Tracking Appraisal Delays
Help us track appraisal delays…
VaCAP and your fellow colleagues need your help!
As you all have probably heard, according to some, appraisals are taking too long and delaying closing. Their take on this is that there is an appraisal shortage. Some of our Network colleagues have discovered a delay in which the appraisals are being ordered. From a limited sample, an average of 21 days occurs between contract ratification and when the appraisal is ordered. The Network of State Appraiser Organizations is working hard to solve this issue, but first we need to know where the problem truly is before we can fix it.
Here is where you come in. We would like for each of you to take a few minutes and track the dates between when the contract is ratified and when the appraisal is ordered. Once this information is compiled, we will have the data to determine where the problem is or is not.
We have developed this simple spread sheet to track the information. You may find a copy to download here or below.
Once you have complied this information over the next month, please forward back to VaCAP so we may compile this data.
Thank you for supporting VaCAP and the Network of State Appraiser Organizations.
- The New Con: Hybrids, Waivers & AMCs Threaten Public Trust - December 16, 2024
- VaCAP Supports Shane Lanham’s Legal Fight - September 10, 2024
- It’s Just Responsible Journalism! - February 21, 2024
I don’t think it has to do with a shortage it’s just those who do not understand an appraisal from start to finish is a process if done correctly and that takes time.
I do agree that the VA be excluded. They are usually on top of it without searching for the “Lowest bidder” or the “fastest” turn time. That takes the crappy AMC’s the extra 2-4 days to place the order.
BUT, from a Realtors standpoint (Purchase Appraisal) They want to make sure the property “Passes” the structural, pest, water, well, whatever tests before they want the LO to order the report.
Could be the $$$ the purchaser would have to shell out, $ 225. Home Inspect, add $ 75. for Pest, add $ 100. for a water flow and purtity etc. and then ADD the Appraisal Fee of $ 450. (My market) and the buyers out a lot of cash really fast. Sooooooo maybe the Realtor is stalling and then crying that it’s not done fast enough.
Hell, if it doesn’t appraise the rest of the tests are useless anyway.
In my experience the VA system is very good in getting the appraisal assigned soon after ratification, thus to include VA assignments is to drastically alter my results. This may or may not be true in other areas, but I suggest not using VA assignments for this pole or to keep a separate category for them.
I would agree that this doesn’t apply to the VA or some other lenders but they are out there and it is happening more often. Just got off the phone with a rush because they haven’t assigned this order in over two weeks. Now its a rush and again its the appraiser working long ours and weekends trying to solve other peoples problems with respects to deadlines
To me a ‘rush’ does not mean I am giving up my weekends, or doing anything special except my trying to get the report out as quickly as I can in my normal 8 hour workday (assuming I worked 8 hour workdays). I’d do this as a courtesy. Maybe a shorter lunch break (if I took them); or fewer breaks. Minimize other distractions. THAT is a courtesy “rush”; and it assumes they are next in the work order line
Any client that thinks I have to work on a weekend or holiday or beyond a normal 8 hour day had better be prepared to add from $500 to $1,500 to the base order. Then they can call it a rush, priority or expedited delivery if they want, but it has a price tag attached.
Vacap, are you guys collecting these from all appraisers or just Virginia appraisers?
We have asked each State Appraisal Organization to share and distribute this to their members. We need a representative sample from each state to pinpoint where the problem is. It is possible that one state has an issue and others don’t or maybe that one lender or AMC is having an issue. We don’t have enough data at this point. Hence we need your help. Feel free to complete this and send directly back to us if you want. Thanks
AMC’s are shopping for fees and there is a very good chance that real estate agents have become a part of the process. Anyone else getting things feeling?
Im so glad this has been brought up. I have seen on many occasions where there is a 1 to 2 week delay in ordering the appraisal or we get a call to quote an order and don’t hear back or get assigned the order for 1 or 2 weeks
Times are a changing. I recently completed an appraisal and recommended a building inspection. The appraisal was questioned and then re-assigned at three times my fee as a rush order and my report never was forwarded to the lender. This property closed at selling price. I have strong suspicion that the real estate brokerage company is somehow getting involved in the selection of the future appraisers for their sales.
Daver
Daver, are you just getting Paranoid? I too get the feeling that it is VERY possible, the good ole boy network still exists and can hide behind CPFB and legit concerns an end investor of the product would be buying down the road. If you honest you have to “kill a few deals’ otherwise were back in 2006-2007.
David, I would be so strongly tempted to file a complaint with your states MC regulatory agency. You don’t need to accuse of anything…recite only the facts and let the state determine if appraisal shopping was involved. Im betting they DID pay you because it would be really stupid for them not to have. If they did not, then that would be the most innocent motivation for filing the complaint. If the AMC can come up with a plausible explanation for having reassigned it and there is NO written communication of them having asked you to reconsider the inspection part, then that’s still the states issue to deal with.
I got a bid request from an AMC on Mercury Network last month. I quoted my fee and received a decline notification which stated that the order was placed with another vendor. A week later I get a bid request for the same property from the same AMC. This time I didn’t respond. Later that day I received this:
“Opportunity Cancelled
Thank you for reviewing the bid opportunity from XX AMC. Another bid was chosen for the Uniform Residential Appraisal (FNMA 1004) order placed on 10/23/2017. We hope to be able to work with you on a future assignment.”
Yeah right thanks for the opportunity…. a few days later, I get the same bid request for the same property!
But let’s just pretend that appraisal delays are caused by appraisers and there is an appraiser shortage RME
MOST of these types of communications are automated. The AMC owners set up their software user profiles just like we do. They schedule the frequency of the annoying status messages as well as most other repetitive boilerplate communications. They can set the default response time when the order is auto cancelled. Very few large AMCs send human generated messages for job bids.
