This job ain’t for everyone. If you’re uncomfortable being the target in the first place, this is not the right line of work for you. Appraisers are the only outsider, the constant protagonist whom receives the least compensation, the fall guy when things go south.

There are very few traditional working rewards in this appraisal industry, not for most people. Appraisers do not get positive response recognition, we do not get lasting raises or increased compensation. We are never thanked, but constantly berated. We enjoy nominal oversight during working hours, coupled with crushing criticism and excess scrutiny when expectations are not met. They’ll yank your clients, lie through their teeth, make up stories about you, dig and claw to find anything you’ve ever said or done to use against you if that’s what it takes and you stand between someone and their commissions. They’ll badmouth you down the line, hang up the phone on you, withhold your payment, play every dirty trick in the book. There are no rules when dealing with appraisers, our ethics apply only to us, and nobody else.

The bright side is freedom of time, freedom of virtual employment, substantial open ended working opportunities depending on what you are comfortable doing, going to obscure or even popular areas which one may otherwise never have opportunity or social standing to observe. I’ve been everywhere from the ghetto basements to the country club, remote cabins by the private lake in between. I’ve even gone to bigfoot country and seen one in person, true story. Better learn to do taxes like a champ, our effective taxation rate last year was less than 2% according to that automatic turbo tax summary.

Make the most of it but have no illusions, you’re on your own. Nobody is going to be there if you make a mistake. If you sign the report, you own it. No take backs. As illustrated in the next thread by Mr Ford, mistakes which result in complaint and claims could very easily cost a full years wages if not far more. People seeking the idea of maximizing income with minimal effort, outsourcing and such should turn to realty because those methods will eventually catch up to bite you in the valuation services industry. I’m twenty years strong without a single complaint or claim. The very first one which comes my way will likely be my last day as an appraiser, I’ll bounce to sales or lawn mowing or something much easier and less stressful.

It’s not for everyone but if you truly believe in independence, the appraisal career offers a broad range of unique benefits difficult to substitute. Remember; The further you make it and the more successful you are, the more you have to lose. Start fast if you need, but remember at some point, you’ll have to slow it down. Review the ‘uspap penalty matrix’, and observe how penalties and leniency are also based on experience. Once you’ve made it a decade or longer, you lose a substantial amount of leniency. There is a cyclical nature to appraisal firmly tied to the greater economy. The days of plenty are over and we’re just now getting back into the period of lasting accountability. This will be interesting to watch the appraisers fall left and right, especially the ones whom bought into this notion you could outsource and automate away all your working duties to maximize income and still maintain adequate liability exposure protection. That is straight fiction, a literal impossibility. The state complaint is the easy part, it’s civil liability exposure after the fact that wipes them out.

And I present to you, the appraisers forum, long running; ‘suspensions and revocations’ thread. Bounce around for a while and just stay on that thread and read. Pick a random page there are at least 200 pages. There may not be quite as many appraisers these days, and the market may not be unraveling at quite the same pace, not yet at least. But you never know… We used to track them down individually too and read their complaints online.
https://appraisersforum.com/forums/threads/suspensions-and-revocations.88400/page-112

The only appraisers getting chills about anything are the new guys. If you don’t know, now you know.

https://www.appraisalfoundation.org/imis/TAF/Resources/Regulatory_Information/TAF/State_Regulatory_Agency_Resources.aspx?hkey=23ddcae2-5a33-433a-bf94-39d239b91103
https://www.workingre.com/appraiser-disciplinary-levels-and-their-consequences/

One can still navigate these systems. After all, not much has changed. Just a little extra added on top of what was already a very difficult to navigate system which is inherently biased against the independent appraiser. Simply comp search everything, and refuse to accept assignments if terms of the arrangement are either too close or simply not working. Yet another reason why the amc model of bidding fee and turn time simply does not work. Direct assignment or bust. When I accept a sale, it takes me one to two hours just to make that happen. Conveniently when data lines up with expectations, that workfile is ready to go. Send it.

This special bounty is a little more difficult to manage than the below proposal, but I’m sure there could still be positive opportunity there. When enough appraisers get wise, nobody will dare to accept orders without comp searching them ahead of time. The amc’s pushing fee and turn time quotes will be collateral damage whom will either change their evil ways and move to direct assignment with more fee consistency, or help appraisers interests in getting these bounty provisions rescinded with their well funded lobbyist mechanisms. Keep looking on the bright side. The laws of unintended consequences apply to everyone.

