Curing the Mortgage Broker Affliction

[Esox]

You guys are too hard on mb's. They aren't that bad. I've made a lot of my business with them. I work with mb's, banks, attorneys - anybody who needs an appraisal. As far as mb's go, just tell them what they want to hear and do your appraisal they way you should. If they get p!ssed off, well, they'll get over it. They usually forget after a few months anyway.

The good size MB company I spoke of in my first post was one of the best clients I ever had. I initially started doing their appraisals through an AMC called REAS. When REAS was bought out by somebody or another they continued to use my services. They accepted my appraisals and were never a problem. Checks came in less than a week. When things got tight they changed. I know who else they work with, and can imagine why they're not calling me now that times are tough. I'm more than happy to do what they send me, but am not going to count on that business any more.

The guys that dumped me for being too picky for FHA also changed in the last eight to twelve months. I'm sure they'll still call when they have a lake property or a jumbo, or something else weird. They'll need a good appraisal and I'll be happy to do it and charge them for it, but I'm not going to count on them either.

Took another divorce request today that came as a referral from one of my bank clients. The attorney wouldn't say which one. We had a nice conversation, that I hope leads to more work. He seemed pretty impressed when we discussed the SOW. Apparently other appraisers haven't spoken in depth with him on that. Marketing is fun. I love talking to people. I think I should be charging more, though. He said my fee seemed "reasonable".

Kevin

 

[Doug in NC]

You guys are too hard on mb's. They aren't that bad. I've made a lot of my business with them. I work with mb's, banks, attorneys - anybody who needs an appraisal. As far as mb's go, just tell them what they want to hear and do your appraisal they way you should. If they get p!ssed off, well, they'll get over it. They usually forget after a few months anyway.

That has not been my experience. You PO them and at first they usually try to get you to do the wrong thing (to salvage their loan at any cost). If you don't comply, you hear things like "I'll make sure you are blackballed at my company", or "Since this one didn't work out, how about we don't charge for this one and make up for it next time", or more subtle approach, they don't say anything and you just plain never hear from them again.