The Shadowy AMC Fees Draining Billions from Homebuyers
The hidden costs of appraisal management companies (AMCs) in the real estate industry have faced growing scrutiny, as highlighted by a recent Business Insider article titled “The Hidden Middleman who cost homebuyers $12 billion dollars and counting.” The article examines the opaque practices of AMCs, which frequently charge exorbitant fees that can exceed the amount paid to the appraiser. As highlighted by former Appraisal Institute CEO Cindy Chance, this issue has faced significant resistance from entrenched interests, mirroring the challenges faced in other industries such as the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector, which ultimately led to an FTC investigation.
The Appraisal Regulation Compliance Council (ARCC), co-founded by Josh Tucker, has meticulously collected evidence of this fee disparity, revealing instances where AMCs like Class Valuation, Clear Capital, Solidifi, and Nations Valuation Services have charged fees that match or exceed the appraiser’s compensation. In one striking example, an appraisal managed by Solidifi for a single-family home in California listed the appraiser’s fee as $375, while the AMC’s fee was a staggering $725. Estimates suggest that AMCs could have charged consumers approximately $12.3 billion over a five-year period, with Solidifi reporting margins of up to 28% after subtracting appraiser payments and other transaction costs. While AMCs argue that their fees are justified by the additional services they provide, such as quality control, a 2018 Federal Housing Finance Agency working paper found no clear evidence of systematic quality differences between AMC and non-AMC appraisals.
The solution seems simple: require lenders to disclose AMCs’ fees clearly to consumers, allowing them to make informed decisions about the fairness of the charges. Some states already mandate this disclosure, but there is no federal requirement in place. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has the authority to require this disclosure under the Dodd-Frank Act but decided against it in 2013, citing concerns about information overload for consumers. Industry leaders argue that this decision was a mistake and has allowed AMCs to abuse the system, reaping significant financial benefits at the expense of consumers and lenders. As Tucker aptly puts it, “We have a captured industry where these middlemen get to kind of do whatever they want.” It is time for regulators and industry stakeholders to take action and ensure that the appraisal process is transparent, fair, and serves the best interests of homebuyers.
- The Shadowy AMC Fees Draining Billions from Homebuyers - January 9, 2025
- Appraisal Industry Outlook Under Trump Administration - January 6, 2025
- Outrage Over Connect by ValueLink’s New Monthly “Junk Fee” - November 27, 2024
Fraud
https://appraisersblogs.com/uncovering-flaws-in-fha-appraisal-n-loan-review-process/#comments
Thanks for giving this more light!
Thank you Josh Tucker for your efforts over the past few years, amazing effort! Hopefully the media will cover this with the same ‘appraisal bias’ rigor
And why would anyone with half a brain believe FHFA? They have an agenda. Everyone needs to see through the trash.
Why does the author seemed shocked that, “in California listed the appraiser’s fee as $375, while the AMC’s fee was a staggering $725”. THIS HAPPENS EVER DAY IN CALIFORNIA. Just yesterday (from NVS), an appraiser friend of mine received an order for $275 for a property located at 4055 Bermuda Dunes Pl, Bonita, CA 91902 (+/- 1.8 million / 6 Br, 5 Ba, 3,866 sf, etc.). I would bet a Coke that the appraisal fee paid by the borrower was at least $1,000 ($725 take for the AMC).
Considering CA has around 12% of the countries population, running the numbers at $725 per AMC take means huge undisclosed profits.
Seek the truth.
I do not answer any amc that offers me a ridiculous fee. If I do not get my fee i do not accept the engagement. I do not negotiate my fee. I wish that we could collect our fees at the door or in advance as I do on 98% of non amc orders.
Bill
Get ALL the information on that please!!
Pat, what mechanisms are available to force a complete audit of the amc industry and the lenders data, for their engagement with amcs? Does that fall under SEC? OCC? Just get some appraisers together and sign up with all the amc companies, if one is licensed and insured, they’ll put appraisers on panel. Watch the data come in on autopilot. If lawyers become involved, appraisers whom do not work with amc’s should also be included, as we have been denied right to work under ethically acceptable terms.
