Tagged: AI

"Valuable" Advice From an AMC - Valuation Connect 57

“Valuable” Advice From an AMC

The person who espouses this super valuable ‘advice’ does not have an appraiser’s license… Appraisers, if you think I’m serious about the message subject line, please reconsider! It’s time to actually call out an AMC who’s encouraging appraisers to ‘lower their fee’: Valuation Connect This outfit sent out a ‘newsletter’ to appraisers, part of which says this: “My advice would be to make adjustments based on the market. Some examples in a slow market would be adding a new county or zip code to your coverage area, lowering your fee for a product, or adding a new product to your...

FastApp AMC Alleged Violations of Appraiser Independence Requirements 52

Fastapp AMC Alleged Violations of AIR

The following court documents in the case Naftali Horowitz v. [xxx], Fastapp AMC founder v. Fastapp AMC president, confirm what appraisers have been saying all along, that if you want high-volume AMC work, you have to lower your fees to 1980’s level, have 24 hour turn times, and, above all, be a number hitter. Horowitz, Fastapp founder, filed a lawsuit in New York court on January 31, 2022 against defendant to, among other things, remove the defendant as an officer and director of the Company because, when he brought her on as shareholder in 2020, he claimed that she made...

House Measurement by Property Data Collector Gone Wrong 142

House Measurement by Property Data Collector Gone Wrong

The lender allowed an unlicensed property data collector give bad data to the appraiser… I work for this lender and they will not let my trainee inspect. The owners are now underwater by more than $100,000…  I’m sad and I’m mad! I recently took on a measure job for a client who was questioning the square footage of their home. The couple bought the house at the height of the market last year. They paid 12% over list price to get the house. They put an appraisal waiver in the contract which meant they could not walk away if the...

Bringing More People Into a Dying Profession! 84

Bringing More People Into a Dying Profession!

Some people want to bring more people (primarily of color, which is great) into a dying profession. But the profession is being killed off by (mostly white!) people who think technology is the golden spoon to accurate valuations.  Appraisers, I’ve been studying, and writing about since 2006, all kind of issues surrounding our profession, and frankly some currently does not make sense. As many know, ‘we’ have been accused of not having “enough black people” in appraiser ranks. The claim is that blacks only represent 3% or so of the total population of appraisers. The people engaged in blaming appraisers...

Average AMC Appraisal Fee 2021 vs 2022 134

Average AMC Appraisal Fee to the Appraiser

Average AMC appraisal fee to the appraiser: AMCs are taking far more of the borrower-paid fee this year than they did last year.  Appraisers, I recently sent out a message asking appraisers to send me three data points comparing borrower-paid appraisal cost, and average AMC paid assignment fees in October, November 2021 and the same months in 2022 – for SFR assignments. My intent was to provide actual useful AMC-paid fee data compared to what the borrower pays for ‘the appraisal’, without revealing specific fees in any particular location. Replies to that message were much less than I expected, and only...

Commercial Property: What Does a Real Estate Appraisal Cost? 6

Commercial Appraisal Reports: How Much Do They Cost?

Every business that owns a commercial property will require an appraisal. Commercial real estate transactions are the most common. Commercial real estate appraisals are necessary when acquiring or selling a commercial building. As with home appraisals, commercial property appraisals offer unbiased, third-party insight into their value. In contrast to residential properties such as single-family houses or condominiums, commercial appraisals estimate the value of stores, offices, hotels, apartment buildings, and the like. When you build, insure, tax, mortgage, or sell real estate, an appraisal is required. Besides helping secure a loan or ensure that you have enough insurance, it may also...

Appraisal Management Companies Take a Sizable Cut of the Appraisal Fee 97

AMCs Take a Sizable Cut of the Appraisal Fee

It still proves my point: Appraisal Management Companies take a sizable Cut of the appraisal fee… It was March 28th, 2018 that I wrote my very first blog post entitled “What’s not in your wallet?” where I went into great detail about how Appraisal Management Companies or AMCs get paid and how the consumer is not aware of the fact that the AMC is taking much of the fee while finding the cheapest and fastest appraiser. In that blog post, I gave many examples of the abuse appraisers and consumers are absorbing by these Appraisal Management Companies. How one borrower...

Remove Predominant Price from the New Forms 16

Remove Predominant Price from New Forms

Something that has ‘stuck in my craw’ or ‘frosted my cookies’ for years is the nonsense about stating a specific “PREDOMINANT” price for neighborhood homes. And then being forced to explain why the Opinion of Value is not precisely that number, and if not, why not. Real estate is IMPERFECT. Properties, especially comparables, seldom, if ever, sell for the very same or extremely similar prices. If that is the case, how can there be an exact “PREDOMINANT” figure? The possible exception to this are highly dense urban developments where the new construction homes are cookie cutters, and the builder sells...

Slow VA Appraisal Turnaround Times Is Overblown 21

Slow VA Appraisal Turnaround Times Is Overblown

Concerns about slow VA appraisal turnaround times is overblown… On September 14, 2022, US House passed HR 7735, “the Improving Access to the VA Home Loan Benefit Act of 2022“, legislation that proposes to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs’ appraisal requirements, including when an appraisal is required, how an appraisal is to be conducted, and who is eligible to conduct an appraisal. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has long been vocal about its support for the bill. “The bill will encourage important reforms to the agency’s requirements regarding when an appraisal is necessary, how appraisals are conducted, and who...

Appraisers Should Voluntarily Follow ANSI for Desktops 56

Appraisers Should Voluntarily Follow ANSI for Desktops?

Can someone explain how we should voluntarily follow ANSI standard on desktop appraisals? Appraisers, Fannie Mae has released a new FAQ document to help you understand how to implement and adhere to their ANSI measuring and reporting requirement. See the PDF document below or here. Normally these documents are informative and provide good information. But in reading this one, I’m particularly puzzled by Q13, and I’m not sure if that’s a bad omen or not! Q13 discusses DESKTOP appraisals, for which NO adherence to ANSI is required. It says so, right there, in Q13. And most of us now know...

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