Tagged: adjust

Stolen Appraisals Class Action - Theft of Appraisers' Data 87

Theft of Appraisers’ Data

…they charge appraisers an upload fee for the privilege of having their data stolen… I would never allow my data to be used for or by a service that specifically uses to create, modify or enhance products designed to compete with my professional services to the detriment of my business and profession. THAT is something that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals identified when they found that CoreLogic’s subsidiary FNC STOLE appraisers data after promising them data security. FNC stole data. We now know FNMA also stole data. Alamode is delving into individuals own personal databases in order to even...

How To Charge Cancellation Fees - 'We Cancelled, Didn’t the Bank Tell You?' 8

How To Charge Cancellation Fees

A-Clients who have no qualms paying cancellation fees… You’ve been driving for more than an hour and a half to your appraisal appointment. So, you decide to call the client and let them know you’re almost there – only for you to get told, ‘We cancelled, didn’t the bank tell you?’ For those involved in real estate appraisal, this is an all too common experience. The flip side is that they get just as angry when the bank cancels and we don’t call them to inform them. So let me share some tips with you on how to effectively deal...

The Way Things Used To Be - Appraisal fees unchanged in two decades 127

The Way Things Used To Be

“We haven’t had a raise in two decades.” Give me a break! It’s a common complaint in our industry that real estate appraisers haven’t had a raise in two decades. The argument goes that twenty years ago, the standard fee for an appraisal was $350. Fast forward twenty years and it’s still $350. That’s a great sound bite, but the actual logic is deeply flawed. In real terms, we’ve had a huge raise thanks to the massively reduced amount of time we spend on our appraisals. It’s something I’ve written about before (Never Had a Raise in 20 Years), but...

AMC Abuses? What's Your Story? 85

AMC Abuses? What’s Your Story?

Many of you have filed formal complaints against AMC abuses with State appraisal boards… The place was a small subdivision developed with coastal style homes on the Ocean side of route 12 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The bank was Bank of America. The AMC was LandSafe and the time was just before Corelogic purchase of Landsafe for $122 million. I was asked by this AMC to appraise a home for a purchase transaction. My comparable sales consisted of one recent sale of the next door neighbor, one on the same street, and two closed sales in the...

ClearVal Value IS So ClearCut - What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal” 162

What IS a “ClearVal Appraisal”?

Clear Capital ClearVal… Value Not So ClearCut… I’ve finally had an opportunity to read a hybrid ‘appraisal’ start to finish. All may read the unedited, non-redacted version in all its glory… or infamy, as the case may be. Please click here (report also embedded below) and read it first. I’ll wait right here. Finished? Great. One thing is clear. It is not an appraisal by any current accepted definition that I am familiar with. Ironically, there is also very little that is clear as far as support for the opined values is concerned. (I’m old fashioned and think it should...

Rounding of Adjustments Because We Are Just Not That Good 16

Adjustment Question

Rounding of adjustments is perfectly acceptable. Would someone kindly, and logically, explain to me why the ‘Site’ is adjusted precisely at $0.20 per square foot, down to the nearest dollar, but all other adjustments are rounded to $50? Are ‘we’ appraisers really that good, where we can divine buyer motivations or values (i.e., adjustments) as accurately as that?  In other words: “Well, I believe it’s worth exactly that much.” Usually I see this kind of adjustment practice to the nearest dollar when applied to the Gross Living Area and below grade areas, which is also screwy (IMHO).  This is the...

Subject Inspection for Hybrid Appraisals & USPAP Compliance 62

USPAP Compliance & Hybrid Appraisals

WHO does the SUBJECT INSPECTION? Appraisers, Some appraisers have questioned the name ‘Hybrid Appraisal’ because the requesting client WON’T USE THAT NAME for the product. When they call or email you, they’ll say something like “We have a really fast appraisal for you to do that you can do on your desktop without leaving your office.”, or “Can you do an exterior appraisal for us?” or they might identify it by the ‘name’ that client uses for the product. The FIRST question you need to ask is simple: WHO does the SUBJECT INSPECTION? If they say ‘someone else does that’…...

Subject as Comparable Sale: Can You Use the Subject as a Comp? 19

Can You Use the Subject as a Comp?

To keep my finger on the pulse of the real estate appraisal community, I like to check in on Facebook groups dedicated to our profession. A little while ago, I noticed that the same question was coming up over and over again; ‘can you use the subject as a comparable sale?’ When you work in a big, metropolitan area, this isn’t really an issue. Real estate appraisers in those places would probably dismiss this idea out of hand; they’re going to have plenty of comparables to use in their valuation process. In rural areas like the one in which I...

Metro-West Solicitation Blast & Appraiser's Response 48

Appraiser’s Response to Metro-West

Metro-West Appraisal, thank you for your bulk email solicitation… I will consider accepting work from you on the following basis: My minimum fee for non complex FNMA guideline compliant SFRs is $550 (net). There are no exceptions. Any upload fees or other forms of service charges  or ‘convenience’ fees will be added to that fee. I do not accept or authorize discounting of the fee for any reason. The premium or surcharge for property with a transaction amount or other characteristic that requires completion by a certified appraiser, is a minimum of $250. However the final bid will depend on...

Weighting Process & Gridding of Comparable Sales - AppraisersBlogs 2

Results of Comps Grid Placement Survey

Weighting Process & Gridding of Comparable Sales Couple of weeks ago, I sent out a survey to NW WA State appraisers asking how they organize the comps grid page(s) on completed reports. Of the appraisers emailed, approximately 10% responded. Thank you. I did a limited distribution to keep my compiling time to a minimum, but I wanted to share the results with appraisers across the country as an FYI. I also sent a similar query to review appraisers I know. I offered 6 possible ways to do the grid, but as often happens, several appraisers wrote back saying they did it differently...

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