AMC purpose

[Dublin ohio]

The key distinction is that AMCs do not perform appraisals themselves; they manage the process through third-party appraisers.

The appraise/owner of the AMC I was referring to still does appraisals for the same client in his market area. He only uses third party appraisers for assignments outside of his market. So in reality, the AMC is performing appraisals.

 

[George Hatch]

The appraise/owner of the AMC I was referring to still does appraisals for the same client in his market area. He only uses third party appraisers for assignments outside of his market. So in reality, the AMC is performing appraisals.

The way I would explain it:

The appraiser signing the report performed the appraisal, regardless of their employment or engagement. If working on staff for BofA it wasn't the bank who performed the appraisal, but their employee.

 

[chad hampton]

The proof is in the pudding as they say. Do either of you 2 think the profession is in a strong healthy place right now?

Even though I’m mostly out of the profession now, what I see and read about in the public forums make it sound like a disaster zone.

But look who I’m talking to, one hanging on till the pension kicks in and the other one doesn’t do residential mortgage work. I’m not sure your opinions really matter at this point.

 

[alebrewer]

And now the 'one man AMC' model also has access to CU...

 

[George Hatch]

The proof is in the pudding as they say. Do either of you 2 think the profession is in a strong healthy place right now?

Even though I’m mostly out of the profession now, what I see and read about in the public forums make it sound like a disaster zone.

But look who I’m talking to, one hanging on till the pension kicks in and the other one doesn’t do residential mortgage work. I’m not sure your opinions really matter at this point.

The way I see it.....

The profession is fine and will soldier on after the mortgage lending segment of the demand for services evaporates. The fee appraisal niche of the profession is under severe economic pressure due in large part to the decline in demand. The "employed" appraiser segment that used to prevail prior to the mid-1980s already got gutted by the economics of the mortgage lending business.

When I first got into this business it was common for the lenders to employ appraisers as salaried + benefits including a company car. When I transitioned into doing non-res work I was trained for that by a lender as an employee and got a car allowance instead of a company car. But that model didn't survive the changes in the market. Interestingly enough, one of the interim strategies they considered before laying me off the 2nd time was to spin their appraisal dept off into operating as a freestanding AMC. They couldn't attract enough outside clients to make that work so they gave up.

One of my friends from that job has never worked as a fee appraiser. He still works for a bank doing a combination of appraisals and reviews.

My point being there's considerably more to this profession than performing 1-4 appraisals for the GSE pipelines as a fee appraiser.

 

[chad hampton]

residential mortgage appraisal work is a niche market? You are the niche market, not the residential appraisers. What percentage of license holders are independent res appraisers? Even most of the guys I know with commercial licenses do more residential work. If you take away the residential mortgage aspect of this career, the profession will die off. Do you think there’s even enough money left coming in the fund organizations if residential mortgage work goes away? If you are left with 10,000 appraisers in the country, you may as well do away with it.

Which is probably the goal of some. Honestly, many of the best appraisers I’ve known have left in the last five years. And you see more and more daily leaving. That’s not a sign of a healthy profession.

All by design. And allowed to happen with the help of complicit appraisal boards with no spine. The lies are there. But when you have AMC representatives being flown around the country urging caution to appraisal board members if they try to enforce their law, you get what we have now.

 

[Mike Ault]

And now the 'one man AMC' model also has access to CU...

I'm not sure about that, I think only the lenders do. The chief appraiser for a large AMC I spoke with a couple of weeks ago told me that the only time they see the CU Flag's & risk scores is when the lender sends it to them. And he helped develop CU according to him.

 

[alebrewer]

I'm not sure about that, I think only the lenders do. The chief appraiser for a large AMC I spoke with a couple of weeks ago told me that the only time they see the CU Flag's & risk scores is when the lender sends it to them. And he helped develop CU according to him.

Check your sources. The GSE's just opened CU to AMC's... caveats employed I'm told, but who knows...

 

[Surf Cat]

So in reality, the AMC is performing appraisals.

With the exceptions of the ones he's performing......

If an appraiser has to use a loophole and start their own AMC to acquire a full fee..... that's ludicrous. The system is broken and seriously flawed. It's undermining the very independence they’re supposed to protect.... for profit because they can.

 

[Dublin ohio]

The way I would explain it:

The appraiser signing the report performed the appraisal, regardless of their employment or engagement. If working on staff for BofA it wasn't the bank who performed the appraisal, but their employee.

The point I was trying to make to Surf Cat is that the appraiser/owner is not really a "third party" except maybe on paper