If a lender is requiring an AMC service than the lender needs to be paying for that service not the consumer. Period
$Billions in overcharges ?? Seems that borrowers and Independent Appraisers may be owed some Reparations 😉 Just dreaming out loud…
Not only that think about the orders that went to the appraiser with the cheaper fee from another city or less competent. I can only imagine some cases where there is a case for disservice directly caused by the AMC
JW- This is the Colorado Front Range. From Ft Collins to Pueblo it’s still the wild west. I’ve reviewed appraisals with full 1004 fees for $240 – and be located 80+ miles away. VA still sends Denver metro area appraisers all over the state, which screws over local appraisers work volume.
The AMC model is broken, and the gold standard of appraisal (VA) is now typical inefficient gov’t bureaucratic bloat.
And that is just over the last 5 years! This has been going on (on a massive scale) for 16 years now.
We can call it whatever we want and it is sad that with all the in your face evidence that the management companies are allowed to continue on the path of screwing the consumer, everybodies ass is on fire to come after the appraiser for trumped up charges that have no substance. This is just additional evidence there is an agenda to take down the appraisal industry at any cost. When the government is tripping over the dollars to get to the pennies and worse, allowing Americans to knowingly be screwed over something is obviously going on behind closed doors.
I think “one striking example” is probably just a typo. Thousands of striking examples would be something that needs to be investigated though. Let’s move on to learning how to change the right fee.
We actually do have a list of over 1,000 examples. This isn’t a one off, this is a consistent practice of many AMCs.
Many AMC’s – or most ? I say most. Out of the 150+/- that are working in NC I know of exactly 1 that discloses the fee split on their LOE. 1 out of 150+/- The other 149 have explicit verbage on their order forms or LOE that state “DO NOT INCLULDE AN INVOICE”!!!! Why so obtuse 😉 It’s like they have a license to steal ?? Dudd-Fwank created this mess – they should fix it. REVISIONS NEEDED!!!
Previously I wrote the site owner here. I don’t understand the need to submit fifteen to twenty years of amc abuse of the system and outright fraud evidence. Because anyone whom signs up with these companies can see this first hand themselves. Any employee sent into the amc realm could easily document this too. Whistle blowers would not be hard to find, they’re basically reporting about problems full time on employee review sites of amc companies. It’s not a secret but in fact, the amc industry standard and status quo. You pay to play and get cut off if you don’t advocate. The workers are grossly unqualified if not outright cheating on a daily basis. The preferred appraiser and rating systems is nothing but a cover to break rules governing behavior and legal fair engagement. Amc’s, the long arm of predatory lenders.
What would a complete and total audit of the entire amc industry reveal? Are they kicking back to lenders or other parties? Do they have interested situations creating conflicts of interests now that their service menus have expanded well beyond appraisal? Are lenders compliant in effective oversight of their hired agent requirements? I think we all know quite clearly the answers. What the amc industry has raked in junk fees is just the tip of the iceberg. The modeling is the problem, as under the disguise of being an appraisal management company, they can effectively circumvent a myriad of regulation, oversight, and licensing requirements. The appraisal junk fee rake was used for aggressive expansion to capture far more than just the majority stream of appraisal work orders.
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has the authority to require this disclosure under the Dodd-Frank Act but decided against it in 2013, citing concerns about information overload for consumers.”
I’ve heard some huge BS before, but that’s some of the biggest. Do they actually think that people believe these lies?
that’s rich!
This would be a bit more believable if the photo could spell “Homebuyer” properly.
Appraisers are so heavily scrutinized by all sorts of federal and state laws, committees, agencies and organizations. Why can’t the entire industry be so scrutinized ESPECIALLY AMCs?? We are the ones that work at the highest level of ethics. Yet we’re the ones that are accused, manipulated and cheated. It’s time for the legislators to legislate and do the work that’s required of them. What say you?