I’m going to counter the idea that there would be unchecked acceleration of values with the idea that when appraisers en mass refused to accept bad deals, because the appraisers did comp search ahead of time, that when lenders could not place the assignments, things would stall out. It will be lenders doing the hard part, informing agents to go back to the table because they can’t find a single appraiser to accept their deal. ‘Put a damned valuation gap cash payment promise provision in there of at least fifty thousand dollars or take the price down. We’ve had three dozen appraisers tell us this does not comp out, that this sales figure appears to be that much over market value.’ Something like that. I’m not so pessimistic about these events. For the first time ever, I’ll be on slightly more even footing against the appraisers whom just snatch and grab these orders without looking, appealing to fee and turn time focused clients, dumping the liability on the group umbrella policies. You know, the amc appraisers whom make the rest of us look bad.

This article is like an ongoing series, related to this initial article, make sure to read this.
https://appraisersblogs.com/hud-hands-54-million-dollars-2-nonprofits-in-quest-2-cow-appraisers
Don’t miss this important spread sheet for inquisitor funding.
https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/Fact-Sheet-FHIP-State-by-State.pdf

And you know what I was thinking? Get this, the people whom will be reaching for this grant money don’t have a clue what appraisers do or how to identify the bias and such. Consider all these groups as easy access organizations which could be persuaded to provide top pay for independent appraisal review. Let them all go fishing, and collect your fees. If appraisers perform their jobs ethically, the vast majority of reviews requested will come back negative. Appraisers can skate off with the fee or something. Develop a ready made consultation explanation form about the industry and mass sell it to each one of these groups individually for an easy buck. But you’d better be ready for litigation and to defend your work product against the best players in the industry if you actually do run across bias. Be ready to constantly disappoint your client if you find nothing. The only satisfaction in that line of work of independent review for a biased client, would be accelerated compensation.

Two can play this game. These groups whom received this money are often primarily focused on influencing local development boards, navigating grant and subsidy systems from within government, compelling lenders to offer special deals and terms and such. Fair housing service groups do not order appraisals, not usually. They are more likely well versed in consultation and regulatory rules which lenders abide. Many of them are chalked full of hopeless advocates whom seek to use the mechanism of government to dole out special favors to their preferred groups.

None of these types of groups had compelling need or reason to engage and pay for independent appraisal services, until now. Now they do have that motivation. Don’t be an activist. Be a salesmen. Take advantage of some of this so irresponsibly distributed grant money. Help these groups understand, by way of competent appraisal review service, their idea of perceived bias is nothing more than properly implemented valuation practice, to focus on similarity, local location, area amenity, restraints imposed by jurisdictions where real property lies, all the basics of valuation service.

If one stuck to the basics of ethical competent valuation development, there is a very high probability that offered review services would never uncover anything. So perhaps instead of thinking of this as a bounty, perhaps get ahead of the governments own incompetency and consider it easy working opportunities. These groups whom received this money are basically spending other peoples money which they did nothing more than fill out a grant form from a long list of available grants, to receive. They are going to need competent experienced appraisers to help advise them. Go forth, and market.

‘Serial refinancers.’ Good one. Refried refi’s. You plant the seed to those type of borrowers with a simple question; What was your cash equivalent savings by resetting your time at a lower rate? They will not be able to answer, and then explain to them the difference between a low rate, and resetting the term, the concept of amortized cash equivalency. One time I ran across brand new first timers whom were borrowing like a hundred and a half on a sweetheart pickup of their parents property. They were like, oh we’re getting a 30 year, but will have this paid off in 5 years. (As payment with simple addition math, chalked up to about 5 years. They simply took the total payment estimate, times 12 months, x 5 years, observed that was their sale price, and thought they’d pay it off ahead of schedule.) I had to explain to them the xy interest up front thing. They were sad. I then talked to them about shorter terms, doubled up payments and they could actually make that happen. They remained sad but thankful that I was the first person in the entire mortgage lending pipeline to actually take the time to be honest and explain these things to them. I’m going to apply for a bounty grant to catch mortgage lender people not fairly representing the product. Now that would be easy money.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/appraisal-subcommittee-hearing-on-appraisal-bias-registration-607544701557

This is Coersion legitimized in the name of the ‘Anti-discrimination Fund’ for the dissolution of the appraisal profession who refuse to over value property & to pad the pockets of NY state officials & Appraiser POLICE. Insurers and appraisers will be bankrupt if they arent already with Willy Nilly lawsuits & fines. Follow the money!! Corruption keeps rearing its ugly head. They cant get money out of Realtors claiming marketing ignorance with no responsibility for ANYTHING so go to the next easiest target.

Un F Real !!

It’s almost as all of this is being done by design. They want the economy to crash and the country to fail.

I know it’s easy to say, but all appraisers in New York should stand together and refuse to do lender work after the bill is signed.