If you had any tiny amount of comprehension of how this all works, claims, lawsuits, etc, you would know the answer. A settlement is NOT an admission of or any type of determination of guilt. The case in CA was settled as the appraiser had no more money to fight it. She had been raked through the coals, business ruined, a lot of personal things going on, dealt with death threats, etc. Please, where has the common sense gone? How many appraisers would have the financial backing to fight one claim of bias (or any other type) through the court system?? I am sure that number is in the single digits. Use some common sense here, or borrow some if you do not have any.

Thank you CW. I had edited that comment down before reading yours. The same story over and over again, regardless of which individual ethical appraiser is relaying their experiences with amc’s. They’re all the same, they all exploit the system, kick out appraisers whom demonstrate legitimate independence and ethic. We’ve all had this exact same conversation many times. Rehash this again in case the new managers are paying attention. I said I would stop with long posting but these events are simply too epic to turn down the volume now at this specific point in time.

The solutions to stop this exploitation are exceedingly simple.

1. Rotational assignment to all approved appraisers.

Faster the appraiser gets the assignment done, faster they get back in line for another. This provides both incentive and necessary leeway for disabled and older appraisers, or to take a breather when other things come up. As long as appraisers do not run late it should not matter if they were a day faster or not, they should continue to be in active rotational position without experiencing any performance penalties or being cut out future work opportunity. The restriction of trade argument. The glaring omission from HVCC rules which were morphed into the inter agency guidelines for the final rule was that panel managers were no longer required to tell appraisers in writing with justification, why they were moved out of active rotational assignment or removed from the approval panel aka blacklisted. The current ‘appraiser grading’ program is nothing but a flimsy excuse to engage in preferential assignment practices. This accelerated consumer harm as the preference becomes lowest priced fastest appraisers. More nefarious is the way this activity institutionalized pressure on appraisers, as a sleight of hand trick, reduce the appraisers grading, elevate another appraiser instead, any appraiser whom does not rubber stamp deals is moved down the ‘assignment and ratings tiers’, cut off from work flow. AARC has a disclosure whistleblower page on that, how managers maliciously reduce appraisers grading on a whim. My simplified statement; If an appraiser is good enough to be on a lender or amc’s approval panel, they should expect a fair share of assignment volume.

2. Standard fee rate provided by the company sending orders to appraisers based on honest fee surveys which do not include amc data. No bidding on routine normal orders within a reasonable tolerance range.

A set fee by location similar to the VA model using verified fee surveys which do not include amc fees. The current amc model which most adopt, and many direct assignment lenders have adopted to is; ‘we let the appraiser set their own fee.’ Then internally the amc elevates and promotes the lowest fee appraiser whom receives the majority of assignments, as many as they can handle. So the appraisers naturally turn to typing services, outsourced report filling, non licensed inspectors, and poorly qualified churn and burn trainees or non licensed help to fulfill those volume requests. Appraisal work quality suffers as a result, and nobody getting the volume actually receives quality training creating the situation of systemic training deficiencies in the industry. Rewarding the most incompetent. The recent CO DORA ruling against the appraiser accused of racism provided an unexpected surprise. The appraiser was not being biased, but they were doing signature fraud and engaging in outsourced report developments. Even the DORA statement on the matter mentioned ‘misleading to clients’. Then they failed to ask the most important question; how many other appraisers are doing the same thing?

Search this term; appraisal typing services. There are dozens or hundreds of these companies. Non licensed people writing appraisal reports meant to be fulfilled by only licensed appraisers. They sprang up from the over 50 million GSE requests over the past decade and longer, for the 85% of all appraisal requests which funneled through the amc model. The wholesale exploitation of the appraisal industry is written on the wall for anyone to observe. All one has to do is get approved at a dozen different amc’s as an appraiser to see first hand how any of this works.

