Don't you see what is going on? AI and AF are jockying for position of power now that Wall Street has crashed. They are both wanting to call the shots.
If these groups have been lobbying for me, I wish they would stop. The net result of their efforts have caused laws to be passed that require doulbe the hours for licensure as compared to before 2008. And now the lion's share of all appraisal assignments are being doled out by AMC's (some owned by large banks) that have nothing invested in the appraisal, no liability, but are paying themselves 50% or more of our old outdated fee schedule and cutting the appraiser's fees to less than $300.
I received an email inquiry this a.m. from an AMC requesting that I research a property in a million dollar market and offered $275 fee for a completed report. I did a cursory review of the subject and its neighborhood and replied to the AMC that due to the complexity, distance, and lack of similar available comparables to the subject, I would perform the assignment for $1,250, please send payment with the assignment order. They did not respond.
Independent fee appraisers analyze and produce quality reports on properties that sometimes involved huge amounts of money, yet, lack the courage or organizational ability to charge fees that reflect proper compensation for their efforts.
When houses were selling for $50,000, the appraisal fee was around $250. When the same houses were selling for $500,000 or more, those appraisal fees were around $350-400. The realtors were splitting 6% of the subject's value. Appraisal fees did not keep pace with costs. Now appraisers are required by law to complete double the classroom hours for any license and pass another 56 hours of continuing education and USPAP courses every 2 years. Do you think AI had anything to do with that law?
Let's start another national group. Let's call it Patriot Appraisers or National Patriot Appraisers (these name may already be in use). Send me a few million dollars to lobby in Washington and I will see that some real changes are made to the way appraisers are treated in regards to real estate transactions and that they will be properly compensated for their efforts.
My initial proposal would be payment upfront. If clients contact an appraiser for a possible assignment, the client should send $250 with the inquiry, so that the appraiser can do a meaningful research of his or her data bases. Then the appraiser would send a bid for a complete appraisal of that particular assignment based upon real research and discovery instead of his last memory of the neighborhood or a cursory querey on the public records and MLS. If the fee is accepte, payment should be made before the appraisal report is shipped.
When the appraiser is offered "payment at closing" he automatically has an implied interest in the transaction. All that format does is save the client from out of pocket cost before loan closing. It costs the appraiser interest on his time and efforts and influences his judgement as to the true Fair Market Value of the subject. And if it does not close? Yes, I go to small claims court and pay $40 to the county, after sending several certified letters ($2.00 each) to the client. Gee, what a sorry system.
Let's band together and turn this business around while congress is writing a new real estate bible. History has proven that sometimes something good comes from chaos. And if the present state of affairs for real estate is not chaos, someone has invented a new definition for it.
and I have taken courses from them, and can make that statement first hand.