As an appraiser this is dishonest hysteria. This isn’t “costing” homebuyers billions. The appraisal fees are what the fees are. AMCs don’t have the power to increase the fees. You guys are bent out of shape about the fee split. Which is typically disclosed on transactions that I have seen. Do you guys lose your mind over the split you have with your appraisers in your appraisal office? Do you demand to disclose you pay your appraisers 45%? or 55%? By not doing that is it “hidden fees” screwing the consumer? Its the same thing. The fee is the fee. The split is the complaint. Its not an “added” cost and the consumer isn’t getting screwed. Some appraisers are that take the lowball assignments.
Interest rates and volume are the problem in our industry right now. New appraisal products will be the problem. How much time do we waste making AMCs the boogeyman when you don’t even have to work for them? Its a complete waste of time.
you are missing the point, and not really informed, rarely are the AMC fees disclosed, they are lumped in with the fee the Appraiser got for doing the work, AMCs don’t review, they are at best administrators in the process and are really only entitled to a small portion of any fee paid by a borrower – an appraisal that should cost $400-500 is commonly $800+
Laughing at “uninformed”. 20+ years in this industry. You are complaining about your fee split and that they don’t disclose it in some cases. How does that cost borrowers billions? It doesn’t. Not any more than you not disclosing what you pay your staff appraisers in your appraisal office costs them billions.
You should also brush up on what AMCs do if thats what you think. I’m not the guy to defend them but its not even close to what they do.
I don’t care for them but they aren’t my biggest problem and sure as heck don’t cost people billions of dollars. Nobody takes us seriously when we make those claims.
If you’re being paid the fee that you want, then why do you waste your time worrying about what the AMC’s fee is? if it were truly that simple to run an AMC then we would all be in that business.
Because we don’t want to be complicit in defrauding consumers? The same people whom invite us into their homes and trust us to provide an honest ethical service?
Have you considered that maybe real estate appraisal, and all the ethical and honesty requirements involved, may not be a good fit for you? You’d probably do well at an amc, if you feel exploiting consumers and wrangling in vendors to be complicit in fraud is no big deal.
As an appraiser for over two decades, paralegal in real estate and litigation for four decades. In my opinion you are correct. Everyone will have an opinion on this matter with good points and bad points. I do not police other people businesses. I am responsible for what I do. I do what is ethical and morally right in my businesses. It is my reputation that is on the line for what I do. As consumers we should have protections against fraud. Yet, not all things we do not like, by law are not fraud. Many of us are too concerned about what we cannot control.
By including both the appraisal fee and the AMC fee in the loan disclosure as a single figure, it appears to the consumer that the disclosed fee all goes to the appraiser. Since that is not the case, it is a fraudulent disclosure. That is, it is specifically designed to hide the AMC’s take from the customer. It’s a pretty straightforward concept. Please understand what you are talking about before posting.
Sage advice.
The consumer pays the appraisal fee. That fee is then split and divided just like if it were in your office. Nobody but the appraiser cares how it is split, they only care about how much the fee was and how much it cost them. The fee disclosure is “Appraisal Fee”. Not Appraiser fee. Not AMC fee. That is all under “Appraisal Fee”. On every HUD and closing statement that I have seen. That includes all appraisal related costs, clearly, as the feds have shown despite our relentless whining about it that they don’t care and don’t feel it is a violation of anything.
There has not been a single legal ruling that has indicated otherwise, or else it would be changed or fined. It is apparent that the feds don’t care what the AMC take is. They care about the total fee.
Please learn the industry before commenting on it.
It’s not the same at all, JR. The appraisal office, and the appraiser (whether a split fee or employee) actually produces something: an appraisal. What does an AMC produce? Nothing. They exist between the appraiser and the client (mortgage lender) to provide the appearance of separation between church and state. Period.
The fact that you have never seen it disclosed any differently in a HUD 1 statement has no bearing. The reason you haven’t is because the regulator has not required it. AMC’s lobby heavily to prevent transparency on this issue. Why? Because it would reveal the fact that they provide nothing for the money they are paid. HVCC and its red-headed stepchild Dodd-Frank simply provided a method by which these blood suckers could insert themselves between us and our clients, under the guise of keeping an arm’s length between the two to avoid lenders using their pet appraisers who always hit the required number.
