Just wondering, is anyone doing the new 1004/70D desktop for their clients?

[cniles]

With work slowing down to a snails pace, I am wondering if anyone has been doing the new desktop appraisal for their clients? Have their workloads increased? Has the decrease in the fee been made up by volume of orders? I have been in this full time for 30 years. I was hoping to get another 5 more out of the industry in order to retire, but the way things are going, I am now sure that will be possible. I am trying to decide if it is time, and worth it, to start taking on the desk top appraisal assignments. If I do, any advice? I am an old dog, who will have to learn some new tricks!

 

[Overimprovement]

Has the decrease in the fee been made up by volume of orders?

This is faulty logic. There are only so many assignments of ANY type out there. For every one that switches from a 1004, for say $500, to a desktop, for say $200 (or whatever they pay, I don't do them), that is $300 in fees that appraisers as a whole do NOT get. There is no 'making this up in volume'.

Lenders are not ordering 3 desktops to replace the 1 1004 they would have ordered.

Now I understand there are times a desktop (as always) is appropriate to meet client needs--quick refis after a purchase, portfolio valuation, etc, but if we talking about REPLACING typical 1004 assignments with desktops, this will ALWAYS be a lose-lose scenario for appraisers.

Reminds me of the foolish addage--"buy high, sell low, make it up in volume"

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

With work slowing down to a snails pace, I am wondering if anyone has been doing the new desktop appraisal for their clients? Have their workloads increased? Has the decrease in the fee been made up by volume of orders? I have been in this full time for 30 years. I was hoping to get another 5 more out of the industry in order to retire, but the way things are going, I am now sure that will be possible. I am trying to decide if it is time, and worth it, to start taking on the desk top appraisal assignments. If I do, any advice? I am an old dog, who will have to learn some new tricks!

Hell no. Impossible to do a credible appraisal report in my area. Available public data is never reliable and agents lie.YMMV.

 

[ucbruin]

@cniles....

You need to consider how to best take care of your and/or your family's needs....

 

[JeffSH]

I'm signed up for every order type and I did a bunch of hybrid/desktop work last year. It has dried up completely. My last hybrid order was completed in mid July. Making yourself available for other assignment types will get you more work in the long run, but not in the short term.

It seems I was doing a bunch of 'pilot' programs. Maybe they just ended. I've done hybrids/desktops for a bunch of different AMCs. Nothing since July.

 

[JeffSH]

One day I'll win a bid on a residential land appraisal. They're so rare. That's pretty much the only assignment type I haven't done. Probably did my last land appraisal in 2015.

 

[Bill75]

I'm signed up for every order type and I did a bunch of hybrid/desktop work last year. It has dried up completely. My last hybrid order was completed in mid July. Making yourself available for other assignment types will get you more work in the long run, but not in the short term.

It seems I was doing a bunch of 'pilot' programs. Maybe they just ended. I've done hybrids/desktops for a bunch of different AMCs. Nothing since July.

Not worth the liability for me, plus I enjoy the downtime.

 

[JeffSH]

Not worth the liability for me, plus I enjoy the downtime.

Read the limiting conditions. What liability concerns? I can't be liable for something that wasn't disclosed to me. Hybrid appraisals are just like any old desktop or drive-by assignment. You just get more information about the interior.

 

[Bill75]

Read the limiting conditions. What liability concerns? I can't be liable for something that wasn't disclosed to me. Hybrid appraisals are just like any old desktop or drive-by assignment. You just get more information about the interior.

The markets are declining and unfortunately some of these homes will go to foreclosure and their notes will be scrutinized heavily. If your hybrid or lessor product is attached to these defaulting loans, there's more liability.

 

[OSU Beavers]

No Desktops.