Previously lenders would provide fee surveys but they would then set their standard fee rate based on the most common fee which the majority of available appraisers would be willing to accept. Not the highest and not the lowest. When the provider of appraisal requests provides up front stated appraisal service fees, like the VA does, then the incentive to funnel mass volume to the lowest or fastest appraiser is removed. This is how amc’s exploit the system with bidding for orders model, as if a decade later they can’t figure out what a standard fee is. For amc’s whom do have standard upfront rates, they’re still in violation of the original intention of DF Reg Z on C&R billing, because they have not used honest fee surveys ‘which do not include amc data’. Because if they did, they’d be paying the VA rate as the VA does honest market surveys. And of course, this is why three out of four appraisers refuse to work with amc’s even though amc’s represent the vast majority workload opportunity, because the amc process is consistently unfair and unethical in one form or another.

3. Require licensed appraisers and only licensed appraisers be in charge of appraisal panel management.

This one is quite simple; Get some two way accountability back into the process. These unlicensed people do and say anything, cheat on command with no consequence. Because they don’t have individual appraiser licensing we can not submit them to boards for sanctions and fines. And because they are shielded from the corporate amc model, individual appraiser complaints against amc corporations consistently go nowhere. My personal vote is to require individual appraiser licensing for every single amc employee except maybe the janitor. If amc companies and employees were required to have appraisers licensing, and were held accountable properly, the majority of them would be subject to immediate license sanctioning, representing clear dangers to the financial system and blatant violations of the public trust. I’ll remain mystified why the employed appraisers at major amc’s still have their licenses but again, they’re untouchable via scale because of the conflict of interest with an amc representative on state oversight boards, and they have virtually unlimited legal defense funds.

The entire system is upended with the separation from mortgage loan production rule. Back in the day when an individually licensed appraiser dealt with an individually licensed mortgage broker, there was better balanced two way accountability. And under that model, no amc was required or necessary. Those whom did use amc’s were the obvious financial predators, reference EappraiseIT Coumo NY which led to HVCC rules.

The fraud is baked into the process. Amc’s have recreated the very thing they were put in place to prohibit. And they do so openly and brazenly industry wide, training an entire new generation of appraisers to embrace and promote unethical and fraudulent practice.

If anyone wants to challenge this accusation I would ask them three simple questions; Why don’t the lenders and amc’s provide appraisal requests equally among all panel appraisers in a rotational assignment system? Why don’t they have set market rate fees using honest fee surveys which do not use amc data or simply mirror the VA fee tables? Why don’t they hire only licensed appraisers for panel management, administrative review, and order assignment duties? ‘Appraisal modernization!’ ‘Appraiser independence!’

https://appraisersblogs.com/cuomo-amc-pandora-box-2008-crisis
Miller: Late in the crisis, I provided numerous consultations to the office of NYC Attorney (then Andrew Cuomo) to understand the problems appraisers faced from enormous economic pressure by mortgage brokers to hit the “number” but being disappointed when Cuomo opened the AMC pandora’s box with HVCC. A deputy told me they pushed the envelope as far as their authority reached, but it enabled AMCs, the institutional middleman that has mostly served to destroy quality valuation practices in the U.S. Cuomo’s office wanted names of the perpetrators and I basically said it was systemic and there were no names to give because it would be almost all the names in the mortgage broker industry.

Such a deal. They can actually spend the time and money for a start-up like this because they understand there are actually appraisers who will be tripping over themselves jocking for position. What a pathetic reflection of how low the appraisal profession has sunk. In fact, I don’t think it rises to the level of a profession any longer. Just a bunch of poorly trained robots trying to screw each other over.