The new system simply shifts that to the appraisers with the lowest turn time and lowest fee getting the bulk of the work. It does not provide any mechanism for quality, indeed, it runs counter to that, since speed and low cost are the enemies of thoughtful analysis.
I am in the industry, 42 years and counting. Your logic is flawed, you are using a false equivalency (it’s the same as a fee split). You haven’t seen it on a HUD 1, therefore it must not be important. It must be legal, and acceptable, or there would already be fines. Ergo hoc, post propter hoc.
Swing and a miss, junior.
I’m not following your point.
If its not illegal. If there are no rules or requirements for it. If there are no regulations against it, then what exactly are we as appraisers whining about? We all know Dodd Frank and HVCC and why it came about. And some appraisers were complicit in this. But now we are where we are. Borrowers don’t give a damn how much the appraiser gets and how much the AMC gets. Neither does CFPB.
I agree AMCs aren’t necessary most of the time, but its foolish to think AMCs don’t add anything other than a firewall. They have regulations, they review work, they manage appraisers which is like herding cats, they chase down appraisers to fix reports, they take on liability often in place of and before appraisers. DId you see solidifi settle a lawsuit for millions because an appraiser said something that could be construed as discriminatory. A bad word? They are also needed to manage volume. You think Rocket mortgage could keep up with the appraisal process on 450,000 loans a year? Of course not. AMCs help manage that.
Its also foolish to think AMCs work goes to the lowest bidder and the quickest turn time as an industry. There are some that do for sure, but that’s a bad business practice that ends up with corrections, competency issues, new appraisals, loan buybacks, and all sorts of problems. Thats how they get fired. The good AMCs don’t have anything to do with that. Its naive to imply it is the standard business practice of all AMCs because of some bad actors out there. Its like saying all appraisers are simple and give bad service based on a small sampling. That is naive for someone in the business for 42 years but I know its the appraiser dog whistle.
The topic of this column is blaming AMCs for billions in charges to the consumer. That is flat out misleading and wrong. Which was my point. Hating AMCs is fine and we all do it. Blaming them for all the appraiser woes is tired and reflects badly on the industry and leaves us perceived as out of touch and complainers. There are AMCs that pay as much as my bank and mortgage lenders do directly. We don’t take work from the low ballers. Those are meant more for new licensees and grumpy appraisers who can’t get work elsewhere. Why else would anyone take them.
I’ve been appraising since ’83. I don’t go broadcasting the total years because I don’t want people thinking I’m old and have lost touch like someone 42 years in the business. 🙂 Your efforts to patronize have fallen short and your point other than we have Dodd Frank and that the bad AMCs are bad, isn’t very clear.
Best Regards,
Junior.
I’ve been appraising since 1985 and while I don’t pretend to be a Philidelphia lawyer (how’s that for aging myself) there may be multiple violations of lthe law taking place. This includes customary and reasonable fees being violated when they search for the lowest fee. That little nuggest was included to stop exactly what is happening. Look, it’s real simple, the system is being exploited pure and simple. One can try and argue that any way they want but it doesn’t make it any less true. This is as much about the industry being screwed as it is the consumer so let’s not lose sight of that.
Bottom line what difference does it makes what anyone charges? Our concern should be are we getting the fee we deserve? I set my fees and I do not give a care what anyone else charge. You are 100% correct every fee or costs are disclosed on the closing sheet, settlement sheet and estimated mortgage closing docs.
It should bother you that someone else is piggybacking their fee onto yours, and telling the consumer that all that money is going to you. Good Lord.
Why should it? Nothing says all the fee goes to me. My fee is disclosed.
Your fee is disclosed.. where ?
In my reports on the addendum page on the first line along with the AMC fee. Also, in the closing settlement sheet.
