The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code

The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code

Call me when AI stops summarizing and starts suing, because until it drags the AMC industry into court, raids their coffers, and rewires the entire system they broke, it’s just another overhyped spectator in the plunder parade. 

We’ve entered an era where more people are giving AI broader directives, asking bigger questions, and expecting deeper responses, only to receive yet another AI-generated summary. But what, exactly, is AI doing in response? That’s the real limitation of the tech. Right now, millions are spinning their wheels in digital circles, posing complex problems to a machine built to mimic intelligence. And when the dust settles? Nothing tangible shifts. No policy reforms. No systemic corrections. Just more people mesmerized by a tool instead of taking real, committed steps toward actual change.

Think of the limitations of AI as something similar to a math equation in an educational book. All the software is capable of doing is repeating already known information to educate a student. The AI does not think per se, it is only trained on existing data, able to use existing formulas. What many people online end up doing is believing they are somehow more capable when using the AI tech, despite their inability or reluctance to form these arguments themselves in person without the AI tech assistants presence.

That’s where it’s capability ends and the responsibility to actually do something with the information falls on the human. So for every minute people spend quizzing AI tech systems about all their real world problems, is another minute gone by, that nobody is making any real world effort to actually solve the problem. AI is nothing new, it never brings anything new to the table, other than the occasional note of a human using it becoming slightly better educated on topic matter they were not equipped to use prior, based on their own previous personal education.

Wake me when the AI system forms a legal argument, writes an official case file complaint, whatever it is lawyers actually do, pays the court fees, officially represents the appraisal industry and takes the AMC industry down for known violations of multitudes of legal and procedural violations over the past two decades if not more. Can you program it to make phone calls and send two billion outbound calls and emails to AMC’s asking them for their best fee and turn time, give them a taste of their own medicine? Can it reach into their bank accounts and transfer the stolen $12 billion of market potential appraisers were deprived of and return this to the appraisal industry? Can it fix the rigged market forces that are bleeding appraisers dry and reset the scales before the entire industry collapses?

I’m not impressed with AI tech. Never will be either. There is more value in being independently capable without having to rely on these sorts of tools. We need an advocate. That’s what the appraisal trade groups are supposed to be doing, but they refuse to do so. We know that’s not happening, as AMC executives apparently pull the strings over there in a clear as day conflict of interest scenario.

If the masses of appraisers who have serviced, and continue to service, the AMC industry had been better educated on the principles of ethics, regulatory guidance, and the original spirit behind those standards, they might have collectively stopped the plunder. But they don’t truly understand ethics, regulation, or the reasoning behind either. That’s why they’ve been, and continue to be, complicit in consumer fraud, industry-wide unethical behavior, and the AMC industry’s rise as the dominant market force in appraisal.

The AMC industry, alongside the appraisers still willing to play by its rules, has commandeered the majority share of work from the largest client base on the planet: the GSE twins. And it’s not stopping there. With backroom deals and cozy alliances forged with select appraisers, the AMC industry has conspired for decades to plunder the hell out of the appraisal profession.

TAF and other groups basically begged the AMC industry to take this route, as their own long-standing procedural violations were proof positive that they prioritized personal wealth and self-dealing far above the needs of the majority of licensed appraisers. They ignored some of the most basic principals of ethics; to always be fair and honest, and never deceive or take advantage of positions of power and trust.

That’s where Jeremy Bagott came in and blew the lid off the Cosmic Cobra, exposing the never-ending, institutionalized violations of states’ administrative procedural acts. The damned rules change so often in the appraisal industry, nobody even tries to keep up. Ethical compliance in appraisal? Pure illusion. The top brass are aligned with corporations functioning as agents of lenders, raking in junk fees and deceiving consumers to the tune of billions over the years. They willingly supported every action taken by so-called ‘stakeholders,’ even when those actions blatantly contradicted the spirit of regulation and the mission of genuine consumer protection.

So when AI spits out another lifeless summary, untethered from the predatory policies, the devaluation of labor, or the compounding cost of living crisis, it’s no wonder people mistake noise for knowledge. Quantitative easing buried in housing. Artificial rates inflating prices. And still, no systems realigned, no power surrendered, no accountability restored. If we’re waiting on AI to fix what human greed broke, we’ll be waiting long past the point of no return.

The plunder continues.
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Writing that myself, without any computerized assistance beyond being online, took about an hour out of my day. The key takeaway isn’t about the time; it’s about being informed and understanding what’s actually going on. I can make these arguments in person, and I routinely do. That’s what real representation and real debate look like. There’s simply no substitute for the real thing. I keep writing letters to the so-called decision-makers, urging them to take a serious look at the appraisal industry and save it before we go over the cliff. Yes, some efforts have been made, but they haven’t moved the line an inch. Why? Because those at the top will never willingly give up their power or ill-gotten gains. They’ll torch the whole thing before they relinquish control. And that’s exactly what they did. Appraisal modernization. Again, the plunder continues.

