Outrage Over Connect by ValueLink’s New Monthly “Junk Fee”
The recent announcement from Connect by ValueLink has sparked outrage among appraisers. Effective January 1, 2025, the company plans to institute a new $19.99 monthly user fee for all appraisers utilizing their portal to receive and submit appraisal orders. This fee will be in addition to the existing technology fees already charged on a per-appraisal basis. Understandably, many appraisers are up in arms over this development, viewing it as yet another “junk fee” that will only serve to erode their already-thin profit margins.
What makes this particularly galling for appraisers is the fact that it is often appraisal management companies, mortgage brokers and lenders, not the appraisers themselves, who have chosen to work with the Connect by ValueLink platform. These clients have essentially mandated the use of this portal, leaving appraisers with little choice but to comply if they wish to continue receiving orders.
The company’s claim that the new $19.99 monthly fee will allow them to “continue delivering great value and maintaining exceptional service” rings hollow. Many appraisers struggle to see how this additional cost will translate into tangible benefits or improved efficiency. In fact, many have expressed staunch opposition, with some threatening to stop using the platform altogether. After all, the core functions have remained largely unchanged, leading many to view this as a naked attempt to extract more revenue from the professionals enabling their business model.
The appraisal community has responded with outrage, as many appraisers have vowed to refuse paying the new monthly fee. Rightly, they argue that as the true experts and talent in the field, they hold significant leverage and should not be forced to accept such blatant “extortion” in the form of these “junk fees.” The sentiment among appraisers is clear: they are the indispensable ingredients in the proverbial “cake,” and without their participation, the entire system will grind to a halt. As such, appraisers are rallying their colleagues to collectively stand firm and reject this latest attempt to nickel-and-dime the profession, sending a strong message that the appraisal community will not be taken for granted or exploited. The stage is set for a showdown, as appraisers unite in their resolute stance: “Just say no.” It remains to be seen how this standoff will ultimately play out, but appraisers drawing a firm line, making it abundantly clear they will not simply acquiesce to this thinly veiled attempt at extortion.
- Outrage Over Connect by ValueLink’s New Monthly “Junk Fee” - November 27, 2024
- ARCC Discussion Exposes GSEs Agenda to Reduce Appraisal “Friction” - November 22, 2024
- FHFA’s Appraisal Waivers Expansion - October 29, 2024
Appraisers, don’t go meekly into the night! I know we lean “introverted”, but put your foot down and say HELL NO. Call your lender clients on there and raise hell. Contact this software company and let them know what you think – overwhelm their customer support if you must. Drive them crazy until they roll this back.
Lenders, start looking into other alternative platforms like RealWired (https://realwired.com) that don’t play these games. Appraisers are already getting nickel and dimed and squeezed at every corner. You need to be on the appraisers side, they are literally protecting your business. Advocate for them!
It is unacceptable to be required to pay a fee to use a platform that the lenders/amcs themselves chose. It would be a different story if this platform was sourcing the work directly from banks on your behalf and charging a referral/finders fee like reggora or Appraisal Port. But this is just taking advantage of appraisers because we’re too nice. If the banks want to use that platform, fine – but they are the customer and should be the ones paying all fees (and not even passing down bullshit and totally made up tech fees, for that matter)
https://valuelinksoftware.com/customers
These are the AMc’s that utilize this platform. I am emailing ALL of them.
It has nothing to do with AMCs who use this company for a platform. There are two different parts here – AMCs who lease their software and then Connect which is an ordering platform like AP. The $20 monthly fee applies to the ordering platform, not the AMCs that lease their software.
That being said there is nothing to stop AMCs from adding additional fees as we all know, but let’s call it what it is.
Is the Connect platform optional? If you’re not on it, can you still receive orders from the AMCs via the platform that the AMCs chose without extra junk fees?
In all honesty….this just makes me laugh.
MANY years ago a lot of AMC’s and platforms started to charge these “junk” fees. I call them nuisance fees. Banks do the same thing. Upload fee; portal fee; technology fee; transaction fee……..they have called them many, many names.
I complained, on here and everywhere else appraisers discuss things. Yet……many of my peers brushed it off suggesting “just add the fee to your appraisal fee”. I always disagreed and was badmouthed.
So now here we are and the AMC’s/Lenders/Etc., have found yet another way to charge appraisers another fee. This fee, appears to be a fee just to be able to “possibly” participate in obtaining appraisal orders.
Too many appraisers, have been too ignorant (STUPID) for far too long.
