Hidden home appraisal middlemen have cost homebuyers $12 billion

[George Hatch]

Write more articles, show some case studies and shotgun them out to various news outlets. They're all laying off their own writers so I'm sure some of them would be eager to get some free content. Once published, some of them might get picked up by the bigger news outlets. We see local bylines all the time in the MSN feeds. Probably similar on Facebook and Meta and whatever other low-effort news outlets are out there.

The caveat is that you don't want to get caught playing games with the facts. You want to write articles that people can take seriously.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

you wrote the appraiser did not get screwed, because the Appriaer agreed to the AMC fee

As Nancy used to say, "Just say no"...it's not the fault of the AMC that people will take these fees. The excuse of "If I don't someone else will" falls a little flat. Shame on anyone who undersells themselves.

 

[J Grant]

Write more articles, show some case studies and shotgun them out to various news outlets. They're all laying off their own writers so I'm sure some of them would be eager to get some free content. Once published, some of them might get picked up by the bigger news outlets. We see local bylines all the time in the MSN feeds. Probably similar on Facebook and Meta and whatever other low-effort news outlets are out there.

The caveat is that you don't want to get caught playing games with the facts. You want to write articles that people can take seriously.

I am thinking of a letter to RE agents and the public laying out the problem with a few general examples, not a fact-based study.

Taht si because IMO and as others have commented, tsi not about the money a consumer is spending, since they spend the same or similar whether the lender uses an AMC or notk it is tht the massive fee cut to the appraiser eliminates many good appraisers from being chosen even when their C and R fee is borrower covered. As ell as that, loading up the lowest fee appraiser with volume leads to churn and burn treatment of an order,

 

[Junkyard Dog]

How it was done, not how much was paid. Not a thing has changed since the NAR suit. Just new disclosures and business as usual

Of course they would. But what recourse would the consumer have even if fees were separated on the TRID. I know what the AMCs I work for charge above my fee and it is nowhere near $300 or $400 dollars. But I don't work for the bottom feeders so I have done something as opposed to nothing by choosing not to work for said bottom feeders and it has cost me when it comes to the bottom line.

Actually a lot has changed and more consumers are forgoing a buyers agent. Sellers are also not willing to pay a buyers agent or the 3% so there is that. It’s not business as usual

I don’t work for AMCs. Stopped years ago and only do private work. Make 3x’s what an AMC or lender would pay me per job. Average 20 jobs a month the past 4 years. But if the fees were better and more realistic I’d go back to doing lender work. But I won’t and that’s the issue.

The fact is you still work for AMCs. You still accept their fees or your fee to get the job. You can say all you want you don’t work with bottom feeders. All AMCs are bottom feeders and while you may charge $500+ and get it they charge the consumer more and make it seem that the fee that is reasonable. Would t you like the while $800+ fee? I know I would.

 

[Dublin ohio]

The fact is you still work for AMCs. You still accept their fees or your fee to get the job. You can say all you want you don’t work with bottom feeders. All AMCs are bottom feeders and while you may charge $500+ and get it they charge the consumer more and make it seem that the fee that is reasonable. Would t you like the while $800+ fee? I know I would.

Obviously you think you have all the answers but also obviously you haven't thought it through. Who wouldn't like a $800 fee. But no way is the elimination or control of AMCs gonna make that happen

 

[J Grant]

As Nancy used to say, "Just say no"...it's not the fault of the AMC that people will take these fees. The excuse of "If I don't someone else will" falls a little flat. Shame on anyone who undersells themselves.

It is the fault of lenders and AMC to make a large segment of work go through AMCs and use that power to force fees down when an AMC is used so the lender gets free of-cost service.

I am sick of appraisers such as yourself who are not affected dumping all the blame on appraisers.

 

[Dublin ohio]

Actually a lot has changed and more consumers are forgoing a buyers agent.

Maybe in your area. But I have yet to see a purchase contract where the buyer's agent isn't getting paid from the seller's proceeds.

 

[George Hatch]

I am thinking of a letter to RE agents and the public laying out the problem with a few general examples, not a fact-based study.

Taht si because IMO and as others have commented, tsi not about the money a consumer is spending, since they spend the same or similar whether the lender uses an AMC or notk it is tht the massive fee cut to the appraiser eliminates many good appraisers from being chosen even when their C and R fee is borrower covered. As ell as that, loading up the lowest fee appraiser with volume leads to churn and burn treatment of an order,

If the politicians and bureaucrats are calling the shots then they only respond to bribes and votes, not to principle. At 30,000 SFR appraisers that's not even enough heads to LARP as a special interest group, let alone be a significant political donor.

If we're going to play the political game without bribe money then the avenue that comes to mind is public perceptions. Via the press or other media outlets. How does an AMC appraiser hurt the borrower.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Obviously you think you have all the answers but also obviously you haven't thought it through. Who wouldn't like a $800 fee. But no way is the elimination or control of AMCs gonna make that happen

So that $850 fee I got yesterday for a private appraisal is a fluke? Or the $750 I got today for a home on 2 acres? Or the $600 I got for a cookie cutter in a subdivision? If the consumer will pay for your experience and your knowledge and seek you out and pay your fee why would it not happen? Happened before AMCs? Still happens when no AMC is involved? Explain to me?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

use that power to force fees down when an AMC is used so the lender gets free of-cost service.

The lenders could care less. The AMC is simply maximizing their profits.

I am sick of appraisers such as yourself who are not affected dumping all the blame on appraisers.

Then perhaps appraisers ought to ask why I am not affected. I don't play their cheap game and if every appraiser out there would get a backbone, then the AMC couldn't take advantage of them. And further, all those regulators out there do not seem concerned about starving out the appraisers and knowing that to do so will create a shortage in the future. So just keep in mind, when housing comes roaring back, extract your pound of flesh - $2,000 a shot for those REOs and see how the banks like it.