My favorite is the AMC that says they’re “performance-based” when I tell them repeatedly that they should call themselves “profit-based” because that is what they are. We all have a fair metric in TAT that we try to stick to regarding, say, 5-10 business days or whatever. Still, they only use the sweatshop that pumps these reports out in 48 hrs for $275. We all know quantity over quality, but they disagree entirely by stating that the other appraisers are just as qualified.
21 years of doing this, and I’ve seen the work in reviews or as a realtor for a buyer, these sweatshops use dozens of trainees or non-licensed personnel that I’ve seen firsthand and know who the so-called only appraiser assigned to the FHA or VA assignment is, and it ain’t that person ! I call them out, and they just gather their data and leave; I tell them that what they’re doing is entirely unethical and wrong, and they just move on. I’ve had screaming matches with these fools over the phone or in person, and it settles nothing as the AMCs turn a blind eye to profiting! These so-called form fillers are occupying most of the order volume from These large based AMC’s like AMROCK, SOLIDIFI, FIRST AMERICAN, CORELOGIC/RELS, ESTREET, CVM, etc. do not want to use a quality appraiser nor pay them customary and reasonable fees when they can simply use a sweatshop that takes an appraiser with multiple trainees sending them all over the state to knock them out for half the fee and TAT. The problem is they’re cheating the system, and the AMCs know it, but since it’s the appraiser’s so-called license on the line, they really don’t care when they continue tightening their required signed service agreements. The reason one of the big dogs told me that UWM was charging the $29/uw fee is because the sweatshops have so many critical hard stops and errors in the reports submitted that they have to go back and forth coaching them as to how they want the report filled out, and many of the sweaties are using IEimpact to fill the reports from India and the Philippines to speed up the process. Still, mistakes continue to flow, so the UWs spend more overtime on the process, which affects the bottom line. No one will affect the bottom line for these big companies and their CEO’s 3rd or 4th houses ! If, just maybe, they paid solid appraisers nearly what they’re worth and cut out these cheaters, they could create a positive process and something that might be deemed fair and just for an industry to continue…dream on 🙂

Oh my that’s so bad, saved it. I’ve got the true tracts flyer on my desk right now, what an incredible waste of money and I’ve seen reports which use this. All fluff for show to bedazzle incompetent reviewers and pass absurd underwriting gates. Residential appraisers should not be using mass data analysis from groupings of ten thousand different homes with completely different characters amenities qualities obsolescence factors effective age and design and structural differences, to magically extrapolate market adjustments for a gridded series of six sale comparables against a single subject home. You know why these products came about, because they never understood logical classical appraisal theory in the first place. So tech people recreated mass assessment methodologies and slapped a residential appraisal product label on it. Discount appraisers go for it every time, just like they went for comps sharing.

Thanks guys. This may be the silliest meme I’ve ever created, but here you go. Nobody wants to work with amc companies except those exploiting the system. When amc’s came forth in mass after HVCC, half the appraisers quit working with GSE’s. For the rare 15% of lenders whom did not use amc’s, the system has been a free for all. In twenty years I’ve only ran across one legitimate and reasonably fair non amc appraisal panel manager whom actually had an appraisers license themselves. Shouldn’t this be a requirement for management, to be qualified to do the job yourself so you know what the hell is going on? I’ve been under a panel manager whom had his appraisers license removed by the state, and apparently the mortgage company did not mind.

Still waiting for an answer to what happens to the licensed appraisers in management positions at these amc companies dealing with class action lawsuits. If after being found liable and guilty for something that big, and the managing appraisers do not lose their licenses and the amc does not lose it’s company license, it will be safe to say licensing oversight is completely ineffective. As if the conflicts of interest with an amc member sitting on appraisal oversight boards is not enough already. AARC has enough evidence that many amc controlling appraisers should have already lost their licenses. The ASC is dialing it in, has been for some time. With any luck the DOGE team will be knocking on their doors next. I can’t believe any of this is happening. It’s not over yet.

Not to worry Baggins this might be coming to an area near your.

True Footage is not an Appraisal Management Company (AMC) in the traditional sense, but rather a real estate valuation company that provides valuation services for appraisers, lenders, and homeowners, aiming to modernize the appraisal process.

So, not an AMC, but they only pay UP TO 50% of the appraisal fee.

If they hire Dustin Harris (fired ?) back I will consider working for them (not!).

