There are at least three groups who are complaining rightly or wrongly about AMCs but each group for different reasons:
Group1- Appraisers are unhappy because their fees have been cut down to half or less and are mostly under pressure to deliver their appraisals in the rush which makes them nervous and exhausted because they don’t have enough time to do due diligent works.. They feel that their years of experience, education and skills are not appreciated by AMCs and their fees are under cut by low skill, new appraisers who just have the license but not the experience and competency and skill to do some appraisal that requires skill and geographical familiarity. The only appraisers who are happy with AMCs are those who don’t do AMC works which are very limited and those who were working as fee split appraisers for other shops previously either because they were not skilled and experienced to do appraisals themselves or they were not able to market their business to get a full fee appraisal assignments. It is against all conventional wisdom to think that any appraiser with 10 or 20 years of working hard and getting skills and experience in appraisal practice to be satisfied with half or less than half of their fees and time pressures that are placed on them by AMCs. I have not seen any psychological theory that says the way to get a quality work is to cut the fees of workers in half and push them harder to do the work faster. This always has opposite results.
Group 2- Borrowers- Borrowers are complaining because they have to pay more for their appraisals, they also have to wait longer to get the appraisal done that sometimes causes the loan cancellation or other problems. The time consuming for the appraisal order from the loan broker, to the lender, to the AMC headquarter, to the AMS staff (clerk), to find the cheapest appraiser in the area, to order the appraisal and then, from appraiser back to the AMC, to the AMC QC, to the lender is a long time and this is if the AMC has the ready and able appraiser to take that low fee appraisal and deliver it within 24 hours.
Group 3-Mortgage brokers, Realtors and builders are unsatisfied because they cannot close the their deals and they are going to lose their customers. This is not ,of course, appraisers concern but they have one point that should be everyone concern and that is the fear of unknown. They don’t know what kind of appraiser are they going to get. Is the appraiser a local and skilled appraiser or is a new license with a limited experience. They are suspicions that AMCs priority in selecting appraisers is to assign the appraisal to the lowest fee and fastest turn around time appraiser. that fear might be true or not but the model that most AMCs have chosen is the net profit not the quality. This group want an assurance that the appraiser who was sent to do the appraisal is the most experienced appraiser in the area but they know as well as most of us that with the fee that AMC is paying, it is impossible to get the best experienced and competent appraiser