Your fee should be on page 1 – as an invoice for disclosure. If it’s buried in the addendum it will never be seen. If not an invoice there should be a standard place where we ALL put the fee for tracking purposes. The AMC’s have been playing this game of non-disclosure since 2009. You state you also add the AMC fee?? How do you know what they are being paid?? Closing settlement sheet?? I’ve never seen a closing sheet that disclosed the breakdown in fees – which appears to be a violation of Truth in Lending. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
It is not buried. It is on page one addendum first line that starts my commentary.
Example: This appraisal is ordered by AMC XXXXX, State Lic. xxxxx, Exp. xxxxx, Appraiser Fee: XXXXX, AMC Fee: XXXX . The states I work in, any loan cost to the borrower must be listed on the settlement sheet. It has been that way for 45 years since i have personally purchased 17 properties. All costs are fully disclosed to the seller and buyer..
Do you shop at a grocery store? The markup is about 40% there, and they don’t do anything either.
I have argued this point countless times. Each time that a lender or an AMC faxes, emails, or mails a document stating these fees they have committed either wire fraud or mail fraud.
Correct. Yet, it continues to this day. Who says lobbying doesn’t work?
Cindy Chance spoke for many appraisers and did so correctly regarding Appraisal Management Companies. Sadly, the Appraisal Institute fired her.
Ah, that’s Billions with a “B”. That pretty much sums up the situation in a very short explanation why nothing is being done.
I just bid two jobs at $25 less each than I was getting twenty five years ago for the same types of job. I pushed the due date two days out due to the snow/ice storm we’re having here. Will I get either of them? Nope.
And, I got another one of those compliance agreement requirement things as if an AMC has a right to ask me about moral turpitude or anything else, especially any AMC out of California!
Your comment is exactly the problem I have with AMC companies – we are “offered” less than what we made 15+ years ago as though appraisers are immune to inflation – the rising costs of everything from housing, auto insurance, software and MLS access, cameras/phones, food, and fuel. How would anyone else feel if they had not received a raise in over 15 years? I cannot speak for everyone, but myself and a few others I speak to are struggling everyday just to make ends meet for about $15-20/hour average AMC fee. What other professional that requires licensing and continuing education makes as much as a data entry clerk (a recent job opening I saw), yet the consumer pays a significantly higher price than what we receive. If one receives 2 appraisals at 275 per week, that is a whopping $2,200 approximately. per month. A machine operator makes more and can barely survive the high costs of living. We need to be paid a fair wage for what we do considering the responsibility and business costs that we have.IMO
Make more money mowing lawns part time. Meanwhile; the amc industry is worth a trillion dollars. / Anyone care to take a guess why there is a perceived lack of appraiser coverage as most appraisal companies could not afford to hire and train new people in the last two decades? / Maybe paying appraisers less with hybrid appraisals for a tenth the compensation will solve the problem. / Remember; because of ‘appraisal valuation bias’.
price fixers…
Catch phrase of the day: “Information Overload”
Homeowners sign off 30 to 50 documents at a closing but their brains will explode if they see 1 additional line on the HUD-1?
You have to applaud and laugh your ass off at their stupid excuses.
It’s so stupid it might be brilliant.
Do the math!
450,000 appraisals per year for ONE AMC x $200 (minimum) to the AMC equals $90,000,000.
There are at least 30 AMCs that belong to their trade group.
NOW
$90,000,000 x 30 members equals $2.7 BILLION per year.
the amcs are like a virus…they need a host to survive…making the independent appraiser sicker by the day and no mask will save you
***edited***
https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/caletters/2011/1108/11-8-attachment.pdf
Pg 50 – Valuation Independence. / TILA pg 62 / pg 125 on loan originator compensation; 1. No loan originator receives compensation, directly or indirectly, from any person other than the consumer in connection with the transaction (§226.36(d)(2)(i)); and 2. No person who knows or has reason to know of the consumer-paid compensation to the loan originator (other than the consumer) pays any compensation to a loan originator, directly or indirectly, in connection with the transaction.
