takes the difference from their group funds pool (from the excess of consumers whom did not save.)

So we end up with some people subsidizing the costs for other people’s appraisal service. There is a top heavy bureaucracy within the amc management structure. An imbalanced system. Such a situation is easily corrected by simply tying 100% of the consumers appraisal fee, to the same 100% compensation which flows directly to the appraiser completing the service.

This is the cost plus amc billing argument. The cost of the appraisal, directly charged to the consumer and directly paid to the appraiser in full. Amc servicing charges in addition to the actual appraisal service fee. Two distinctly separate charges, for two distinctly different services.

The heart of the issue is that lenders use amc’s as this causes the appraisers to end up paying for the lenders side processing and handling costs of dealing with the appraisal. Something similar as having an employee pay directly out of their own pocket, to fund their own manager and bosses weekly paycheck. The costs of dealing with appraisal handling are currently extremely excessive and unnecessary. Managing the process of sending appraisal orders to appraisers used to be an incorporated duty of the mortgage origination departments, and appraisal review used to be an incorporated duty of the lenders whom managed their own or partner origination departments.

Amc’s have turned into lender profit centers. Amc’s were supposed to function as separation from loan production. Instead amc’s have become loan production themselves. The $12 billion or more of unearned junk fee raking by the amc industry represents an excess profit taking from what otherwise should have been a relatively low cost process of simply ordering appraisals from appraisers, having the consumer pay for the appraisal, and the lender writing off the cost of processing appraisals with one of their standard pay scale in house employees.

There is simply no valid justification for amc executives to earn payscales which are among the top pay among the entire lending services industry. They’re not actually doing anything of substance or value which is not readily replaceable by a lenders own in house employees.

The problem is that the outstanding fee has already been paid and by the time the buyer or anyone who see’s the invoice after the report is finished doesn’t really care because they are about to close and they don’t want to have a speed bump at this point. The fee’s should be separated. The appraiser charges and collects his/her fee and the AMC charges and collect their fee. Then we don’t have to wait 30 days to get paid

I’m not looking forward to the “new and improved” sic 3.6 form, but I have to adapt. I specialize in very rural and oddball properties so the PDC’s can’t afford to do them, avm’s don’t work either, and I’m a member in 5 mls systems for comps as I cover a vast geographic market area. The rhetoric is over, this profession is dying slowly but surely, I’m hoping to last another 5 years until retirement… hopeful anyway.

Thanks. As usual I firmly believe answers lie in better education. Join a new conversational area if you’d like, where the amc appraisers and amc people themselves hang out. It’s a mad house, but still an interesting mix of people.
https://www.reddit.com/r/appraisal/

Yes. Lower the ‘demins’ lending standard back to original levels, I think that was $150k or less. Roll back waiver programs to previous or lower levels, per the previous FHFA directors advisement. Eliminate pdc service all together and promote the appraisal industry instead of diminishing the work load, bring back licensee required inspections only. Eliminate the recent ‘no live comps pictures’ required rule. Totally trash the 3.6 UAD program and just add a required page or two like they did with the MC form if they want additional information.

It’s already game over for gse appraisers in the consumer protection space. Most appraisers just have not gotten the memo yet. They’re living under this delusion there is going to be a refinance boom and the pending appraisal modernization act will mean business as usual.

Donna Halfpenny believe it or not I’ve had quite a few call or email me in the past wanting an explanation. I had to refer them back to the AMC. We stopped working with them some time ago but it was aggravating.

We need knowledgeable and highly experienced appraisers like you and many others to spearhead a campaign that actually damages the AMC’s. The more solid appraisers can cooperate and form a bond, the more serious damage they may cause…More bandwidth, better results!

Thanks. The wild part about that particular comment, I typed it up in ten minutes or less. Basically because it’s the same argument many appraisers have made for well over a decade.