ASA fired off quite the letter

[Elliott]

Our economy is a lot of things. But appraisers have virtually no pricing power and when 'demand' for appraisals goes down, our pricing power goes down the tubes, so we work for less and less, and it goes to those with 'real' pricing power, those with monopoly-like power.

(Leftists explaining our economy)
"Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply-chain costs onto consumers. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether concentrated market power is contributing to inflation."

Why corporations are reaping record profits with inflation on the rise

Despite rising inflation, major U.S. corporations are reporting record profits, as companies pass rising supply-chain costs onto consumers. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explores whether concentrated market power is contributing to inflation.

www.pbs.org

 

[ucbruin]

My appraiser friend living in Bend....
Was charging high fees even before the Pandemic....

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Great letter. The points made are solid, and for those shills who keep crowing, "it's all about fees", if you are capable of shame, then feel it, because the appraisal profession did not just get attacked from without, it got undermined from within.

Prior to the housing market crash, appraisers signed a petition about mortgage broker pressure ( which was ignored, as is our input now) but the point is that the petition had nothing to do with fees, in fact it was at the expense of our livelihood that many of us signed it. But now, there is an intersection of fees and the concern over market impacts- which a certain set of appraisers exploited to discredit any arguments ; (It's really about the fees ! ) The undermining of the profession from within. Yet, it never occurred to them it was about the fees to the stakeholders. who stood to profit. Wonder why that was.

We can support this man or sign a petition and contact agencies, and it is always worth a try, though I doubt it would do much good. Our petition back then was ignored, and a correction only took place after the housing market imploded, and we saw how that worked out. I can only hope that the good appraisers will stay, and the weaker appraisers leave if the lack of volume decimates the ranks. However, there is no way to control that, and with the low fee AMC model acting as a Darwinian selector in the wrong direction, I fear it might be the reverse.

A comment about fees: Most every report written by other appraisers that I happen to see reflect the absolute bare minimum needed for questionable credibility. I could crank out 15 - 20 reports a week if my reports were as vanilla as the work of others, consequently warranting $200/$300 per report. Most don't even bother with a spell, and few I've seen even consider more than 3 comps and a few sentences about reconciliation, among the approaches or among the SCA comparables.

 

[chad hampton]

With the fees that your users are offering that’s all they want. And like the wizards and geniuses on this site say as long as you provide the user what they want then your report is fine. So if they wanna pay $300 they get three comps and some canned garbage. You all good bruh, as the kids say.

 

[ucbruin]

Steve McQueen made everything seem great....
Especially malingering....