No College Degree for Cert Generals or Residential Appraisers

[George Hatch]

The 13% controls the vast majority of the volume. AI, pulled from numerous sources, attests to it.

Are you purposely mispresenting what AI said? When it referenced Solidifi as an example of the high volume AMC ordering 18,000 in a single month?> Myself and the many appraisers who actually worked for AMC s can attest to the hgh volume from a narrow set .

. Sign yourself up with every AMC in the state of California for res work. See how many actually give you an order or even solicit a bid.
The 86% are small volume and in some areas, no volume AMC's.

Not a big deal for an AMC to register in a state. It costs peanuts. They might have appraisal work in just one county, Or register in case they can snag a client there.,

"Handles a high volume" still doesn't mean "handles the majority of volume". Or "handles enough volume to dominate the fees". That's additional baggage that you are loading into these terms.

 

[Mike Ault]

I can’t answer for Florida or your business model, but the HVCC solved a ton of issues for us. I wasn’t a fan of all of it, but our fees went up significantly and banks ceased using only choice appraisers who gave them predetermined results. AMCs popped up everywhere and the handful grew to dozens, but the threat of losing business if we didn’t give lenders what they wanted, was eliminated. We had a few clients who refused to pay if mortgages didn’t close.

Granted - There were some drawbacks, and I’m sure it was different in some other areas, but it helped us.

I just wanted to second this post. Except in our area, it has always been "realtor select" and the realtors would blackball any lenders who didn't play ball with their hand-picked appraisers. It wasn't a golden bullet, but it certainly helped. Particularly with FHA work. I got sick of rushing out there to do an inspection before the realtor had time to figure out who was assigned to it and get it canceled. Most of them at the time were putting together "no money down deals" and expected properties to appraise for well over the list price (not warranted at the time) and with no repair conditions. Unfortunately, they had good reason to expect that with a few of my less than ethical colleagues who were making bank at the time.

 

[J Grant]

"Handles a high volume" still doesn't mean "handles the majority of volume". Or "handles enough volume to dominate the fees". That's additional baggage that you are loading into these terms.

You are arbitrarily dismissing that it may be the case, and word games aside, you discount the reality that a small number of firms do handle the majority of the volume. Again, you have no direct experience with it. I have that expeirence and personally have interacted with other appraisers who worked for AMC. Nearly all of them had the vast majority of their assignments from a small number of AMC's and then a smattering of orders from smaller ones. There can always be exceptions, of course.

 

[George Hatch]

BTW, since you keep citing a 2021 stat during which we were having a high volume spike, here are the numbers of appraisals the GSEs (by themselves) took in during one month of that year.

Pop quiz, what does 21,000 / 445,000 mean to you? Because it definitely doesn't mean 30% of the total including the non-GSE pipelines. Even if you feel like it does because you've done AMC assignments.

 

[Carnivore]

NC has 100 Counties
as of April 2025 NC Appraiser/ AMC Count

AMC's 128

Trainees - 532
Licensed Residential Appraisers - 144
Certified Residential appraisers - 1,835
Certified General Appraisers - 1387
Total = 3,898

NOTE It is very possible that some of the AMC's are not Actually an AMC. They are CG firms that have more than three residential Appraisers . This forces the CG to Register as an AMC.

 

[alebrewer]

PCV Murcor was the Devil

Was? Have they changed?

 

[J Grant]

NC has 100 Counties
as of April 2025 NC Appraiser/ AMC Count

AMC's 128

Trainees - 532
Licensed Residential Appraisers - 144
Certified Residential appraisers - 1,835
Certified General Appraisers - 13
Total = 3,898

NOTE It is very possible that some of the AMC's are not Actually an AMC. They are CG firms that have more than three residential Appraisers . This forces the CG to Register as an AMC.

Regardless of how much volume is concentrated in a smaller number of the registered AMCs, the fact that there are a limited number of them registered in each state, in the low hundreds ( NC-123) , makes it an extremely narrow demand channel relative to thousands of appraisers in each state. This is not present in an open market and thus keeps the S/D dynamic heavily to the AMC side, due to regulatory constraints on who can order an appraisal for regulated mortgage loans.

 

[J Grant]

AI Overview



Appraisal Management Companies
(AMCs) handle a significant portion of residential mortgage appraisals, with estimates suggesting they manage around 60% of the total market for loan originations, primarily by overseeing order management and quality control for lenders, a role reinforced by regulations like the Dodd-Frank Act that push lenders to rely on external management for compliance. While not a direct loan volume share, this means most appraiser services for mortgages go through AMCs, impacting the vast majority of loans needing property valuation.
Why AMCs Handle So Many Appraisals:

• Regulatory Compliance: After the 2008 crisis, rules (like the HVCC and Dodd-Frank) created distance between loan officers and appraisers to prevent pressure and ensure quality, making AMCs ideal for managing this process.
• Lender Focus: Lenders find it efficient to outsource appraisal management to AMCs, allowing them to focus on core lending while still ensuring compliance and quality control through the AMC's review process.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Lenders can pass the cost of using an AMC to the borrower, unlike managing appraisals in-house, which isn't allowed under FIRREA.

My comment: The estimate of 60% above, imo it could be higher than that.

 

[chad hampton]

NC has 100 Counties
as of April 2025 NC Appraiser/ AMC Count

AMC's 128

Trainees - 532
Licensed Residential Appraisers - 144
Certified Residential appraisers - 1,835
Certified General Appraisers - 1387
Total = 3,898

NOTE It is very possible that some of the AMC's are not Actually an AMC. They are CG firms that have more than three residential Appraisers . This forces the CG to Register as an AMC.

That’s crazy to me that we have 500+ trainees. I would love to know what’s going on with that number and who those people are.

 

[George Hatch]

Regardless of how much volume is concentrated in a smaller number of the registered AMCs, the fact that there are a limited number of them registered in each state, in the low hundreds ( NC-123) , makes it an extremely narrow demand channel relative to thousands of appraisers in each state. This is not present in an open market and thus keeps the S/D dynamic heavily to the AMC side, due to regulatory constraints on who can order an appraisal for regulated mortgage loans.

How many portals do you need to prevent the allegation of the few dominating the market? More than 10? More than 50? More than 100? IRL a 100-portal channel is not narrow. Not when the example you keep citing form the 2021 spike didn't even handle 5% of Freddie-Fannie (only) volumes.

Don't forget, some of the LENDERS chose not to operate through AMCs. Thus demonstrating their own agency. We can't even blame the GSEs for what the originating lenders do. Nobody is forced to use an AMC and none of the lenders are forced to operate via the bundled fee model. If they're doing so it's because they want to do so. Unless/until appraisers persuade the politicians to strip that right from the lenders.