Tagged: fees

Latest Bid Scam for Fee & Turn Time Quote via Mercury Network 26

Latest Bid Scam for Fee & Turn Time Quote

Lately, I and other appraisers who are ‘members’ of Mercury Network have been getting emails with what ‘looks like’ individual “bid requests” to quote fee and turn time for residential properties. I say ‘looks like’ because the email only has the singular appraiser’s email address showing. What’s actually been happening is the client is sending multiple emails to individual appraisers via Mercury Network. These emails always have an acceptance window of several hours, which is acceptable (unless 4 hrs or less). But they are not honoring the time frame window to present a bid, and withdraw the potential assignment, after...

USDA Appraisers Alarmed by Verdi Consulting & Clarocity's Engagement 17

Appraisers Alarmed by USDA’s Poor Decision

Verdi Consulting has no business being involved with appraisals… they have fraud examiners that should have done some due diligence on Clarocity… Nope, not going to happen… I received an email from what appeared to be from USDA. As a long time USDA appraiser, I opened the email: Verdi Consulting, Inc. has been engaged by the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Office as one of two vendors under a Blanket Purchase Agreement (“BPA”) for Nationwide Single-Family Housing Origination Appraisals. The USDA has provided your information as a preferred incumbent Vendor Appraiser. We would like to invite you to...

Appraisal Fee Transparency Falls Short - Appraisal Complexity Ignored 9

Appraisal Fee Transparency Bill Falls Short

No system that continues to allow (or limit) defining appraisal complexity to the lender or AMC will ever achieve reasonable, or fair compensation for the appraiser…. We need to do much better than “half a loaf” in our appraisal legislative efforts. Especially when that half loaf does no more than enshrine continued price-fixing by lenders; with the support & blessing of REVAA… WorkingRE published news of recent House of Representatives action. The Bill addresses consumer disclosure of AMC fees among other issues. While the American Guild of Appraisers applauds the efforts of those that worked in good faith on this,...

Appraisal Fee Transparency Act of 2019: Pivotal Point for Appraisers 21

Fee Transparency, Pivotal Point for Appraisers

…appraisers may finally have a chance at making the goal of fee transparency a reality… Keep your eyes open, events are happening fast. Ever since the passage of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) in 2010 and the monumental rise of Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), one of the main issues appraisers have pressed for is transparency for consumers in terms of the fee split between appraisers and AMCs. Specifically, how much of the actual “Appraisal Fee” being paid by the consumer goes to the licensed real estate professional and how much is withheld by the AMC “manager.” Now, over...

Game Over ServiceLink - AMCs Appraisal Schedule Fees Made Public! 61

Game Over ServiceLink

Now that ServiceLink fee schedule, indicating fees paid to appraisers and fees charged to the lenders, has been released to the public, there is absolutely no reason for in camera review… We are sure you have heard the old saying what goes around comes around, right. Well, here we are again; The FTC vs Louisiana Real Estate Appraisal Board case has been brought back into the spot-light. As you may recall, the LREAB filed a civil case against the FTC in attempt to stop the case against them. That case was denied due to lack of jurisdiction. Then the LREAB...

Appraisal Waivers and Hybrid Appraisals False Narrative - Quality Matters 23

Appraisal Waivers and Hybrid Appraisals

The fallacy of those who endorse Hybrid appraisals is their assumption that the appraiser’s field work is less valuable, less important, than their analytical work behind a computer. They feel the task of inspecting the property and driving comps is best farmed out to someone else with less training. The real truth is that the field work is critical! There is no way an appraiser can credibly analyze a property through the eyes of another… The Need for Speed: In a previous post entitled The Need for Speed, I explained that lenders and Appraisal Management Companies are on a mission to shorten the...

Time Saving Shortcuts Undermines Our Profession. Skip the Comp Photos 53

Skipping Comp Photos, Suicidal Shortcuts

I refuse to undermine my own profession by pretending that time saving shortcuts are always acceptable just because they are ‘more modern and progressive’. I know how long it takes to produce USPAP compliant, credible appraisal results. I charge accordingly for my time. I make no effort to compete on fees with half assed hybrids, evaluations, or single approach partially performed field work. Respectfully, neither should anyone else. Please stop undermining our own profession…. Recently The Appraiser Coach posted an article and links to a podcast suggesting its no longer necessary to photograph our comparable sales. I wrote a counter...

Failure to Inspect & Photograph Comps Backfires on Appraisers 52

Appraisers, did you Shoot yourself in the Foot?

When I explain the rules many of the appraisers start complaining: “An MLS photograph depicts the house at the time it sold so it’s more accurate than my photograph would be”… There’s a lot of yelling and screaming about bifurcated appraisals. Unfortunately, appraisers may have shot themselves in the foot when it comes to this issue. Allow me to provide an analogy to help explain the issue. I’m not sure if this happens in other areas of the country but in Seattle there is a strange “left leaning” way they do things: State and Federal governments perform numerous traffic studies, to...

Competitors on State Appraisal Boards - NSAO Supports HR 3619 6

Competitors on State Appraisal Boards

Phil Crawford has a new Voice of Appraisal show. This is one of the best shows Phil has ever done. He touches on issues with Bifurcation, Board competitors and even mentions VaCAP and our “Other Side of Things” article that received a lot of attention on Appraisers Blogs last week. Phil encourages support for VaCAP President Pat Turner to be appointed to the Appraisal Standards Board. The show is 36 minutes, so please take the time to listen. You might even get a good laugh out of some of the humor displayed. Listen to the show below. Board Competitors? VaCap,...

Committee Passes H.R. 3619 - Requires AMCs to Disclose their Fees 4

Committee Passes H.R. 3619

H.R. 3619 has passed out of committee and is now sitting in the US House for consideration. H.R.3619 would amend the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 to provide the Appraisal Subcommittee with the authority to modify annual registry fees for appraisal management companies, to maintain a registry of trainees and charge a lower trainee registry fee, and to allow grants to States to assist appraiser and potential appraiser compliance with the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria and would require AMCs to disclose their fees. The NCUA Quadrupled The Appraisal Threshold For Nonresidential Real Estate Loans By a 2-1...

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