Mercury and XSite

[Chugg]

We were requested by a lender to register with Mercury and begin accepting orders. This is a new client for us and we've never used a web site or Xsite but do use Alamode.

Preliminary searches on this board have shown mixed reviews for the aforementioned site. Some say they get orders from mercury, some say they haven't received one since HVCC hit. In tough times, the $300 for the Xsite, which is required to use Mercury, is something I'm required to investigate and bring to the Boss for a final decision. Understanding that just one order will pay for the site for the year is pretty easy to sell, but not sure what other benefits the Xsite has and how Mercury will ensure we are in 'rotation.'

We're registered with 30-40 AMCs and only receive orders from about 5 of them... 3 of which, we don't accept b/c they only want to pay $125-$175. We've been doing business for 25 years and will do our part to let these thieves know their fees are unacceptable!

Any info is appreciated.

 

[dbiggers]

We were requested by a lender to register with Mercury and begin accepting orders. This is a new client for us and we've never used a web site or Xsite but do use Alamode.

Preliminary searches on this board have shown mixed reviews for the aforementioned site. Some say they get orders from mercury, some say they haven't received one since HVCC hit.

I agree completely that everyone needs to stand firm on fees. With the FHA "reasonable and customary" fee regs, the recent consumer protection act, sunsetting of the HVCC, and even state regulation of AMCs all pointing to the (belated) realization that appraisers have been extorted and exploited on fees, it's clear that the pendulum is swinging slowly back to center from the outright AMC feeding frenzy that existed last year. Don't accept orders at $175. Period.

As for the "spotty results" of XSites, it makes sense actually. I've been shocked how many appraisers buy a site, NEVER SET IT UP, and then report with great flair that they never got any orders. Likewise, they'll say they're on Mercury and got no orders, yet a quick check shows that they didn't fill out portions of their profile that lenders include in "must have" search criteria (license and E&O, for example).

Here are some facts: There are hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of orders coming in, and we keep signing up more clients every day on Mercury (obviously, you work for one of them) and sending others to order from individual XSites. Those orders however, just like in real life, go to the appraisers who don't think they'll just magically rain down from the sky. Especially on XSites, the search engine traffics goes to those who "do something" and write compelling content for their home page and as many other pages as they can. And lo and behold, the vast majority of the orders go to the 20% of appraisers who actually put some work into their XSites.

Even counting the ones who don't do a thing, the *average* XSite brought in $105 per month in revenue last year. In November alone, the last time I looked at it, more than $3,000,000 in XSites appraisal orders were handled by our credit card processing system. And that's just credit card orders.

So, as with anything else, there's no free lunch! Aggressively update your site content and keep it fresh, follow our training video suggestions, and use our XSite Energizer score to tell you when you're slacking off. Keep the score high and you'll do well on search engines -- and you'll be in that 20% as long as you run your business well after that (i.e., make sure you respond to people, which doesn't happen all too often).

Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.

 

[Debij310]

If the new client is C2C - don't accept. They don't pay and cancell 50% of the time.

 

[Vermonter]

If you already have the software then you should have at least the basic Xsite. The business my xsite generates is many times the cost, even with the enterprise version. Just be warned, it doesn't happen over night, but the longer the site has been active the more hits and more orders it generates. Like Mr. Biggers said, the more you "optimize" your site in the eyes of the web crawlers, the better and faster your results will be. To be honest I haven't done much to mine except for minor details and the hits have steadily been increasing monthly (you have the ability to track it). The greater exposure in the search engines also brings better clients (private work).

The mercury network has also generated well for me (until this past month), however I am not happy with all the details of it all as you may have read in the other threads. Alamode has been very good at responding to appraisers concerns and I have faith this too will be resolved one way or another.

 

[Rick Neighbors]

E&O

Is it true that if a lender/AMC prefers that an Appraiser carry E&O Insurance, and you don't carry E&O, that they never see your profile on Mercury/Excite ?

Seems like the geographical competency would carry more weight than no insurance.

I don't mind being last on the list of their choices, if they "prefer" E&O, but to not even include me because I don't have it, doesn't seem fair.

I have lots of lenders that prefer that I carry it, but I don't and they still let me do appraisals for them.

I can't afford the $500 to $1,000 per year to maybe get someone to send me some work!

Rick

 

[dbiggers]

Is it true that if a lender/AMC prefers that an Appraiser carry E&O Insurance, and you don't carry E&O, that they never see your profile on Mercury/Excite ?

Rick

Rick, it's not that they don't see you, it's just that they're in control of their own search criteria. Given all the post-meltdown lawsuits being filed, it's not surprising that many lenders prefer appraisers who have an insurance policy.

I'm not arguing the merits of any position they've taken -- I'm just explaining why many would make that one of their default criteria. There are still lenders who don't care if you have E&O, but there are many who do.

If you were a lender's chief risk officer, what would you tell your CEO to do? (Believe me, I agree that most risk officers were, um, pretty risky, or we wouldn't be in this mess. But they still have jobs and set policy.)

Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.

 

[Rick Neighbors]

Mercury

Thanks for the response Dave.

I just keep seeing the "error" message from the Mercury site that says I have not completed my profile.....the E&O.

