MLS Comp Photos WTF!

[PropertyEconomics]

Many appraisers seem not to have noticed that Freddie has changed its guidelines to require original photographs of the comparable sales unless photographs of the comparable sales cannot be obtained and the appraiser provides a reasonable justification for using a MLS photo. Here is the applicable Freddie Mac guideline (from the Freddie Mac Single Family Seller/Servicer Guide):

44.12: Standard exhibits (03/31/09)
Each appraisal or inspection report must include at least the exhibits required for the assessment type. The exhibits must meet the requirements provided in this section.
(a)Exhibit requirements
1.Photographs
Photographs must be clear and may be either in color or black and white. They must be original photographs, electronic images or facsimiles that are illustrative of the property. The photographs must be clear, appropriately identified and must clearly show the completed improvements or any conditions that have a material effect on the market value or marketability of the subject property.
•If black-and-white photographs of the subject property are used, the appraiser must have noted in the report any information that would have appeared in color photographs but is not apparent in black-and-white images that could adversely affect the market value or marketability.
•For any comparable sales, if an original photograph cannot be obtained, a clear copy of the photograph of the comparable sale from a multiple listing service (MLS) is acceptable. The appraiser must have provided a reasonable justification for using the MLS source.

Well Mr / Ms GSE person .... the REALITY is that you dont pay me enough, you havent enforced the rules ... and you dont care and neither do I (oh ... and by the way Im not only lazy but I also dont think ethics mean much either ... so there ... raspberry)

Signed

Typical Appraiser

 

[G-man]

After driving 240 miles

Just to take pictures of Fracking Listings! ('cause I have no sales of $750K+ homes on 30+ acres in N.W. Ohio in the last twenty four months) I have a low overall tolerance for appraisers who cannot or will not drive comps in an urban or suburban setting that would take 30 minutes to an hour, tops, to complete.
I am not, however, without sin and freely admit to using photos from either the auditors office in my area, or, on occasion, MLS photos. But I say seven Hail Marys and five Our Fathers as penance.

 

[NC Appraising]

This is what it comes down to:

Your getting paid to do a job; do your FREAKING JOB!!! End of the story.

Forget USPAP, state appraisal boards, etc. You have been contracted out to do a job, and part of the job is to drive by the sales. Don't be a lazy axx.

 

[DMZwerg]

Just to take pictures of Fracking Listings! ('cause I have no sales of $750K+ homes on 30+ acres in N.W. Ohio in the last twenty four months) I have a low overall tolerance for appraisers who cannot or will not drive comps in an urban or suburban setting that would take 30 minutes to an hour, tops, to complete.
I am not, however, without sin and freely admit to using photos from either the auditors office in my area, or, on occasion, MLS photos. But I say seven Hail Marys and five Our Fathers as penance.

How about 12+ hours to drive comps?
Only 24 months back??? Slacker! (I have searched back well over 3 years at times for truly horrendous assignments)

Have driven further and longer for comps. It is part of the job and why one does not take on a $750k+ 30ac+ assignment for $200! :icon_mrgreen:


OK, now the person who searched back 5+ years and drove comps over 3 days can chime in! :laugh:

 

[Midwest1]

The reality is that now that the AMC's own us, over (80% of my work is for them) and fees will only drop over time. I love appraising, but I am already leaning towards rehab/flipping more houses.[/quote]


AMCs don't own all of us. They may own you because you allow them to. I suggest you treat your business like a business and not blindly accepting what is given to you. Add up all your expenses, including MLS, E/O, Gas, flood data, and of course your TIME. find an hourly rate of what you have to charge to cover your expenses and make a profit. I bet you will find that fees you are accepting don't cover your costs and especially the liablity you accept every time you sign your name. You could probably make the same money as a cashier at a walmart with no liablity.

You don't like the fees don't do the work. It seems pretty simple.

 

[New Orleans Guy]

Great advice above but here is the problem. Thanks to banks all buying each other, 90% of all loans go through a few major lenders. They ONLY use AMC's and the AMC's have a large pool of appraisers to dangle meat in front of. I raised my fees $25 one time as a test, and my work dropped off by over 80% with them. I actually feel fortunate to have the AMC's since I have several appraiser friends who can not get with the AMC's I have so they have either quit appraising to take another job to feed the family or if they have a spouse that makes decent money they just do the 5-6 a month and are hanging in there. I actually have tried to get on with Landsafe since 2005 and finally talked to an employee there who says she has not seen an appraiser added since she started in 2006. I don't even know if they pay enough to work for. Now there are the "local lenders" and banks, unfortunatly they have rotating lists occupied by guys who have been "in with them" for many years and they are not adding anyone to the list unless one or two of those guys dies off. If things get really bad I could always time some well planned sniper work with applications to get on those lists.

