Corelogic Just Acquired Alamode

[hastalavista]

I do think this product does have a place, and may be great for certain appraisers. My main concerns have been price and where is it all heading?

If this trend does continue to gain market share, I have to wonder if the notion of geographic competence will start getting 'ignored'. Why rely on an appraiser actually IN that market? If one or two entities control all data access, that access could be given to their employees...er I mean independent contractors, to do appraisals nationwide. I've said this before, but the very core of this industry is getting chipped away. If the pieces are small enough, no one gets upset enough to fight back. Lets hope we are not like the frog being cooked in a pot of water--if you raise the temperature slowly enough, he will not jump out, and instead will simply boil to death.

Market competency (geographic) is a legitimate concern. And, yes, I think there is the possibility of putting together a team of appraisers in one area who will appraise in markets they've never personally visited. Do I think they can become "geo-competent" (knowledgable of the market) to complete an appraisal consistent with its SOW, intended use, and expectations? I do. But I don't see how that is cost-effective vs. using existing appraisers who are already in-place in those markets, who have the data, who need no runway to learn anything new (other than the appraisal reporting process). In the large, metropolitan areas (LA, New York, Chicago, Dallas, fill-in-the-blank-here) it might make sense to create a core-team therein. For everyplace else, it doesn't make any sense.

The "chipping away" is a legitimate concern (obviously). George Hatch says it better than I can ever say it: That chipping away is concentrated in the mortgage finance segment of our markets and is due to those users (and their regulators) believing that a sufficiently reliable alternative to an appraisal exists without any significant additional risk.
If our argument against the shrinking mortgage-finance volume is reduced to a turf-war argument, we will lose. The only way to win that argument is to demonstrate (or persuade/convince the powers that be) that all the other appraisal-alternatives are not appropriate for a transaction-type. We actually win that argument. Where we lose is when we try to apply it to all transaction-types.

That's how I see it.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The overall push is to drive everything into the cloud...where the data can be compromised and you sucked dry. Period.

I've never believed that appraising is a dying "sport" but this suggests the changes in residential valuation will not be recognizable in another 10 years or so. It will all be in the cloud, you will still be the one with the license to be held accountable, but the rest will be "automated" and you merely sign off on it, or suffer zero work.

 

[ucbruin]

you brought up need, not me, i was just using your vernacular. that being said the need was most likely more profit and control of the real estate industry but if you realty want to know give them a call and ask. i am not corelogic.

Got it...

"i am not corelogic."

When has this ever stopped us from sharing our opinions????

"that being said the need was most likely more profit and control of the real estate industry..."

 

[MTOJOBS]

The overall push is to drive everything into the cloud...where the data can be compromised and you sucked dry. Period.

I've never believed that appraising is a dying "sport" but this suggests the changes in residential valuation will not be recognizable in another 10 years or so. It will all be in the cloud, you will still be the one with the license to be held accountable, but the rest will be "automated" and you merely sign off on it, or suffer zero work.

And it's not just appraiser's it the entire real estate profession. Real estate agents will be down to nothing or gone in 10 to 20 years. Facebook introduced a platform to sell your house, Zillow has now turned on the partner RE agents and are offering the public to sell their home on Zillow, there was a story last week about a national MLS system with no dues or little dues, that will kill the local markets first then the assimilation starts. Mortgage Brokers too. Keller Williams is making it mandatory that there buyer agents give their customers a mortgage offer claiming to save them $1,000 of dollars. I could go on and on. People!!! we all will be out of job or suffer tremendous loses if we are planing to stay in the same line of work we are in. The Sky is falling and has been for the last decade. Unless you came up with some unique marketing plan or idea, most appraiser's. R.E. agent and mortgage brokers are making less money that they were and have less control over the job or industry than they did. Some are making more...I know but they won't be for long.

 

[Overimprovement]

Of note is that Wall Street does not think anything about this acquisition. Corelogic's share price has hardly changed. So the purpose appears to NOT be financial gain in the short run. When a company buys another one and it is not immediately accretive (due to perhaps economies of scale or reducing competition), that usually means some longer term play, or a play the market does not see yet.

For anyone who hates this move from an appraiser way of life perspective (count me as one), then buy their stock. If whatever is up their sleeves pans out, they stand to make boatloads of money. If it doesn't, then the sky is indeed not falling. Hedge your bets...If we can't make $ from appraisals, we can make it from the demise of appraisals...

 

[MTOJOBS]

Of note is that Wall Street does not think anything about this acquisition. Corelogic's share price has hardly changed. So the purpose appears to NOT be financial gain in the short run. When a company buys another one and it is not immediately accretive (due to perhaps economies of scale or reducing competition), that usually means some longer term play, or a play the market does not see yet.

For anyone who hates this move from an appraiser way of life perspective (count me as one), then buy their stock. If whatever is up their sleeves pans out, they stand to make boatloads of money. If it doesn't, then the sky is indeed not falling. Hedge your bets...If we can't make $ from appraisals, we can make it from the demise of appraisals...

Very good point!!

 

[Fargo1]

Just thought that I would throw it out there that SFREP has some new software coming out that looks similar but improved to Total. They might be the appraisers new best friend.

 

[Salty]

For those who do mostly lender work: is there even enough volume each year in a given tight market radius to provide a living to someone completing these new lower priced reports? I mean one would have to obviously complete more reports to maintain their current level of income. But there are only so many sales and refis to go around.

 

[Don Clark]

This really stinks. Corelogic is buying up appraisal software and AMC’s like crazy. Expect higher prices; less competitive fees. I would switch software, but I’m about ready to retire in a few years and don’t want to deal with it. I’ve used alamode for nearly 17 years. Used ACI before then and switched. So I’m kind of locked in.

Same here. Used Alamode since 1990. I will wait & see if there are too many changes, higher prices, I may retire at the end of the year.

 

[Overimprovement]

For those who do mostly lender work: is there even enough volume each year in a given tight market radius to provide a living to someone completing these new lower priced reports? I mean one would have to obviously complete more reports to maintain their current level of income. But there are only so many sales and refis to go around.

I think theoretically there are, but if the AMC market remains as fragmented as it is now, there is no practical way to divide up assignments in a geographically local way. If appraiser A did EVERY assignment (hybrid) in the NW part of the city, or SE part of the county, appraiser B did the NE part, etc, then it could work well. But unless one or two companies really become an oligopoly when it comes to supplying appraisers with work, these efficiencies will never come to pass. The practical aspects of who decides which appraisers get which areas would be fun to watch play out though!