They charged me 1500 for an appraisal on my 2000 square foot house and church combo. Listed in the city record as a residential.
I’m uncertain what to do, or how I stand up to this overprice appraisal fee???????

Well said, I’m learning now about this because I got hit with 1500 hundred dollar appraisal fee!!!!!! Y’all are barking about 750 and I’m like ??? I must have truly been robbed!!!!!!

The amc’s who operate in a fair and ethical manner are often at a disadvantage to the one’s w/ variable fees who pad expenses and income at the expense of others. I know of only a handful of amc’s w/ fixed fees but they are typically better to work with. At least one of them have already gone under and others lost clients to the sharks. Not withstanding though, hardly any of them pay consistent C&R compared to lender direct as a standard principal that I’m aware of. How could they when the value added service sales approach was only acceptable when placed on the appraisers back. I’ve given up on amc engagement so long as direct is available. At this point several years later most have the ‘advanced’ review tools available so the little proprietary we got more services jig is up. It’s like a flashback to old fashioned appraiser office games, they’re borrowing and copying data, poaching customers and relying on others data bases. One might almost guess they have no practical experience in actual normal residential scale appraisers offices, to run straight back to mistakes from the past.

Concur.

I truly would not mind paying 10% of any of the fees I charge to not have to do my own marketing;. To have a competent second look at my work so I don’t accidentally embarrass myself professionally wouldn’t offend me.

USPAP recognizes perfection is not attainable or expected-despite nationwide state regulatory agencies ‘gotcha’ leanings. AMCs that operate ethically could have been a benefit to the profession and the overall industry.

Sadly, they are not in the majority.

As a consumer of mortgage services a few years ago, I can tell you the consumer is often unable to effect this.  Even knowing my CU used SL amc, I was unable to demand any standards like minimum fee, alternate assignment, etc.  I offered more money to assure C&R to appraiser but was denied.  I quizzed about appraisers fee but was unable to learn that until I met the appraiser himself.  I like your line of reasoning though.  What gets me is many of the amc’s operate efficiently on a cost plus model, standard fees ranging from 60 to 150 based on my steady amc runs several years ago.  Defining if the amc has fixed cost vs variable rake is what defines the friendly amc’s from the dangerous ones whom play appraisers against each other.

Having tried to contact those persons, I’ve found the numbers redirect or some senior person handles that instead.  Only with a rare few have I observed the noted licensed individual as being the man in charge so to speak.  Some have dico’d numbers and it appears the data is not continually validated as current by the state.  But anyways, no, the chief guy is too far up there to justify penalties when the jr guys do something cheap like lie through their teeth, hang up the phone on you, or something ameture like turn in the wrong report, alter data, abuse assignment system privileges, call you relentlessly like a telemarketer, etc.  Individual licensing is lacking, it’s illogical to presume the ethics of one qualified person extend all the way down the ladder.  The one qualified person completes a tiny portion of the required duties, their licensing is basically irrelevant to the company at large.  I wonder how many of those ancillary workers could pass similar background tests.  My crystal ball is glowing, the amc industry will shed half of it’s employees overnight if they were required to be individually licensed.

Baggins-My friend, respectfully you are incorrect regarding no one being responsible under AMC state licensing structure. Each state has a managing or corporate officer that is responsible. In many cases two are listed. Now in the huge ones like CoreLogic it may be nothing more than the law firm or an in house attorney, but someone is held accountable for performance.

I would be more than willing to work with the home owner to file a complaint with the proper authorities. Most likely CFPB, but it could be one of the GSE regulators. At a bare minimum the States Real Estate Board regarding the misleading disclosure, and the AMC participation in the fraud.

It also makes me wonder how much of the fee went for the kickback to the lenders AMC selection manageror staff?