On a side note, I’ve done some reviews for appraisers who work for them and the word “canned phrases” comes to mind.

https://truefootage.bamboohr.com/careers/55

Seek the truth.

Baggins My man.
100% agree with you. My son is a recent college grad on the job hunt and he’d love (and me as well) to take over my business. But there is no way in hell I’d ever let him waste his time coming into this ever-devolving nightmare of an industry.

The cards are stacked against the industry and it’s hard to accept as you’ve spent so many years grinding this thing out. We’ve fooled ourselves that this AMC nightmare and gov’t overreach would eventually end or at least work it’s way out though common sense and some developed representation for appraisers. But the good clients are dwindling, and ridiculous fee quotes from 2005 are just another kick in nuggets reality check that it’s a most likely not going to get better.

As much as I hate to agree with the haters and resident agitators here, I’ve conceded and developed my exit strategem that I will fully execute when the new 1004 form arrives. Until then I’ll keep holding hope – like Charlie Brown and Lucys football.

Odds of me losing again and wasting the most vital years of my working life when I worked so hard with honesty dedication and commitment. As a GSE lending appraiser whom refuses to participate in defrauding home owners with amc’s.

1 in 1. 100% guarantee.

Would never recommend an appraisal career to anyone under this industries long term pattern of grossly incompetent and often predatory management structures. Would you like to never get a raise the rest of your life and be faced with the choice of lying cheating and participating in consumer fraud as the primary avenue to success? Get fired or released for doing your job properly? Be managed and bossed by those not qualified to do your job with virtually no experience or understanding what your job is? Get blamed for everyone elses incompetence every last time? Get called racist all day by propagandized lunatics and risk losing everything you own for a single days pay? You could be an appraiser too!

Kind of puts it in perspective. Now only if removal of the blinders were that easy… I doubt what exists can be changed regardless of how much common sense it makes.

Lets not forget the numbers Cassandra (51 million appraisals over just a 10 year period (2013 – 2023). Systemic racism, “the oppression of a racial group to the advantage of another….”

You say ‘There have been at least 2 settlements surrounding bias cases” (1 in 25,000,000).

Odds of getting struck by lighting.
1 in 1,222,000
Killed in a plane crash.
1 in 11,000,000
Dying in a tornado.
1 in 13,000,000.

Based on the above, it seems we should never fly in a plane again, and be investing more to control the weather.

https://stacker.com/stories/art-culture/odds-50-random-events-happening-you

Seek the truth.

We wondered for over a decade, why nobody would stand up to account and investigate such obvious fraud in the appraisal industry, and other industries the various persons were personally aware also were not following ethical rules. Why don’t they do anything about these obvious frauds? Who’s still buying this?

The revelation from the DOGE effort from my perspective is that none of the government departments were willing to investigate the other departments much less their own, as this would eventually lead to discovery of their own lackluster oversight. A modern expression of go along to get along.

Now the gravy train is brought to a halt. Several generations worth of auditors and whistle blowers are finally seeing their day. Still firmly in favor of fines based on income all these years later. The pertinent question is obviously; Where did the money go? We’ll believe this is more than a power shift and exceptional political theater when the bank accounts and lenders whom routinely transferred the money are subpoenaed and audited for long term transfer and holdings history as well, retroactive accountability applied. Relieving the appraisal industry of unfounded attacks should be considered a pleasant byproduct of larger systems corrections.

DOGE has walked over 10% of fannie freddie and fhfa staff right out the door with 15 minutes notice on the first few days, senior staff and entire departments at once. Superfluous positions that were not statutorily mandated. More to come. Turns out radical activists torturing data and statistics until it confesses what they want to hear, is not all that popular or necessary.
Specifically, the groups and persons involved with slandering the appraisal profession appear to be, at least in part, among those relieved of their unnecessary government positions on the first round.

