Intimidation....I Will Not Be Silenced

[bluechip]

APPRAISERS: THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM WITH THE AMC MODEL.


I recently received a compliance letter from Solidifi because they objected to comments I made publicly criticizing Clear Capital and the treatment of independent appraisers.
Apparently, criticizing an AMC can result in another AMC putting an appraiser “ON-HOLD” and demanding an explanation.
And that perfectly illustrates the point I was making.

For years, the AMC model has increasingly resembled a master/servant relationship rather than a relationship between independent businesses.
Accept our fee. Meet our turn time. Answer our endless revision requests. Follow our administrative requirements. Absorb the liability. Carry the license. Carry the insurance. Carry the overhead. And apparently, now, be careful what you publicly say about another AMC.

No.

An independent appraiser is not an AMC employee. We are not their servants, and we damn sure are not their slaves.

I haven't performed lending appraisal work in more than two years. I walked away from that business deliberately. I don't need an AMC panel, and I don't need permission from an AMC compliance committee to express my opinion about what has happened to this profession.

If criticizing the treatment of appraisers results in being removed from an AMC panel, remove me.

Permanently.

The irony is almost too good: send an independent professional a letter demanding that he explain his criticism of AMC control while simultaneously threatening his access to the AMC's work unless his response satisfies a committee.

You couldn't have demonstrated my point any better if you tried.

Independent means independent.
Appraisers need to remember that.
And AMCs need to remember it too.

I am not your employee. I am not your servant. I am not your slave.
If that makes me unsuitable for your network, you know exactly where you can stick the network.

 

[George Hatch]

You're 100% right - you are not an employee. You're a business.

Consumers are free to pick and choose which companies to do business with. Has nothing to do with the AMC model.

 

[J Grant]

You're 100% right - you are not an employee. You're a business.

Consumers are free to pick and choose which companies to do business with.

AMC's are not consumers. They are a business. The appraisers, if engaged as a fee appraiser, are independent contractors.

AMCs have such a huge market share because of a government perk (allowing the AMC to get compensated via the HUD by keeping a chunk of the appraisal fee). The people who defend this model ly go apoplectic if such a form of government welfare were offered to an appraiser. It is the appraisers who get taunted for expecting the govt to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

If it were not strucured that the AMC got compensated by keeping part of the appraisal fee, we would see many of them fold overnight. Or their compensation would drop from (avg) of $250 an order to $75, which I bet is the max a lender would shell out if they actually had to pay a hard cost for the AMC service.

 

[bluechip]

The AMC police? I am filing a complaint quicker then UPS delivered this to my office this morning. Coercion and intimidation is unacceptable and maybe its time we start pushing back.
I have had enough.

 

[George Hatch]

AMC's are not consumers. They are a business. The appraisers, if engaged as a fee appraiser, are independent contractors.

I knew you would skip all of the reasoning involved but I figured I would just wait for you or one of the others to walk yourself into the foolishment. So I'll rephrase.

- Contractors are free to pick and choose which subcontractors to do business with.
- Lenders are free to pick and choose which fee appraisers or AMCs to do business with.
- Fee Appraisers are free to pick and choose which lenders and AMCs to do business with.
Etc.

Only an employer has to justify why they fired or laid off an employee, and only under employment law.

 

[bluechip]

I knew you would skip all of the reasoning involved but I figured I would just wait for you or one of the others to walk yourself into the foolishment. So I'll rephrase.

- Contractors are free to pick and choose which subcontractors to do business with.
- Lenders are free to pick and choose which fee appraisers or AMCs to do business with.
- Fee Appraisers are free to pick and choose which lenders and AMCs to do business with.
Etc.

Only an employer has to justify why they fired or laid off an employee, and only under employment law.

You're arguing a point I never made. Of course Solidifi can remove me. My issue is them playing compliance police because I criticized another AMC. They don't have to keep me on their panel, and I don't have to shut up to stay on it. That's the point.

 

[chad hampton]

If we had even 10k appraisers like you, this would be an entirely different business. Keep up the good work.

 

[Dublin ohio]

You're arguing a point I never made. Of course Solidifi can remove me. My issue is them playing compliance police because I criticized another AMC. They don't have to keep me on their panel, and I don't have to shut up to stay on it. That's the point.

So, what exactly did they cite in the letter

 

[Non Sequitur]

Tell me AMC's are in cahoots without telling me AMC's are in cahoots.

 

[alebrewer]

Employee status aside, two AMC's colluding to silence appraisers is no different, IMO, than two appraisers colluding to fix prices. Doubt if it could be prosecuted, but collusion to police appraiser behavior is just that - collusion.