Valuation Independence pg 126 / 3. No employee, officer or director in the creditor’s loan production function, as defined in §226.42 (d)(5)(i), is directly or indirectly involved in selecting, retaining, recommending or influencing the selection of the person to prepare a valuation or perform valuation management functions, or to be included in or excluded from a list of approved persons who prepare valuations or perform valuation management functions. / Customary and reasonable compensation. For any covered transaction, determine that the creditor and its agents compensated a fee appraiser for performing appraisal services at a rate that is customary and reasonable for comparable appraisal services performed in the geographic market of the property being appraised. (§226.42(f)(1)) (Note: For purposes of §226.42(f) “agents” of the creditor do not include any fee appraiser as defined in §226.42(f)(4)(i). In most cases the “agent” will be an appraisal management company to which the creditor has outsourced the valuation function / Define agency.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/12/226.42
(iii) In the case of information based on fee schedules, studies, and surveys, such fee schedules, studies, or surveys, or the information derived therefrom, excludes compensation paid to fee appraisers for appraisals ordered by appraisal management companies, as defined in paragraph (f)(4)(iii) of this section.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2010/10/28/2010-26671/truth-in-lending
Prohibit appraisers and appraisal management companies from having a financial or other interest in the property or the credit transaction; / Mandate the payment of reasonable and customary compensation to a “fee appraiser” (e.g., an appraiser who is not the salaried employee of the creditor or the appraisal management company hired by the creditor); and / Conflicts of interest. The interim final rule provides that a person who prepares a valuation or who performs valuation management services may not have an interest, financial or otherwise, in the property or the transaction. The Dodd-Frank Act does not expressly ban the use of in-house appraisers or affiliates. However, because the Act prohibits appraisers from having an “indirect financial interest” in the transaction, it is possible to interpret the Act to prohibit creditors from using in-house staff appraisers and affiliated appraisal management companies (AMCs). /
Customary and reasonable rate of compensation for fee appraisers. Under the interim final rule, a creditor and its agent must pay a fee appraiser at a rate that is reasonable and customary in the geographic market where the property is located. The rule provides two presumptions of compliance. Under the first, a creditor and its agent is presumed to have paid a customary and reasonable fee if the fee is reasonably related to recent rates paid for appraisal services in the relevant geographic market, and, in setting the fee, the creditor or its agent has: Taken into account specific factors, which include, for example, the type of property and the scope of work; and Not engaged in any anticompetitive actions, in violation of state or federal law, that affect the appraisal fee, such as price-fixing or restricting others from entering the market. Second, a creditor or its agent would also be presumed to comply if it establishes a fee by relying on rates established by third party information, such as the appraisal fee schedule issued by the Veteran’s Administration, and/or fee surveys and reports that are performed by an independent third party (the Act provides that these surveys and reports must not include fees paid by AMCs).
Any questions?
Thank you Baggins, well said as usual.
Thanks. I actually sent in an edit request to keep all that copied reg, and drop some of the commentary.
At this point anyone who’s serious can and should be reading the rules rather than just opinion.
How many rules and departures from original intention of regulation need to be broken before someone pays attention?
Only in appraisal. Only in mortgage lending. The system has grown to the point it can no longer be effectively regulated, they’ve made everything too complex.
Good thing they don’t apply the same oversight standards and licensing requirements they do to appraisers to everyone else.
The AMC business model has abused our Independence since the inception of Dudd-Fwank. Their position in the model is nothing more than being a Pimp – and they play their role very well. Now get back to work you B*^$**s
We all know the deal: borrowers are being charged these “appraisal fees,” but a big chunk of that is going straight to the AMCs while appraisers are left underpaid. It’s ridiculous how this continues to happen, especially since it’s clearly against the spirit of customary and reasonable fees. And don’t even get me started on the lack of transparency……
I’ve always said this would be a non-issue if lenders were required to pay AMC fees themselves. Sure, that’s wishful thinking, but let’s not forget that lenders don’t have to use AMCs. They’re choosing to because it saves them money, plain and simple. And for some, it’s even more lucrative because they’ve created their own AMCs, milking the process for profit while cutting down what gets passed on to the appraiser. Meanwhile, borrowers are left in the dark, paying the full cost of an appraisal without knowing how little of that actually goes to the person doing the work.