Jm2c,
this is exactly the data we are begging for!
IT AINT OUR DELAY.
Could it be a middleman somewhere!??
Before a ‘delay’ can result, we’d have to know what the time to close is supposed to be for all transaction types (EXCLUDING the appraisal).
I applaud VaCAP for making the effort.
I also think a more relevant metric would be how long it takes to close a loan after ALL other funding conditions have been completed and resolved. The time between the date when ALL other FCs are cleared, and the recording date minus the number of says from FC clearance to appraisal submission would give us a better feel for non appraisal issue completion times.
Additionally, how many loan apps have these so called ‘delays’ solely for appraisal issues? What is the number or percentage of loan apps with no appraisal delays or issues, that have delayed closing r settlements due to the other issues?
Im interested in the results VaCAP gets, but also note they have to be considered in a broader context too. I don’t do and haven’t done enough loan transaction work in years to be a great data source. Hope others will help VaCAP out with the survey!
Please include the VA with this tracking. When the data is compiled it can be sorted into a separate category. Having the VA data showing a short turn time ( a few days) will help show where the problems are and are not.
To clarify, please include all purchase transactions form every source, with the exception of new construction from plans and specs. Everything else needs to be included.
Thanks for supporting this effort.
Lending Appraisals: Inspection date to signature/delivery date: In my office, average of 3 days. VA Orders: Receipt of order to upload delivery 7 business days or fewer as mandated by VA. Lending appraisals have priority. Non-lending Inspection to signature/delivery date: In my office, average of 5 business days. Receipt of order to e-mail delivery 8 business days.
AMC = Scam = Degenerate = Headache = Lost income = A$$Holes = Conartist = Parasites
Please clearly understand the effort we are attempting.
all of us best realize you are graded by an impersonal, ignorant, blind, uninformed computer only based on your turn time and FEE by these entities.
These entities flaunt their self serving data to lessen licensing requirements, reduce fees, and overall manipulate your lives.
Now is our chance to alter the conversation and have the truth be told. There is no shortage and their is no time delay on the part of the Appraiser.
You can respond positively or negatively, the choice is yours. But I can assure you that your state Coalitions have worked their asses off for YOUR benefit.
You bet your tired worn out ass the Coalitions are fighting for every appraiser! The good people at the coalitions are volunteering their time to work for every appraisers benefit. No disrespect to the good people in other organizations, but what are they doing for the appraiser? The profession?
Do you want to continue to be part of the problem or part of the solution? Support those that are fighting for you future.
Advocate, I can’t speak for others but I can tell you what the AGA is doing. (1) We actively work to get individuals reinstated on lists they’ve been kicked from…even if they screwed up, but understand how they screwed up.. Just as long a it isn’t a core integrity issue. (2) More importantly, when we have an appraiser accused of USPAP violations we carefully screen the appraisal involved; hear all the circumstances as shared by the appraiser and try to assist them or their attorney in defending against the issue; mitigating its damage if applicable, and probably most important of all we give them peer input in writing that quite often differs from the states allegations. (3) We are trying to get health insurance for members. (4) We are looking for further educational opportunities and possibly most important (5) We must remain non profit and in the case of AGA most of leadership and staff are unpaid volunteers.
On enforcement – most appraisers always believed if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Simply not true. Upset one agent or one borrower or even one appraiser via review and you can be facing $25,000 to $140,000 in legal defense fees that E&O does not currently cover. (Another area we need to investigate – E&O providers potential to separately provide legal defense coverage – not settlements, but litigation costs).
Many, if not most states are no longer looking for honest analysis of whether wrong doing took place. Many, such as Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and California’s have proven that coercement of fines is far more important to them than proper analysis of accusations. Originally intended to be funded by licensing fees, these states have had declines of up to 50% in the number of appraisers. They are clearly taking the short sighted view of backfilling lost revenue by imposing higher and more frequent fines.
Coercion to stipulate wrong doing is rampant. Few states (New York, New Jersey are good examples) still impartially analyze complaints using USPAP guidelines to identify wrong doing, or to clear appraisers. Some don’t even follow their own state laws.
One thing we have proof of (in the form of court trial transcripts for California; and written documents and reviews in Minnesota and Maryland) is that senior investigators don’t know the difference between USPAP and FNMA special guidelines, don’t understand fundamental appraisal practices and techniques and in many cases have never performed a USPAP compliant appraisal OR review in their entire careers with their state! Many are still making rote adjustments and routinely fail to assure their own competency. Some lie to cover up their incompetence. State enforcement practices are the next BIG SCANDAL.
Advocate, ASA is also on top of lobbying issues, and while we’ve usually disagreed with them in the past AI is still very active – not everything they do is adverse to us all. The solution is not only in joining states coalitions, but states coalitions working with established national peer and fraternal groups like the AGA, ASA, AI and others.
AMC / Mortgage client expectations: 30 minute drive time; 15 minute inspection; 15 minute comp search; 15 minute analysis; 30 minutes report writing. Why the heck should appraisal turntimes be more than 2 hours you slackers?
BTW: Unreasonably fast turn time expectations are by design. They don’t want appraisers who spend time analyzing and working through the appraisal process. They want fast. They want cheap (forcing appraisers to do more assignments in a day to make a living). They want appraisers who make the deals work without problems.
Not to worry though. The mortgage industry is working diligently to remove appraisers from mortgage work altogether and replace them with AVMs and “alternative valuation products”.
That’s as accurate a summary as I’ve seen. Nicely stated.
What is the time frame you are looking for? I’ll be happy to do it if you are still collecting data!
Yes, we are still collecting the data. Please go back 6 months to a year. Thanks!