Even among bad AMCs a 275 cut MINUS upload fees on a 650 gross fee is horribly egregious! $375 to the AMC (plus the upload fee) is outright fraud against the borrower. One could make an argument that some surplus above the actual fee in the TRID might be reasonable for normal admin or review related to an appraisal but more than half the fee?! I contend that at 50%+ a “Lenders Administrative Management or AMC fee is the correct charge that should be listed in the TRID-NOT an appraisal fee.

Come on  folks. Where is the sense of outrage on behalf of the consumer?

AB please feel free to give my phone number direct. Heck she can call me on her own if she reads this. (714) 366 9404 . Background is at http://www.mfford.com or she can click the AGA link tied to my name in the post.

CoreLogic now owns that little bitty company they bought Mercury Network and are raising their fees and going to the bid system of giving out orders

I do not pay those fees, so it is worse than I know.

Mr. Retired Appraiser, I know many appraisers do not work for AMC. When the AMC contacted me, I got my regular fee. They all started with $250, but ended up paying over $500.

My way or the highway when they need me.

Don’t forget the integrated connected device fee, per each individual connected device!  What a racket.

That’s fine just raise your fee by that amount, plus convenience fee for allowing them to place that responsibility on you. It is the amc’s competing for appraisers. If the shoe fits, if the medicine is good. If we’re negotiating here….  Wait, I love negotiations!  Now that you’ve attempted a negotiation, let’s spend a lot of time on the phone and emails hashing this out and see how firm your position really is. What’s the opportunity here, whom made this decision, how can we work this to mutual advantage, how can we both improve our net earnings positions. I love negotiations. Shopping on the other hand, that’s just a really rudimentary form of negotiation typically present because you can’t trust the low level guys to provide effective negotiations over the phone, so you have them shop for best terms instead. It’s a question of macro vs micro management of the distribution process. I’m focused on landing clients, not landing individual deals. I turn every fee quote call into a marketing opportunity and try to talk about what can be done to move these to direct orders under consistent terms. You can learn a lot about amc’s, talking to the phone shoppers this way.

Tom I love this model, very inspiring. But is there any way to run that in mortgage lending and not have to deal with attorneys? LOL!  Can you run an amc please? I’d love it if you applied those principals to appraisal management and negotiating with lenders. Amc’s apparently have some of the most god awful negotiators on the planet, their ‘partner appraisers’ never get a good deal! Ha!

Funny story, I tell amc’s ‘if you’re not getting a good deal, fire your negotiator’. Even funnier is that the higher level person I say that to, is probably the one who negotiated the deals with lenders! ROFLROFL. I’m telling the guy who botched the negotiation he should have checked the market first, but he just does not understand what I’m talking about. You can’t make this up I swear to god.  If amc’s can not advocate for appraisers, they should step aside because many of us are master negotiators in the first place.  It takes a master of sales to successfully judge the other salesmens positions. If appraisers can’t negotiate with an amc, there is no hope for them and they should step aside as well.

But it’s not that simple Mr Retired. My credit union, clearly offering superior rates and terms, they use street links. Imagine my shock when I pursued an in house 15 successfully, but had to deal with a SL appraiser to acquire that.  Wow!  So I had to take off appraiser hat, put on smart consumer hat, and somehow get through it. At least he got 375, my fee was 550. Although I put up the resistance front very firmly, days of stalling out asking for appraiser fee disclosure ahead of time simply did not happen. The CU was willing to let me go as a customer, rather than answer my detailed questions about appraiser billing distribution. Confirming my opinion the consumer is powerless to effect the market for appraiser service fees. And confirming my opinion the appraiser themselves are the primary free market force for valuation service fees.

Derek, the Jefferson quote that lenders are more dangerous than standing armies is one mighty consideration with detailed substance behind it.  Know your history, or be condemned to repeat it.

Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 28 May 1816

that the mass of the citizens is the safest depository of their own rights, & especially that the evils flowing from the duperies of the people are less injurious than those from the egoism of their agents, I am a friend to that composition of government which has in it the most of this ingredient. And I sincerely believe with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; & that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale