Another Appraisalport Money Grab

[bnmappraisal]

Thanks for the heads up Fritz. I, too, only have one client (ACT) who uses them. I hate seeing my check from them "minus tech fee" ... Ugh. Frustrating. Fee's going up...and I agree with most, $25 sounds fair (they're my lowest paying client right now anyway - fee was bound to go up)

 

[Pilgrum]

For the last couple of months all of my fees have been plus portal fee.

 

[Flakey]

Emailed this to my client yesterday and cc'd AP.

"July 17, 2016, I received notification from AppraisalPort effective August 1, 2016 their service fee for uploading reports is going from $10 to $14, a 40% increase. Since 2000, that fee has risen from $6. During the same period, my fees have remained the same as they are today. Effective August 1, my fees will increase by $15.00 (0.04%) for all clients using AppraisalPort for appraisal assignments. This will be reflected on invoices as a separate item from the regular fee. Assignments ordered directly or by other portals will not be subject to the additional fee.

Please advise if you have questions or comments.

Thank you,"

 

[miktay]

I too emailed AP with my opinion and thoughts on this. No reply yet.

 

[Flakey]

Money Grab II - Now its Mercurys turn.

"On July 11th, platform transaction fees will be increasing.

Full scope products $14.50 (75¢ increase)
Limited scope products $6.00 (25¢ increase)

We have never raised prices since we launched the paid service six years ago, despite dramatically expanding functionality (see below) and volume. The increase represents less than 0.2% of the average appraisal fee and will allow us to continue to invest in the platform, bringing you new features like live chat and fee panel transparency. To offset the increases, you can adjust your published fees."

"Coming soon

• Ability to auto-accept orders from chosen clients"

Auto-accept should be a USPAP violation.

 

[bnmappraisal]

I got the same email Fritz.
I love the "to offset the increases, you can adjust your published fees" tell the a m c's that!

Also, the thing that stuck out to my was your bold regarding auto accepting. That's always been an issue, but "generally" a behind the scenes thing I think.
There have been times that I've blindly accepted certain assignments ... I would venture to say that 60-80% of the time that I do that I regret it! Yet I still do it from time to time... I also work in a fairly diverse market area where some properties may be 100-300k and a few blocks over pushing $1mil

 

[Flakey]

You're agreeing to the terms and conditons and your competence whether you auto-accept or not.

 

[Vermonter]

If nothing else, I intend to start adding a $25 "AppraisalPort technology fee" to my invoices.

Whenever an AMC had one of those "technology" fees, I would double it and add it to the fee quote.

If they can add a fee for doing nothing, I might as well do the same.

 

[Peter LeQuire]

If they can add a fee for doing nothing, I might as well do the same.

The outworking of this could be very rewarding: if I can learn to do more nothing, I can get more fees for doing much more nothing. Where are the Guinness Guys?

Oh! Wait!

 

[Digger88]

so suntrust charges a $25 fee and now ap wants $14. thats nothing to sneeze at! ST only pays $450 when i do one in a blue moon. think ill start countering at $489.