Rick (& others), there is no comparison between them. I know Dustin to be an honest guy and sincere in his willingness to help other appraisers. I don’t personally follow his methods and I don’t personally believe start to finish multiple reports per day are possible by one appraiser. What I DO know is that highly respected appraisers; some of whom are SRAs follow his methods using support staff (wives and or employees) to increase their efficiency.

Let’s not lose sight of who the real enemies of appraisers are. I don’t agree with articles like this belittling the fat that appraisers have NOT had a raise in ten years. Most of us have already had to increase efficiency simply to do all the extra unnecessary garbage lenders and even amcs impose. That should not be understated.

BUT we also should not compare an honorable guy we disagree with, to one like Coester that was clearly ethically challenged, to begin with. Dustin Harris was the first pod caster that gave AGA a public (audio) voice. He did not steer us or misrepresent us in any way. In fact, he was helpful and supportive of our effort to reach out to appraisers.

Thats not remotely ‘like’ Coester.

There are people like Dustin Harris and Roy Meyer who perform a valuable service to those that can apply their tchniques and methods in their markets. Not everyone can (or wants to)

When a son forces his older parents to refinance their home, is the public trust served?

Was W.F. great growth and later near failure serving the public trust?. Sense when did Congress or the Senate represent the public’s trust.

This appraisers obligation is to represent the words stated in his reports. If the form 1004-? isn’t clear, the appraisers obligation is!

I mentored in a small general shop beginning in 9/1961. They had just given up doing FHA at $20, and bitching at the $25 VA was paying. VA required a street and a front view, a cost approach (of our own observation) a notation of the trade name of the appliances, drawing including of the internal walls, three closed sales, and verified with the recorders office.

We started the process at the County offices, or title Cos. In 1972 I was collecting $55, and working for several hard money lenders on forms of my own design for more $. and doing bankruptcy appraisals

I encourage you Blobbers, and some of the recent start up appraisal organizations to challenge some to the counter productive punitive rules for appraisers.

We have historically grown on our individual reputations.

don, no longer an appraiser, Realtor, businessman, no longer responsible for deadlines, but interested.

Robert, more than half (2/3?, 3/4) of the total state population of 33 million is located in L.A. & immediate area; SF, & SD. It’s not unreasonable to believe less than 10% of all appraisers are in San Diego. Outside of our large urban hubs or ‘megalopolitan areas our state is actually pretty rural overall.

Stands to reason most appraisers would be where population centers are.

I seriously doubt there are 900 licensed appraisers within a 20 mile radius of your office. There are only 11,000 of us statewide!

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Try being in San Diego County Robert where there are over 900 licensed appraisers within 20 miles of me (All in a single county), and most likely 5,000 within a few hundred miles (Southern CA). Its funny how some say there are good AMC’s based on perhaps what they pay (C&R), but those same companies might pay $300 for the very typical $900,000 property in my area.

Seek the truth.

Ray, back in ’86 my mentor charged 10% more than everyone else. He rarely lost a client because of fees. Even the ones that got upset when we didn’t ‘hit ‘ value would usually come back after trying someone else for 2 or 3 months.

The biggest issues were HOW we dealt with requests for reconsideration (most failed, BUT NOT ALL). We suppressed our egos and looked at the data. IF we missed it or new info legitimately supported higher results we were honest about it and made the changes.

Second biggest issue was turn time. In ’86 Our turn time was 6 to 8 weeks; two weeks before we even called to set an appointment AFTER payment was made! Even FNMA (direct) and Trust Dept of B of A and relo folks knew we had a 2-4 week turn time on COD jobs.

There were also only 7,500 appraisers in California from around that time to the first license issues in ’91.

Thank you!

That’s different than what I’m seeing and hearing but you are the guy there on the frontlines. Charging $275 (which was LOW even for 1990) is the point where I’d go back to loan production work I think. Best of luck to you and I hope you see drastic changes soon.

Thanks for your message. Sorry I gave you the wrong impression. I haven’t done AMC work since 2005. Only non-lending work these last 13 years. Business was brisk here in that arena until 2018.

How times have changed! Now it’s a feeding frenzy here with up to 40 appraisers within a 10-mile radius of my office competing for limited non-lender work. Even long time appraisers are bidding $275 and getting the work, just to stay employed.

Even my old attorney clients are now calling me first, to ask what I charge, before giving their clients my phone number. Many attorneys here in the Bay Area have become price conscious on behalf of their clients. That’s bizarre. That never used to happen.

Robert DUMP those AMCs!

My friends AMC (which is NOT a high paying one by any means) routinely pays $350 anywhere and Usually pays $400 just for asking – that includes SF. Once you start the race to the bottom there is no end of it. Before you quote $300 make sure you can live on ALL your fees being that much. Once you sell yourself short, it’s real hard to go back. I know you have to eat and pay bills so if getting new clients isn’t an option, do what you must. I just encourage a lot of soul searching first.

I know of a lady in the Sacramento area that will drive to SF (or pretend to) and do full 1004s for $225 & drivebys courtesy of Google Streets. I’m told she is now also doing 10-15 unit apartments for $750. Did I mention she is NOT general certified? OK, she can’t fake an inspection but I know when I last reviewed her work every single comparable in an out of area neighborhood was an MLS photo. I KNOW you are way better than that!

There will always be people that short-cut; violate license and competency levels and the clients that encourage it. You don’t want to work for them or compete with them.

The entire SF (City-County) market is a complex market. Seek better clients Robert. See if you can affiliate with a commercial guy and cross train-or start becoming THE area expert on 2-4 units.

Email me direct and ask for free NIDA template – makes income property SO  much easier and defensible. Good luck. mike@mfford.com

You’re right, Tres. In fact, when I did my taxes last April I found that my business taxes were about 42% of my gross income. I’ve cut ‘way back hard on my expenses but I still have 19 line expense items…and that’s working out of my home. When I was a bank appraiser I always imagined I could earn a lot more, working out of my home. But that turned out to be a myth.

He won’t respond…here anyway. But, how much do you want to e=wager that, if he did, his response would be along the lines of “I was just trying to gin up some discussion on fees by taking a contrarian view.”