Appraisers, you ALLOWED this too happen. For now, I’ll do VA and private work and just shake my head. In less than two years, I’m out…retired and enjoying a glass of wine as the sunsets happen.
Good Luck
Pimp fee?
They guy I used to work for would tell AMC’s “I don’t need a pimp”, then slam the phone down. I would LMAO! He’s deceased now. I miss those days.
I received the notice but don’t remember ever getting an order through them. I went to their site and saw one order in a year. I checked my records and the order never went through them. It came straight from the client. I never went to their site to get that one low fee order or upload a report. As far as I can tell they had nothing to do with the order on my end. Why would I pay the AMC’s costs and fees? I never signed up with ValueLink. The AMC client signed up with ValueLink. Just another company trying to get bogus subscriber fees because they are financially hurting in these slow times.
bogus subscriber fees…… I call then dumb subscriber fees.
So in other words: Work has dried up so much these platforms are desperate to make a buck and now they are going after the appraisers. I refuse to pay for this. My clients either need me enough to cover the cost or I won’t do the work. This is nuts.
They destroy our businesses then expect us to bail them out … smirk …
P. Hard, you are exactly correct. Amazing how some appraisers can accept this professional abuse.
LOL….these AMC junk fees are really ridiculous. But what’s even more ridiculous is that some appraisers will actually pay these junk fees.
https://www.mercuryvmp.com/
Make a smarter choice.
I thought Value Link was an appraisal management company. Who could keep up with these changes?
The terms specifically say; you’ll only be charged the monthly fee on months when you receive orders. My crystal ball is glowing; Your stipulation and revision request which came on the first day of that next month, that counts and now you get billed for two months, even though you only took in one order. They’ll find a way.
https://valuelinkconnect.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
If you want to object directly, there is the open a help ticket request link.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-vF01SlmXbgpfrPvN1T3Sw/videos
Here is a look at the faces of the geniuses whom dreamed this up. Dialing it in working from home, focus on DEI policies. All about automation. There was a Clear Capital amc logo in one of the videos. If you want to pay more bills, make sure to sign up.
Is this per AMC client using this platform or just one fee for the Value Link platform? I do work for several AMC’s that use the platform, this could get pricey.
Won’t be participating. If they want to send me 10-20 easy, proximate orders a month and paying the $20 fee once, I’ll consider it. But getting one or two orders a month where I have to drive 600 miles, nope. Among the typical portal fees, M&S fees, etc., it’s simply not worth it. Like you guys, I didn’t get into this business to be extorted at every turn. Jimmy Caan still had the best line EVER in “Thief” when the cops were beating him up trying to extort $ from him.
One could join emerging networks and make suggestions specifically for the appraisal industry. To suggest auditing and abolishing amc companies, rolling back waivers and new forms programs, rolling back just about every FHFA action which diminishes appraisers presence, saving the appraisal industry in general. The ability to go over the heads of those purposefully destroying our careers.
THIS, 1m vid intro:
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1854383649157771482
SITE:
https://www.policiesforpeople.com/
‘A direct line to team Trump’. Nothing directly for appraisal yet. Please contribute. Bookmark.
https://forum.policiesforpeople.com/search?q=appraisal
Second link went dead, apparently it’s query based and expired.
Use this instead, and simply search the term appraisal, or whatever you would like really.
https://forum.policiesforpeople.com/search
https://forum.policiesforpeople.com/
Please write a letter to this group, make a suggestion to save the appraisal industry.
What about UWM’s use of ANOW with $29.90 charged for the underwriting of our own files; of which is on top of the $25 and $20 (rounded) for tech and order fees. That’s $80 and for what?
It’s a scam. Other industries don’t get away with this type of behavior because they stand up for themselves.
It’s because appraisers are “special”. It makes me wonder if they put the “special” in the old term Special Education for appraisers.
No problem, just add $25 to each appraisal as bank required technical fee. You may end up making more money. It is basically a “cost of goods” with the $5 extra dollars being your processing fee. Banks should understand since their lending rates generally go up with the FED rises as their costs rise. Standard business practice to protect margins.
This is exactly what I have done. I never articulate that to the client because they get mad. If I just explain quality of work, scope of work coupled with increasing cost of doing business from MLS and software services with consideration to CE costs going even higher, fees go higher. HIGHER AND HIGHER. New report requirements in 2025-2026, HIGHER. Got a new AI designation, HIGHER. New tech just bought, higher. Everything is higher with no price cuts in the foreseeable future.
