Fee work

[RichMahagony]

East coast CGs. How are fees looking for you all? Increase, decrease, about the same as always? What about bidding activity?

The firm I work for is way down in activity and fees are lower than they were last year and the year before that. It’s getting hard to survive doing this. Our bread and butter is lender work. It’s literally all we do unless there is a referral here or there. How can one diversify?

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

The firm I work for is way down in activity and fees are lower than they were last year and the year before that. It’s getting hard to survive doing this. Our bread and butter is lender work. It’s literally all we do unless there is a referral here or there. How can one diversify?

Does the firm actively pursue relationships with new clients? If not for steady work and shared overhead, what benefit does working for a firm provide?

 

[RichMahagony]

Does the firm actively pursue relationships with new clients? If not for steady work and shared overhead, what benefit does working for a firm provide?

Your point is valid. I have this nag in the back of my head that tells me I need to be MAI before heading out on my own. I know that’s not true. I just haven’t taken that leap.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Your point is valid. I have this nag in the back of my head that tells me I need to be MAI before heading out on my own. I know that’s not true. I just haven’t taken that leap.

Can you work for multiple firms and/or get work on the side?

 

[RichMahagony]

Does the firm actively pursue relationships with new clients? If not for steady work and shared overhead, what benefit does working for tells me I need to be MAI before heading out on my own. I know that’s not true. I just haven’t taken that lrap

Can you work for multiple firms and/or get work on the side?

Is that something you do? I’ve never heard of anyone doing work for multiple firms.

As far as work on the side, I assume you mean appraisal work, I may as well go on my own if I do that. Point being that I’ll have to acquire my own overhead with regard to subscriptions and so forth if I am to do work on the side apart from the firm. I can’t use their software, subscriptions, etc. for my own side work.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Is that something you do? I’ve never heard of anyone doing work for multiple firms.

As far as work on the side, I assume you mean appraisal work, I may as well go on my own if I do that. Point being that I’ll have to acquire my own overhead with regard to subscriptions and so forth if I am to do work on the side apart from the firm. I can’t use their software, subscriptions, etc. for my own side work.

I don't know about CG, but I've known residential appraisers who worked for multiple companies.

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

I have this nag in the back of my head that tells me I need to be MAI before heading out on my own. I know that’s not true. I just haven’t taken that leap.

I don't know your background and competency in appraisal, but if you can handle assignments on your own and think you can obtain work independently, and especially if you're currently getting paid peanuts, then that "leap" is less risky. Sitting here looking over a report from a national firm that sent out a low totem-pole appraiser on a 300+ mile round trip to do a $1,200 office/warehouse report just a few years ago (sad face). So you're definition of peanuts could vary depending on who you are

In my experience, the MAI in present day wouldn't have earned more for me than the annual cost to maintain those three letters. Maybe not true if you get into very specialized work, though. Does your firm take a fair cut of the already low fees, and in exchange do they help share certain expenses?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

My commercial fees have been flat here in Fly over America and Ricky is maybe 60 miles north of me in another state. I doubt he has to drop bids to get work. I've not been regularly asked what my fee even is. I got $1,000 each for 3 residential assignments in a row. They were complex - one had 2 houses, one had a very large new home on acres, and one was a lake property used as a VRBO. But Commercial I usually get better than that. OTOH, if it is a really plain shop, office, etc. $1,000 is my ordinary base price. Poultry farms OTOH, not less than $4k unless I've appraised it within a few years previously and then maybe $3k if little changed. But with a CG I would definitely, in your case, be working with CPAs and tax attorneys for DOD work, gifting, etc.

I am negotiating an assignment right now to do only the mineral rights on 3,400 acres. I bet its quite complex because I know the area and it had old coal mines as well as gas wells. So, title work will have to be 'right' before I even attempt to value it.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

FYI - Georgia CPAs have a 'classifieds' feature - buy an ad for a year and see if it generates work if you go on your own.

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[JTip]

Time to diversify.

Trade in your flipflops and shorts for pants, dress shoes and an alarm clock for a job in the govt. Federal or state, assessor to eminent domain, property manager to acquisition.

So many jobs out there a CG is qualified to do. Pick up a few fee work jobs on the side and enjoy benefits you never had while getting multiple paychecks.

If you think doing a couple mixed use properties a week will sustain you for the next 25 years, good luck with that.

GS-13 STARTING at $103k as a 'Business Appraiser' in three cities in SC. Just gotta look.