By BG, Certified Real Estate Appraiser.
opinion piece disclaimer

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8 Responses

  1. > Can you program it to make phone calls and send two billion outbound calls and emails to AMC’s asking them for their best fee and turn time, give them a taste of their own medicine?

    Yes, I get spam calls and texts all the time (fake real estate buyers, unpaid parking tickets, etc). Just takes a big pile of cash and some anonymity.

    While I don’t recommend that particular approach (prison is just not for me), there’s ways we can improve/open the ordering process – combine some of the new artificial intelligence capabilities with good ole’ fashioned database design, giving lenders the option to directly order appraisals, bypassing the predatory AMC model:

    https://appraisersblogs.com/bye-bye-amc-a-script-2-sideline-appraisal-middlemen

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  2. Avatar Pray Hard says:

    “Police Brutality against James Caan from Thief 1981”

    Frank (Jimmy Caan) said it best in this YouTube video. Be like Frank.

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    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Back in the day when it was more admirable to resist fraud than to accept it.

      Just found this on twitter today. Could not resist, lol.

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  3. The third party AMC model is not unique to our appraisal profession. It is now utilized in many if not most professional services, including the legal and accounting professions. While that does not maket it any better for those impacted by AMCs, we as appraisers are not alone in these 3rd party service connectors who profit from their non-traditional client-vendor management and engagement services. Unfortunately, with constantly emerging technologies and market motivations, there will be ongoing and forthcoming disruptions to traditional client engagement relationships. Since horseless carriages to computing, from computing to machine programming, from Blockbuster to Netflix, the only constant is change and the need to be adaptive and creative to stay relevant.

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    • Avatar Pray Hard says:

      The only thing you’re saying is that there will always be market parasites/extortionists wherever profit is found. They really provide no service or “management”. We didn’t ask for management and we don’t need management. THEY decided that we needed to be “managed” which simply translates to taking our money. Appraisal is now almost not appraisal as the AMC’s have literally destroyed it. Actual appraising has disappeared. There’s little or nothing but intractable rule following, duplicitous requirements, Newspeak instructions, misleading “bidding opportunities”, etc., etc., etc. But, whatever, go ahead and “adapt”.

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      • Agree, we didn’t ask for mangement and don’t need management. Simply delete the AMC bid request emails and don’t click on their vendor invite links, that has worked very well for many of us. That is likely the only way to impact the AMC industry and set you free from their tyranical management.

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    • Baggins Baggins says:

      Not the same. The GSE program is in place by way of congressional charter. It is backstopped by the tax payer. The amc’s presence alongside regulatory changes which diminished the appraisers presence has caused a breakdown of fundamental consumer protection mechanisms which were supposed to be firmly in place via the regulatory structure to protect the stability and open access to the lending programs, to protect the taxpayer back stop.

      Unlike mortgage lending, people whom seek an available vendor in other professional realms, they have the opportunity to shop and qualify the servicers or third party companies which may be in place, and can readily substitute them out for better quality or various different values, as they so wish, when they so wish. They are far more likely to have a more transparent understanding of the fee distribution structures.

      They don’t face the impossible situation of having to walk away from their mortgage qualification, to need to walk into an entirely different lending institution where none of their money or finances are in place, in order to simply acquire a more competent and ethical appraiser valuation professional. They are forced into the system without choices.

      If you wanted a more straight forward analogy to the model of third party servicers throughout the broader business world, consumers would need to be able to have a choice to source their own appraiser that the lender would then have their own choice of accepting their work or not. You’ve mentioned several free market changes through history. Where is the free market for mortgage lending consumers needing or wanting appraisers services? It’s not there.

      Reverse the analogy, when will the GSE programs simply go away as being recognized as having made themselves irrelevant, or having been outpaced by new technology? Would lenders operate the same way without the safety net? Policy for sale. Hands out for more government money. Bail ins, bail outs. A pay to play system. Current status of GSE program managers; tap dancing on a bubble, cigar and whiskey in hand.

      https://appraisersblogs.com/the-parea-program-costly-promises-empty-support/#comment-45552

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  4. Avatar Joseph Fassari says:

    The system has been broken since i started in 1991. Each time making changes that do not work. They about doing a cost approach. I would like to have 25 appraisers go into a home and come out saying how many years left it has. I guarantee the answers would be so random it would make everyone laugh. Assigning depreciation is not a easy guess because we are not to be experts in structural and other miscellaneous issues. Not only that I surveyed several builders and they don’t agree with the publications we have to look at for that short cost approach one size fit all. They want us to do an income approach even though the rents may not be correctly reported on the MLS. If you even find any. I see new kitchens on MLS reports. But when you look at the pictures You see 50-year-old Pine cabinets painted white. A total whitewash, remember you cannot lose your bias or else. i stopped taking work from Traditional means (before Covid). Did not need the BS. i feel sorry for the newcomers, It isn’t worth 20 years. I have been warning people wanting to come into this business to look elsewhere. I predicted 2008 (I said this in 2006 the banks will break). It did and many paid a heavy price. It’s happening again. The all cash down buyers are back and flipping homes. The perfect storm is ready to happen. nothing is fixed. Just Band-Aids.

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The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code

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