No Mandatory AMC Use
Dave Towne on e-AppraisersDirectory.com
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When you work with UWM Appraisal Direct… if a borrower pays $500 for an order, the entire fee goes to you. UWM doesn’t make $1 on the order. No appraisal management fees…
This announcement just popped into my email, from HousingWire:
UWM launches AMC-free appraisal program
UWM to coordinate appraisals in-house
United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) announced today that it will no longer require its brokers to use appraisal management companies to complete appraisals.
The Pontiac, Michigan-based wholesale lender will instead coordinate appraisals in-house, contracting with appraisers directly, offering appraisers and brokers a way to bypass AMCs altogether, which UWM CEO Mat Ishbia characterizes as “middlemen.”
During a Facebook Live address, Ishbia proclaimed that while AMCs add value to the industry, appraisals have been a stumbling block for the mortgage industry.
UWM Appraisal Direct available in all 50 States Starting October 1.
Soon, mortgage brokers in our network will have UWM Appraisal Direct as an additional option for getting appraisals completed on UWM loans through Appraisal Manager in EASE. You’ll get greater transparency throughout the appraisal process, so you can more effectively manage your loans and support your borrowers. Keep an eye out for more information later this month.
In the meantime, a message to appraisers: UWM Appraisal Direct is looking to partner with the best appraisers across the country who share our goal of making the appraisal process easier so you can get paid faster.
When you work with UWM Appraisal Direct, you’ll have a dedicated in-house team available to assist with the scheduling and execution of your appraisals. We’ll provide support and timely communication to you, our broker partners and their borrowers — ensuring all parties know what’s going on at each step in the appraisal process.
Plus, you’ll enjoy these benefits and more:
- Full appraisal amount paid directly to you with no appraisal management fee — For example, if a borrower pays $500 for an order, the entire fee goes to you. UWM doesn’t make $1 on the order. No appraisal management fees. You work directly with UWM.
- Next-day payment — Get paid the following business day after successful completion of the appraisal.
- Consistent business — UWM is the #1 wholesale mortgage lender in the nation with over 60,000 closings per month, so there will be no shortage of opportunities for you with UWM Appraisal Direct.
- Strong partnership — We take pride in the entire mortgage process and will work closely with you to make sure that we are collectively successful.
Dave, Thanks for this information.
Sounds promising – but until the Fine Print is published & there’s no “indemnify & hold Harmless clause” buried in paragraph 21 – I’ll withhold my enthusiasm. For those who aren’t aware – the hold harmless & indemnify clauses that these entities bury in their sign up verbiage are translated as another layer of liability the Appraiser incurs to an entity which you know nothing about (hiring practices, business practices, etc), and to which you are held to the laws of a State other than your own (wherever the entity is based) if you are sued or involved in a suit with them or the company goes under owing money. Read the sign up forms carefully.
Great news! Thanks Dave
I’m a bit confused. The signup link is to Anow. Are they using Anow platform to place their orders and how much is Anow subscription going to cost?
They have 3 packages $50, $100 and $500. The $100 package is the most popular. Keep in mind that you’d still have to maintain your Alamode, Bradford, … appraisal software subscription for non-UWM work.
You don’t have to pay anything for the first year other than the $15.00 upload fee. If you want to buy a subscription you can but don’t have to right now to get UWM orders.
Why do we have to pay any fee to upload their requested report? We’re paying a fee to cover for their tech costs and I guess it’s ok because this is our new norm. So ridiculous! How about this my fee is $xxx and when I down load the order on my end there is a $15 tech fee you’ll pay at that time not when my invoice is paid. Only fair right?
So it is like Mercury, but with lots of glitches…not new.
Bingo. They switched to a diffrent platform that is more expensive! Thanks guys.
Cost to the appraiser for the 3 bottom feeder clients they will support makes no sense. Furthermore their platform is riddled with glitches. I have been getting calls and emails daily asking me to complete my registration which obviously has a monthly recurring fee. They all now go to spam….its a hard pass for me.
Too automated, too many glitches so far. Just had a few orders, on eiwth no contact info and have called & emailed multiple times with no response. Another got the order, left message with contact. They returned message next day, confirming appointment time, went to site to update and order is nowhere to be found, look in emails and they cancelled for non-responsive. I had accepted the order, so that was a response. It was about 24 hours from acceptance before contact returned response. Again, left phone messages and emails through the platform with no response. Feel bad for the borrower since in this area we are booking 2-3 weeks out and now they have to wait for another appraiser to be assigned and contact, I guess.
Just had a long old chat with ANOW rep. Parent company Voxture, Canadian based. ANOW requires a few percent credit card surcharge for appraiser to get paid, as from what I understand UWM is not paying paper based checks, and ANOW facilitates payment for UWM to the appraiser via Stripe payment services company. I suggested the option because we appreciate checks in the mail. UWM sets the time frame until acceptance which was 2 hours, is currently at 3, and that is a blanket time frame which the lender selects across the board for everyone, does not sound like they can adjust that for individual orders or appraisers, but not entirely clear on that point. Lenders in control of the time to accept window time frame. One good feature Anow offers which others do not, sounds like the appraiser may be in control of their own open order count. Anow only has one US lender on board, hopes to have more soon. Their system is fastest first, it’s automated based but then all choices to pull or release later if necessary, are supposedly lender rep decisions. I suggested rotational as a better solution for more fair distribution, otherwise it’s just ‘the amc model’ without an amc. I asked specifically about ‘membership fees’. They could use a better FAQ, the rep said no membership fees for appraisers. Appraisers do pay the per order fee like Mercury. They do offer integration with Mercury & Total, but according to rep are optional.
Well, thanks to the rep for answering my questions (ANOW rep.)
Might be worth a sign up if things slow down. From what I gather, the system does not charge membership fees for appraisers, only per diem per order fees like Mercury. I remain mystified how they have so many orders processed advertised on the website but only have one US lender currently. Probably from previous acquisition or whatever.
Shen Valley, I read the terms, sounds more like mutual indemnity for the software and use, and did not read like an amc hold harmless which dumps everything on the appraiser. I’m no legal expert but that read more standard software disclosure to me. Not worried about that. Agreeing to the third party tech agreements is different than an amc or a lender agreement, I’m not worried.
https://anow.com/terms-conditions/ Thanks.
The Anow system is horrible. It’s really too bad UWM is putting up with their mess. When you bid a job the Anow system does not update so they pay the wrong amount, messages do not go through, I could go on. It is a mess.
Thanks for letting us know. It will save us from having to go through that mess too.
UWM Appraisal Direct is a Joke. I’m glad they give young people opportunity but at least have a couple of Staff Appraisers to solve minor issues. NO knowledge whatsoever of the appraisal process, I did 13 reports in the last month and the headaches are never ending with BS revisions. On the upside they pay very fast, just not worth the headache in my opinion.