It’s not a standard biz practice to pass fees as line items like this. In fact, doing so just encourages their rotten behavior.
I think many appraisers who have not been in the banking world miss the point. The point is not just that they are extracting revenue from us. The point is that especially for AMC‘s and lenders they get charged by platforms valuelink on a “per transaction fee.” So when they pass this cost onto appraisers not only does it make the technology platform free for the AMC or lender, but they get to hide one of the costs of doing business. Instead of this fee being shown to the borrower as a processing fee from the bank, it gets hidden (just like the AMC management fee) as part of the “appraisal fee”. So if we charge extra in our fees to account for this tech fee, that’s great for the lenders because then it looks like we are charging more and they get to hide their cost of doing business from the borrower and it appears their loan fees are lower than they actually are. It sure would be great if we had some kind of federal agency in charge of protecting consumers from financial issues like this. We could even call it something like the “consumer financial protection bureau”. If only.
If you work for AMC’s, you are part of the problem. I never have, and never will. There, fixed it for you. See how easy that is?
Again, ValueLink is an ordering platform like Encompass, AppraisalPort or Mercury Network. It’s not an AMC. Please go back and read the article.
No, they are not. The are an order management platform for AMCs and banks. It’s not the same at all. It’s the platform they chose (and are the client of) and they should bare the costs, not force appraisers into pay-to-play.
AppraisalPort, Mercury Network and Reggora are order sourcing platforms that cut out the AMC middleman and charge a “finders fee” or “lead fee” which is very common business practice (and I think, I pretty good model as you only pay when they bring you work).
Only appraiser’s could get into an argument about whether ValueLink is an AMC or not. They are not an AMC, which is my point. O.K. I don’t know the ins and outs of ValueLink, but I can tell you, my one bank client went from the Encompass platform to ValueLink. More the same than not.
Encompass is in the same class of vendor management software like ValueLink that banks and AMCs use to manage their order workflow and their appraisal “panel”. The bank/AMC is the client of software and they should pay the full cost.
AppraisalPort, Mercury Network and Reggora are order sourcing platforms that bypass AMCs and allow lenders to order appraisal directly from appraisers. Appraisers pay a finders/lead fee for the service which is fair as it brings work.
Source: I’m a former appraiser and now provider of software to appraisers
I don’t know what you keep going on and on about. Is ValueLink more like Encompass or more like an AMC? Very much more similar to a Encompass or any other ordering platform. Source: trust me bro
I thought I explained it as clearly as possible. ValueLinked and Encompass are “order management” software that banks, lenders and AMCs use. Well, Encompass is more than that and basically LOS software.
AppraisalPort, Reggora, etc allow lenders to bypass the AMC model and order directly from appraisers without the middleman.
Source: I’ve run Appraisal Inbox (workflow and office management software for appraisers) for over a decade, bro.
Again, on and on about the schematics of an ordering platform. My point in my original post, which wasn’t directed to you, was that it’s not an AMC. //Endthread
Sorry, Chase, but you’re just wrong about this. I know this for a fact because I used to be the chief appraiser of a regional bank and we as a bank could choose to use any of these platforms. For example, we could choose to utilize Appraisal scope (or similar), which is used by many appraisal management companies. OR, we could choose to use mercury network. Both would’ve had a similar fee structure for us as a bank (no AMC involved in either case) and we could have used our own appraisal panel within even a system like Mercury (thus no “order sourcing” for appraisers not on our panel already). There is a per-transaction fee on either one of those systems and we could choose to pass that fee onto the appraiser and make it essentially free for the bank. I think you’ve been reading marketing hype a little too much about systems like mercury. They are not “order sourcing” platforms any more than any of the other software platforms that an appraisal management company or a bank can choose to use. I’m no longer with the bank and that was just a brief hiatus from my fee appraisal work over the decades so I’ve seen both sides of this situation very close. I know that most appraisers don’t see the lending side of how some of these platforms work, but I’ve seen the software contracts and the set up and exactly how it works because I set it up for our bank. I realize you’re just trying to defend your product here, but you’re not giving appraisers the true facts about these other systems. The absolute truth that cannot be disputed is that the fees for these systems are being passed through and hidden within the appraisal fee on closing statements (assuming appraisers raise their fee to compensate) so that lenders and Appraisal management companies do not have to show this extra cost as an operational/loan cost on the lender side, but they can hide it from borrowers as part of the “appraisal fee”. Borrowers have been paying millions and millions of dollars in these fees over the past decades, not understanding that this cost was not paying for an appraisal at all.
