Appraisal With No Inspection By Appraiser?

[Terrel L. Shields]

Online scheduling - like my doctor and dentist both use now - is very widespread these days.

I love 'em. They called me Friday, emailed me, then called me Sunday at church. Then called again Monday morning to cancel my appointment because the doctor was sick...great process. I am ready to block them on my phone.

 

[DWiley]

SL doesn't have set schedules, but as soon as an appraiser tries to raise fees y'all cut them off until one of you gives. I know because when I did work for SL, that's exactly what happened. I'd get a better client, raise fees on SL who would cut off work for awhile and then come back promising more volume for lower fees.

It's disingenuous for SL to act like appraisal quality matters when the reality is your just trying to maximize profits, by hiring the cheapest appraiser possible, quality be damned. It's a balance for fee vs quality and I get that SL is a for profit company, so are appraisers. But the charade is BS. And SL is in your control. You can influence the decision to hire firms instead of just individuals. You can influence the decision for SL to move to a cost plus model. You can influence the decision to hire quality appraisers and pay them market rate. You pay between $250-$300 in Atlanta. Market rate is $450. VA is at $440. Catch up on fees and your service issues will start to fade.

PS. Say Hi to Alan for me.

If you lost business over fees, then that was because some other appraiser in your area with the same quality and service scores was charging less. The quality score accounts for 67% of our appraiser selection. So, to say that we don't care about quality is what is BS. If I am buying a high quality automobile and Dealer B gives me a better price on the same model than Dealer A, going with Dealer B does not mean I don't care about quality; it means I am using basic business sense.

Read my past posts - I would LOVE to go to cost plus, as it would make it much easier on me and my company. But no one has figured out how to make cost plus work with the TRID disclosure requirements, so most clients will not do it.

 

[Deleted member 139442]

If you lost business over fees, then that was because some other appraiser in your area with the same quality and service scores was charging less. The quality score accounts for 67% of our appraiser selection. So, to say that we don't care about quality is what is BS. If I am buying a high quality automobile and Dealer B gives me a better price on the same model than Dealer A, going with Dealer B does not mean I don't care about quality; it means I am using basic business sense.

Read my past posts - I would LOVE to go to cost plus, as it would make it much easier on me and my company. But no one has figured out how to make cost plus work with the TRID disclosure requirements, so most clients will not do it.

Appraisal's and Appraisers aren't cars. We aren't mass produced in one plant and shipped around the world to dealers. A 1004 from one appraiser is not the same 1004 from another. That's not a accurate comparison.

The cost plus model is easy, you agree to a fair fee with your vendors and add your cost. It's what I've done with all my clients. They all know my fee before the order is placed. If it's highly complex, they know it's complex and then they ask for a quote. But for 95%+ of orders, the fee is already agreed to in writing. The kicker is that you have to a good fee that allows the appraiser enough profit margin to spend some extra time on the slightly complex orders.

 

[DWiley]

Appraisal's and Appraisers aren't cars. We aren't mass produced in one plant and shipped around the world to dealers. A 1004 from one appraiser is not the same 1004 from another. That's not a accurate comparison.

When I compare appraisers I don't compare with all other appraisers. As I said, i compare to other appraisers with similar quality and service. That is an appropriate comparison. And, we quantitatively measure those things. It is not a "touchy-feely" thing.

The cost plus model is easy, you agree to a fair fee with your vendors and add your cost.

Oh, it is easy for an AMC, and most would LOVE to go that route. That is not the issue. The challenge is the lender who must disclose the total fee on the front end. How can they do that when you charge $450 and I charge $425 and Alan charges $500? Lenders simply do not want to deal with re-disclosure for small fee changes, as TRID would require.

 

[Evincere]

Servicelink's b.s. fees are not anywhere close to customary. Do you really expect appraisers to embrace exos? Service link is one client for those who actually work for you, and you want to control the appraiser's schedule. Service Link is a whole lot of what is wrong with the industry.

Must be a tedious task for one to have to constantly defend their company’s modus operandi against what appears to be consistent, negative feedback from the people it does business with - especially when that feedback is coming from someone such as yourself with first hand experience.

Kinda reminds me of the daily white press or corporate conferences where the pat, rote answers are given in response to an audience/questions. It’s well known that talking heads either cherry pick their questions/questionnaires/material or use glossy rhetoric for the tough ones

 

[DWiley]

Must be a tedious task for one to have to constantly defend their company’s modus operandi against what appears to be consistent, negative feedback from the people it does business with - especially when that feedback is coming from someone such as yourself with first hand experience.

LOL !! Fortunately for me, the happy ones far outweigh the complainers. In fact, I just shared some great emails from happy, thankful, appraisers with some staff. It is the nature of the social media universe.

I get it. JB is unhappy that someone in his market does similar work for less, and that impacts him. I dealt with the same thing for over 25 years. It is called......business.

 

[Joe Flacco]

What about your customers?

 

[George Hatch]

Exactly, someone has to cut their fee. Using a home inspector would actually increase the fee but in reality would be a benefit to borrower and appraiser - both could benefit from a detailed home inspection...and those inspectors do caveat away a lot of liabilities.
The reality is no "inspection" can find everything. My ex sold her home when we married, which was not 18 months old. Weeks later the buyers called complaining that the water heater had quit. Who would think a 2 year old water heater wouldn't work. I told them to call the builder and see if he could get it replaced as it should still be under warranty.

But they are promising only a 5 day turn time at HouseCanary? A lot of appraisers were doing 72 hour turn times. The "time" issue usually is in the very property that they (and you) say isn't appropriate for these - rural and unique property.?? I don't see how these can maintain any sense of quality nor will they save substantial time. And I've not been paid on a 6 week old appraisal because the title work has a glitch...not an appraiser's problem. How many closings are delayed six weeks due to the appraiser? How many are delayed due to the title opinion red flagging something?

You keep bringing up House Canary and are citing their marketing materials. Who among us can even know what their actual performance looks like?

 

[chad hampton]

I pretend to be nice on the phone to my AMC clients as well. Doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome them all going out of business tomorrow.

 

[gregb]

View attachment 36149

What about your customers?

Or employees?

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Servicelink/reviews