So it is pretty simple, work for what they are willing to pay, or stand your ground on your fee and sit by the fax machine all day. I need the money so I do what I have to. I work till late at night and on the weekends too but like I said, I feel fortunate to at least have the work in these times.

 

[Non Sequitur]

Great advice above but here is the problem. Thanks to banks all buying each other, 90% of all loans go through a few major lenders. They ONLY use AMC's and the AMC's have a large pool of appraisers to dangle meat in front of. I raised my fees $25 one time as a test, and my work dropped off by over 80% with them. I actually feel fortunate to have the AMC's since I have several appraiser friends who can not get with the AMC's I have so they have either quit appraising to take another job to feed the family or if they have a spouse that makes decent money they just do the 5-6 a month and are hanging in there. I actually have tried to get on with Landsafe since 2005 and finally talked to an employee there who says she has not seen an appraiser added since she started in 2006. I don't even know if they pay enough to work for. Now there are the "local lenders" and banks, unfortunatly they have rotating lists occupied by guys who have been "in with them" for many years and they are not adding anyone to the list unless one or two of those guys dies off. If things get really bad I could always time some well planned sniper work with applications to get on those lists.

So it is pretty simple, work for what they are willing to pay, or stand your ground on your fee and sit by the fax machine all day. I need the money so I do what I have to. I work till late at night and on the weekends too but like I said, I feel fortunate to at least have the work in these times.

John here's the deal with MLS photos and the MLS in general. If you drive by the comps and take photos you will notice (and we are both with NOMAR MLS) that the photos are just plain wrong more times than anyone would care to admit. And even when they are correct a good number look like a monkey took the photo or they are scanned from some other source. Look at MLS#808090, the agent scanned an appraisal report photo page for the front photo. I reported it but my guess is nothing will be done. Either way, I'm not going to get into the debate as to whether or not it's ethical, but try it out on the next few assignments, I think you'll surprise yourself.

Oh, and how did you like the newly minted certified admitting in USPAP class last Wednesday that he never had control of his signature?

 

[Hamlet]

Well Mr / Ms GSE person .... the REALITY is that you dont pay me enough, you havent enforced the rules ... and you dont care and neither do I (oh ... and by the way Im not only lazy but I also dont think ethics mean much either ... so there ... raspberry)

Signed

Typical Appraiser

It sure would be hard to argue with that! The only problem is someone with the lack of ethics isn't going to be honest about their motives. Then again, the lack of enforcement, they won't need to explain anyway...:new_multi:

 

[Workbox]

It sure would be hard to argue with that! The only problem is someone with the lack of ethics isn't going to be honest about their motives. Then again, the lack of enforcement, they won't need to explain anyway...:new_multi:

From those that I have talked too, it is not only about ethics, but are betting that they won't get turned in or BS the report enough to get it passed, too not get caught.

 

[Michigan CG]

Today I had the "pleasure" to read a report that used all MLS pictures. One of the photos looked like a single family home from the angle taken by the Realtor. It is actually an attached condo, appraiser didn't know that since he did not inspect.

Another comp was of a photo that was a proposed construction....."if you want to buy our overpriced lot we can build a house that will look like this". The parcel is vacant land....oh and by the way not one house has been built in the township THIS YEAR. The appraiser did adjust for time on this one.....m2:

Two homes were relocation homes where the owner was compensated above the selling price, one home was a land contract with owner financing, four of the homes had wrong GLA and finally one home was listed as a golf course home that was surrounded by a cornfield....the golf course is down the road.

The unadjusted sale prices were from $225,000 to $399,000; the adjusted sale prices were from $226,000 to $386,000 with an opinion of value of $271,000. The cost approach came in at $527,000.

Thank God the appraiser adjusted $1,000 for the sprinkler system, unfortunately he did not explain any adjustments or how on earth with an adjusted value range of $140,000 he came in at the precise value of $271,000 (If you take the average of the adjusted comps you will find it to be very close to the opinion of value).

This all passed the Wells Fargo "reviewers" and "quality control" people.

Our industry is in trouble if there are people like this.....and Wells Fargo is in more trouble than our industry.