Throughout the 80s and 90s there were far too many who treated trainees as indentured servants, bleeding them for every possible cent they could. The natural reaction to that was that many would leave the company as soon as they got certified.
Our experience here was not quite that bad, got that way moreso after 2000. I took a partner, she developed terminal cancer and she was training her step-daughter. She asked for me to finish the job. I did and paid her all the fee less $50/report. She paid her own MLS fees. Another, paid the same, part-time due to Lupus, but stayed with me for 18 years less 2 years caring for aged in-laws. I took on a third trainee who had lost his job as in HR at a local company and was looking for something to fill in until he reached 65..he was about 58 and found getting a job at his age was difficult. He worked to 65 and like the others paid his own MLS and I got $50 per report. After they licensed I didn't have to sign the reports for most clients. He was fast learner and was basically able to inspect and do excellent work within 6 mo., and if a question, he ran it past me. The last one I took on was an out of state CR who needed additional commercial hours to get his CG. I allowed him to do reports with me and he offered to do so without compensation. But he was paid for any residential report I generated (100% of fee) that was in his area or out of state (He held licenses in 3 states.) Excellent, he was a forumite, and quit in disgust after a mortgage broker filed in MO complaining he didn't appraise it high enough. He went back to broker work and rentals. He also sold 22 rentals in Joplin, MO in mid-2000s and got to buy back at a fraction his sale prices.
Most area appraisers that I know who told me what they did, started people at 50%, and provided MLS. They usually transitioned to a somewhat higher fee cut after the party was trained. A high percent of trainees were family members. Only the larger firms had lower cuts or even salaries, and typically paid basic expenses (MLS, software) etc. So I don't buy the argument that we created our own competition. Only the one trainee above "competed" with me after she obtained her training, and that was largely because she wanted to cut back, and I was doing less and less residential work anyway. When the crunch came, I cannot think of anyone who gobbled up any significant part of my biz, and the banks were more comfortable with the people they were used to dealing with than trying cut rate Charlie. In fact, 2000-2006 was the best years for my poultry farm appraising due to the construction cycle, and it slowed just prior to the bust. When the bust came, I was extremely busy with bank repo's (not secondary market) or OREs as they tended to call them. When a couple banks got into trouble, I was called upon to revalue not only old appraisals I had done, but a lot of property where "evaluations" done in-house were deemed inadequate by the examiners and they required new certified appraisals even on some very small loans. By that time, I was working pretty much steady with mineral evaluations in Arkansas and Oklahoma, which I continue to do today. My bank days are over. I wish there were more mineral appraisers because I turn down a lot of work outside the two state area I limit myself to.
And Hal will get backed up for a month or more.