> I realize you’re just trying to defend your product here
Appraisal Inbox is a different class of product – it’s order and office management software for appraisers, not lenders/banks/amcs. Appraisers are our customers – we’ actually the inverse of these other platforms. Appraisers use our product to keep up with the countless order sourcing and order management platforms that the banks subject them to.
Regorra is awful. They refused to provide tools for an appraiser to avoid amc bidding spam. I signed up for one client whom moved there, dealt with several hundred amc spam emails, emailed management, they refused to help, so I removed my profile.
Your site is interesting. Any way you can have usajobs content on there as well?
Thanks, JobsInAppraisal.com is something that I’ve wanted to put together for a long time. Trainee and internship type openings are free to post.
I’m glad to get any of those government appraisal jobs openings up on the site if the local jurisdictions are willing to pay (my wife tells me we need to keep our toddler fed).
Well, I’ve been “part of the problem” for awhile (and it irks the Hell out of me), just to keep my head above water. But, I hardly ever bid on anything any longer now because I can’t even get in dollars what I was getting 20-30 years ago. Which means that even if I do get something close to my old fees, then I’m really maybe making 25% of what I used to make taking inflation into account. In short, it’s simply not worth it.
Thanks for the heads up. I just called their number 888-587-0805 to get my account deleted from their portal. I haven’t gotten a single order since signing up. And I don’t want to leave my account sitting there to get billed for any single order I might get in the future. They just about had an aneurism. The guy from India answering my phone during business hours tried to argue with me about it and convince me…. I told them why. Then they wanted me to send an email to support@valuelinksoftware.com so the request is also in writing. So, I did. The severe response from him told me that they absolutely do NOT want to lose appraisers from their portal. So, all the people not currently getting work from them should request removal. That will signal to them in a big way. Maybe they’ll cancel this B.S.
Same. Not a single order ever through that portal. Jumped the shark.
And BTW everyone, you’re not going to get an order from “ValueLink” unless you have a lender or an AMC that uses the platform.
The clarification on modeling type is simply not necessary. What helpful tools are these assignment platforms bringing to the table that nobody else is? There is absolutely nothing that makes any of them unique or better than the others.
Now we’re supposed to buy into a monthly subscription model so they can channel kickbacks to amc’s and stage a new system where all appraisers get at least one a month in order to keep a new billing revenue stream gravy train going? They might as well be a pay to list site now because if the appraiser does not agree to pay, they become invisible on the vendor list. This is not going to be a voluntary payment agreement. They will not be sending any bills. They will require appraisers agreement and payment information or the appraiser won’t even be able to use the system anymore. That’s their DEI initiatives in action. More for them, less for you.
The platform is ridiculous anyways. It’s overly complicated and never was anything similar to Mercury or Scope. Totally the opposite of what Mercury was first conceived for.
Comment edit; Is this related to this company? Value Link. Valuation Link. Who could keep up with this?
https://www.gjsco.com/schwartz-co-advises-valuation-link-in-its-sale-to-class-valuation
In short, no matter what your occupation, if you’re an independent business person, educated, experienced, certified, whatever, etc. and making your own independent living, there is some corporate “disruptor”, domestic or foreign, out there who is going to do everything they possibly can to extort your income and destroy you unless you’re powerful enough politically to stop them. We appraisers are simply not powerful enough to stop them. Who knows? It might turn around someday, but I’ll be six feet under by then.
Every newly issued or renewed appraisers license should now also come with a suicide prevention hotline number.
Well, there are rapidly declining numbers of appraisers here in the Golden State. We lost 62 licensees (net) in the past month alone. Over two per day. We’ll dip below the 8000 threshold in the next month or so, for the first time since the advent of licensure in the early 1990’s. Bear in mind there were over 22,000 at the peak. The remaining population is aging out, with no replacements in sight. Oh, I forgot. PAREA is going to fix it.
The steady effort to circumvent original legislative intent to reduce the mandate to use appraisers whom served to protect consumers and the liquidity of the systems. One action at a time they eroded this vital check and balance.
Each individual action cut out a collective percentage from the pool of available work orders for appraisers. Each one contributed to a clandestine welfare program. The actual damage is only now being realized, per your figures stated. The real damage will not be measured in loss of appraisers licenses, but rather human suffering and financial destitution as these ‘modernized’ systems will no longer adequately protect American consumers from predatory interests.
Nice lid, too.