Pepsi challenge; Cross check those on the PAVE task force participating parties and company associations against the GSE & FHFA employees let go by DOGE. Would anyone speculate there might just be a correlation? The immediate removal of the WH PAVE web pages in the first few days of the new administration was likely a signal that we’re just now reconciling and dealing with.

As another poster stated; Good Riddance. We’re not going to miss those people. Remember the story of; for every federal employee, they create and impose so much regulatory restriction and red tape, they actually cause nine or more independent non governmental persons to either lose their jobs or never realize the small businesses they would have achieved if the federal employees were not there?

Pulling out an oldie but goodie meme on this one. The hits keep coming. And something something racist victim racist victim.

No one has ever explained how going further and further into debt is building wealth. It builds wealth for the lending institutions. Low down payment programs in certain areas cause more foreclosures and hurt everyone in those areas. You do realize that in 2008-2011 appraisers were also accused of being racists for overvaluing houses in certain areas and causing the housing crash by doing so. So is it racist to overvalue a house or undervalue a house? Or is it perhaps a preconceived value and unless the appraiser hits that magic # then they are biased. How does it build wealth when a buyer pays more than a house is worth only to be upsidedown in that house in a short time. Appraisers are the only unbiased third party in any transaction. Are you a Real Estate Agent? All Real Estate agents are biased, why? Because if the transaction doesn’t go through then they don’t get paid. Does that make Agents racist? IDTS, but they are paid to be biased because they should have their clients best interest at heart, even if that means the buyer overpays and consequently could be in financial trouble. The opposite of building weatlth.

When someone makes a statement like “We get appraisers inducted for fraud and other crimes all the time” and presents it like a badge of honor is troubling. To think this is a federal employee who has a total disregard for the rule of law makes her the criminal and not the solution. She has already inferred all appraisers are guilty as charged. Having worked in management for the feds I have little doubt her superiors know what she is saying on this blog. Talk about opening up Pandora box with DOGE. Abuse is their pet pieve.

The claim that there is widespread appraisal bias against Black and Latino homeowners is a misleading narrative which was aggressively being pushed by the NHFA, Biden/Kamala administration, and others with an agenda. Sure, there may be a few bad apples out there – an appraiser here or there who lets racial bias affect their judgement. But a handful of isolated incidents does not equate to a systemic, industry-wide problem. Implying that appraisers are broadly discriminating and undervaluing homes based on the owner’s race is an inflammatory accusation not backed up by the facts. It’s a false narrative that stirs up racial tensions and undermines faith in our industry.

Where’s the hard evidence of this widespread problem they claim exists? It’s nowhere to be found, because a few anecdotal stories don’t equal a broad industry trend, no matter how loudly some might scream it. This misleading rhetoric needs to stop.

Good stuff.

I stated that implicit bias is in all of us. And I’m well aware of the feelings left from unfair labeling and divisiveness. None of the coming for Me changes that these situations have occurred, proven or not. That if they occurred to even in a small percentage, they could significantly affect a family’s wealth potential.

You guys act like stating that bad apples amongst us exists is blasphemy. We get appraisers inducted for fraud and other crimes all the time. Doesn’t mean we all are of the same mindset or morality. Same here. If it’s not you, cool but it’s out there.

You my friend are spot on. This is the reason why the banks always settle. The bank can either spend $25,000 in legal fees and give the “victim” $75,000 and have it over in 30 days without admitting to any wrongdoing or the bank can spend $3,000,000 for a long drawn-out legal process and go to trial with a chance (albeit a small chance) of losing and then owing the “victim” millions and then having the label of being found guilty. The current system is so screwed up. The “victim” gets to go for the quad shakedown. They get to sue the appraiser, the appraiser’s LLC, the AMC, and the lender. 4 in 1. Unfortunately when “Victimization” is monetized, there will be counterfeits !!

To your point, the lenders themselves are settling the cases without the consent of the appraiser (not that they need that). It is cheaper for the lender to pay a few dollars now than lots of dollars later. It’s just business but to the untrained it appears to be an admission of guilt. As sad as that is.