Fees and who gets to quote them

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Warning!
This is another Bitc* session.

WHY do LOs, etc. think that all properties will be appraised for a fee of $300?????? Just WHO do they think they are quoting our fees for us with no knowledge of the property or asking us first?!?

Just has a nasty run in with a buyer about my fee. The subject is Rural - lake front - acreage - ODDBALL. I told her my fee is $600 and she got mad because her LO said it would be $300. I'm proud of myself though. I stayed calm and explained to her that the loan officer quoted what the typical fee would be IF the property were located in a typical subdivision of similar properties here in Jacksonville. I also pointed out that the property she is purchasing if pretty far from typical. She's also angry that it isn't finished yet. I'm still waiting for some Realtors to call me back to verify the very sketchy information I do have on some land sales and I'm not about to send it in without everything I need to finish it correctly.

Lender's need to just STOP doing this!

I feel a little better now.

 

[larryhaskell]

You probably gave her more information than she deserved. Let the LO explain it to the buyer after talking to you. Thats part of their job. Larry

 

[Mountain Man]

I feel for you Pam. Most of my lender have learned to call before giving a quote on an odd ball. Even then, I sometimes have to say "let me take a look and see how ugly...opps, I mean eccentric it is before you mention the fee." As for AMCs and other that gotta have a $ now, they get the highest quote I feel like giving for the day....IE, it depends on how backed up I am. :lol:

Oh boy, speaking of backed up. Gotta go 8O

 

[Alan Simmons]

Earlier this year I paid some stupid tax.

A LO with a large bank called with an “emergency” transfer. Despite being very busy, as soon as I received the release from the original client I quickly redid the report. After attaching an invoice I delivered it that Friday evening.

Upon seeing the invoice the LO had a cow. She told me that she did not know that there would be a charge for the transfer and that she had not collected any money from the builder. She quickly handed me the invoice and told me that I would have to collect form the builder.

I have noticed that this mindset is prominent amongst lenders. Somehow my invoice does not really apply to them. Shocked I wanted to hand it back telling her that I did not care what they had collected from the builder. The bank engaged me not the builder. With more on the line than just a transfer fee, I learned my lesson and went home. I do not make a move now until I have a fax recognizing my fee.

 

[Ross (CO)]

Pam, I am not sure who the client was in the situation your posted about. Was it the LO who quoted or expected a $300 fee, or was it the buyer who was irate when you discussed it being $600 ? I might have found myself to be excusing away any direct discussion about fee with the buyer. It appears the buyer played a more front-and-center role of interaction here. You'l handle it all just fine, I am sure. This fee thing does come down to the Good-Fast-Cheap thing so many times. The client wants all three and they don't realize that they only get to pick two of the three....just tell me which two you want ! We all probably have created fee schedules which we hand out to clients or from which we quote on the phone. That's fine, I guess, but I do not have a diversified and actual line-up of reports which are of the typical dozen+ fee quotes one might make. I'll bet 95% of the work I do is from a short list of 3 standard reports. I'm inclined to consider stopping with the quote stuff except for these basic reports we all do so many of. I have one client who logged in all those quotes and the subtle changes for primary working counties and extended-area counties. They have them. Can't say that I get any work from them since they last tried to squeeze me for an extra $50K on a re-fi back in February. Through the winter and into spring any possible orders were always preceded by a phone call asking me for my fee quote.....to which I would say that they already knew that. My reply was to re-state the quote and this was always followed by "I'll have to check with the client again and get back to you". They never get back to you. Oh, well. I wish them a prosperous future , I guess.

 

[terr]

Does anyone else just get orders and you don't realize it is a lake property or multifamily or some complex property and they just give you a standard fee for the order?

What is the best way to avoid this from happening in the future.

Thanks

Terr

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

When asked for a fee quote I always say, "The base fee is $300 and there will be additional fees for unique properties depending upon where and what it is." I guess I'll have to change my wording since it appears they only hear $300 and ignore the rest. What do you all think of: "It depends upon where and what the property is. Tell me what you know about it."

This one was a collect from the borrower who doesn't live in the area. I NEVER quote less than $450 for that town so I don't know where they came up with the $300 they told the borrower other than they only heard the first part of my answer to their fee question and that would have been said prior to my finding out where the property is. Spent from Noon to 8 pm there collecting and trying to verifying info and shooting comps all the way around the largest lake in the area. Very few sales on this lake, it's rural, and my data base didn't include the lake front properties. It does now but I probably won't get another order for something on that lake for another year or 3. Some parts of the lake you have to drive miles around to go a few more miles down a dead end to get 1 comp. I did try to give the order to another appraiser that lives in that town but he never called me back.

On to the next.

 

[Jeff Horton]

What do you all think of: "It depends upon where and what the property is. Tell me what you know about it."

That is exactly what do Pam. I say tell me what you have and then go from there. Sometimes I even add that the fee is probably going to be $zzz but I need to see what you are talking about first.

 

[jtrotta]

In the past many orders come over the fax, Still do; and don't believe many LO's have a clue as to what their lending on. I would estimate 90% are fairley accurate, but lately was asked to if I could help out one company - and took someorders from them. All Fee's were addressesd up front, but after some research, we changed the Fee's and then asked if they wanted to continue.

If your looking to create a change, there wasa one company I've done work for out of NJ that had a great "order form" - it basically had a brief description of the property; Room Count; approx.lot size; approx.SF; and style - as recieved by the owner. Am sure it takes a few extra minutes to gather that info., but at least you have some idea. What really drives me nuts, is the hand written orders, that you can't read their writting.
WHats the Rush 8O we need read able orders :!:

8)

 

[graindart]

I think that most loan officers don't ask enough questions from the homeowners. They just want to close deals and don't even ask enough questions to find out if it's an obvious waste of everyone's time. For orders in my area, it seems like the loan officers never ask the most important question: Is this a stick built home or a manufactured/mobile? I can't tell you the number of times I've gone out, done the inspection, wrote the report and submitted it; and then get a loan officer calling me asking me why I did the report because they don't loan on mobile homes(even when attached as real property). Like I'm suppose to know what properties they do and do not loan on.