The truth is, lenders could still order appraisals directly if they wanted to. There are no laws stopping them—they just need to follow the rules. But they’ve figured out that AMCs are the easier, more profitable route for them, and the rest of us are left to deal with the fallout.
That said, I think we’re starting to see some progress. It might not feel like much yet, but the conversations are getting louder, and we need to keep at it. If we stay persistent, we might actually see this change—not just for us as appraisers, but for the borrowers who deserve a fair shake in this process.
crooked coumo and fannie slithered into a dingy white room to model the hvcc after failed eappraiseit and landsafe…what a broken and corrupt system
Food for thought: from December 1 2024 to January 1 2025, the state of California saw 82 appraisal licenses evaporate. We just fell below 8000 total active licenses for the first time since the advent of state licensure. For you math majors, that’s a 1% drop in a single month. The snowball effect is growing. Think compensation might have something to do with it?
In San Diego County (City of San Diego, etc. / very isolated) where there is a population of 3.3 million there are currently 664 active licenses (1 per every 4,969 person) and only 17 trainees. Still way to many, but with next to no one coming in, the future of appraising (supply & demand) could be shifting in the coming years.
Seek the truth.
Truth. Not all active licensees are producing reports, so the totals are even more misleading.
Bags
Is there a way we can chat on the phone
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your clients are now your competition…i cant stop laughing
Sad thing is any appraiser that was working before the 2007-08 housing crash knew HVCC and the AMC model that followed was a total rip-off to the appraisers, we all had to basically start over, client relationships that were in place for years, gone overnight. Sure Dodd-Frank replaced HVCC and we do get a little protection, but the rip-off part still lives on … I’ve been reading the same comments about AMCs for 15++ years, nothing is really going to change, the banks just make too much money from the AMCs they control. If the laws change again like they did when FIRREA came into existence Appraisers might see some relief, until then do as little lending work as possible.
they had a petition appraisers signed for value pressure before the financial crisis…but not one now even though 2009 looks like the floor of home prices i cant stop laughing
One of the problems I have with AMC’s is in their very name … “appraisal management companies”. Who decided that we needed to be managed? I’m an adult. I don’t need to be managed. Do any of you? In fact, I got much more work done when I wasn’t being incessantly interfered with by people trying to justify their unjustifiable jobs. It’s much like the P’nut the squirrel and raccoon story a few months ago out of New York, where some woman from Texas saw P’nut on the Internet and decided that he might have rabies, was being abused, etc. and complained to NY State wildlife officials numerous times over the Internet. It was absolutely none of her business, but she decided that it was. The guy was using P’nut’s videos to raise money to help wildlife, but now P’nut and the raccoon are dead and the guy has lost his resource for helping wildlife. Leftism ruins everything. I hope things get better under Trump, but I don’t have time or energy to hold my breath for that. Of course, the AMC thing was nothing but another financial extortion scam from the beginning. We’ve (not you and I) become a nation of meddlers in the business of others. Part of it is also about language. The phrase “appraisal management company” is just another lie that we’ve accepted like “appraiser pressure”. We took that illogical phrase on also. WE weren’t pressuring anybody or anything. Accurately, it would have been called “lender pressure on appraisers”. Note that “lender” is not even mentioned in “appraiser pressure” as if we were the ones doing it. Almost all of the language regarding us is newspeak, straight out of Orwell’s 1984. Here’s wishing all of you guys and gals a better new year …
Bet you if a squirrel picked up a lawn mower, they’d earn more than your average amc appraiser.
value pressure, highest and best, customary and reasonable, appraiser independence…all of it is word smithing used to manipulate the masses
Fees will only go up for the appraisers if rates get back to the 5’s and there is a refinance and sales boom. The amcs paying $250 to the appraisers will have a tough time placing orders and be forced to raise their fees?however with more waivers not sure how much more volume there will be, also with new forms coming mid 2026 any appraisers near retirement age will likely call it a career and there will be less appraisers, that is one bright spot for increased fees with new and more complex forms coming. Just reading the tea leaves, what do others think?