I did get another email from the Mercury Network saying another company had added me to their list of approved Appraisers.

So, maybe some work will come from this soon.

Rick

 

[dbiggers]

The mercury network has also generated well for me (until this past month), however I am not happy with all the details of it all as you may have read in the other threads. Alamode has been very good at responding to appraisers concerns and I have faith this too will be resolved one way or another.

Yes, this too will be resolved... LOL. We hear you guys and are working on a better pricing model as well as refunds on cancellations (it actually takes more coding than you think to change that). As long as we don't get screwed by people using it as a way to circumvent us charging for a legitimate service (you expect to get paid for your work and I expect the same), we can make it work.

Bottom line is that we're not married to any one thing in particular. There are concerns too from the lender side under the current model, so the whole thing may change. The one thing I've learned: It doesn't matter how much you ask and survey people about pricing. Until they actually start paying, their opinions mean nothing. ;-)

As for last month being slow, it was across the board. Every lender client we talked to had all sorts of things slowing them down, including the FHA and RESPA changes. Average orders per day this month are way up over last month, so they're getting the kinks worked out on their end and pushing volume up. Plus, we add new lenders literally every day, so that's growing too.

But things for the average appraiser will probably never be like the "good old days" again. I keep telling people to pretend the clock turned back to 2002 in terms of transaction counts, and now AMCs take a huge chunk that they didn't back then, so we all need to simply adjust our expectations.

It sucks, but it's reality in a post-boom restructured market. That's why we strongly recommend the XSites' non-lender marketing features (plus XSellerate) to get less dependent on that mortgage lender treadmill. It sounds like you get it, so good luck making it work in your area.

Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.

 

[Debij310]

Finally got paid by C2C after 3 months but I am happy I was paid!

 

[SutnNC]

FYI, it's only as good as what your local guys/gals are charging. This is to no fault of the Mercury Network, but I renewed my membership and inquired as to why I have only received one order in the past year through Mercury? I was told by the rep that the average fee in my area is $265-275!!! I didn't get into this high risk kind of work to pizz away my life at 265 a pop.

So, there is a race to the bottom through this method as well. On top of that, correct me if I am wrong, you are charged another fee by Mercury "middle" at $13.75 which brings you down to $261.75. The cost of doing business. The $13.75 is charged ONLY if you get the fee on your "fee schedule" and/or that's what is "market" in your area. So market is now the lowest fee in your area, not what the consumer is paying cause that's only GONE UP (welcome to business 101)!!

So you are not really competing with the best of the best AGAIN, but you are competing with "paper appraiser" fee's AGAIN. All the while, the lender is charging the $400-$500 and skimming your fee............yet AGAIN.

The Mercury Network advertises "full fee's again"....."keep your fee's" but it's not the case and it's not the Mercury Network's fault, it's the dipsh*** form fillers that hopefully, will get swept up when the next bit of sh.. that hits the fan.

So, if your "competition" is charging 250-275, keep your fee's low all you dumb, dumb's and you will continue to get work for now. As the work continues to get more difficult, you will not. It sounds like the formula on Mercury too.

And no, it's not better to get $250 over $175 and that's the problem with the "think" in this business. If your worth your salt, you would get work not because your cheap but because you provide a product that people need. So we have gone from trying to cut out the shady deals to cutting in fast and cheap........gooooooood idea, can't wait to see the next wave of AVM's that depend on this poo poo.

Crazy that you don't have to walk into anyone's office and That's what helped to keep the useless out. Sounds like the idea to fix this mess was not to take our heads out of our "ace's" but to shove them up further with the HVCC as quick as possible because most don't even understand the code.....YOU DON'T HAVE TO USE AN AMC, nobody does.....but the big boys have a stake in them so WTFN?

Hopefully all that volume that you're doing will get to your local board and you'll be able to sit in front of them and explain that you had to get it done in 24-48 hours or else you would have lost the deal, all the while explaining wtf you did to get to the bottom of the second page!

Oh yeah, sorry, I get heated when people talk nonsense with my money........as long as your area is not saturated with paper appraisers working for 65%+-, you're good....otherwise you'll be working on volume and be in the same/similar boat working for the typical AMC leach if you don't spread yourself out.

And again, it's the "appraisers" that are dictating their fee's not the AMC's or Mercury. Wise up dumb, dumb's....I'm just going to outlast you Besides, I'm happy doing 3-5 a week at $350-$450 rather than 10-15 at $200-225. How the hell is anyone doing more than 5 a week right now is beyond me anyway.

What happened to the $5.00 idea way back when for Mercury? And yes, it's worth the money even for the site if you don't have a web tech in your pocket....it's easy to set up, navigate and looks professional if you work with it. Good luck.

Dave-I like your stuff and I like your approach to "us guys," still on the fence as to how genuine it is though with the fee this and fee that, use it or lose it add on's offered. But I started with you and I will stick with you until I just can't take it anymore.

Maybe I'll start a company that sells the rights to use an appraisal software company which will help to curb the collusion among software companies and appraisers for, oh, say 30-50% or so of your cut. Sounds like a plan, lemme get the gov-nuh on the phone.