No one wants to work

[ucbruin]

"The only way you learn and become a better appraiser is to do the 'hard' ones from time to time. The more difficult appraisals offer an opportunity to learn but, also to make a pile of cash."

Good advice in general for any industry....
And especially for appraisers 20-50 years old....
But, since many, in not the majority, of us are 60+ years old....
Not much reason to believe that taking on the unwanted assignments will make us a pile of cash in the future....
Especially during the upcoming go-go years of 5%+ interest rates....

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

The only way you learn and become a better appraiser is to do the 'hard' ones from time to time.

I paid those dues many years ago. I think a strategy to approach the "bad ones" once honed is pretty much workable on most projects. As a rural appraiser I get to see it all...so I have a systematic way of looking at every rural property. I start with the land. I look at all sales on parcels half the size of the subject to double the size of the subject, then tend to do the same with the house - with a 1500 SF house I might include 800 SF to 3,000 SF, and work from there, then I look for sales that are the most similar in quality and age. I am less concerned about style but certainly I don't compare a barndominium or double wide to a brick house unless there is nothing else. Condition comes next. But this time I can eliminate down to the 3 most usable sales. I only have to include 3 sales but might add a 4th or more if they are similar or allow me to bracket some feature like a hay barn, shop building or pool.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

The only way you learn and become a better appraiser is to do the 'hard' ones from time to time. The more difficult appraisals offer an opportunity to learn but, also to make a pile of cash. Eventually, some appraiser will accept the assignment I mentioned....And they will get whatever fee they ask for. I'm guessing that will end up being $5k or more... for the appraisal of one, single family dwelling that happens to be on the beach. If I knew someone in the area that would help me access data, I'd do it.

"Maybe it has more to do with transparency and the waste of time with quoting in most cases." Many businesses and professionals have to quote fees. It's part of doing business. I'm not sure when appraisers decided they were so special that they shouldn't have to tell potential customers what the fee for a service would be. Personally, I wish we could have convinced Lenders to let us charge based on an hourly rate for time spent. But, I do understand that some appraiser would 'cheat'.

Anyways, If anyone is interested in the assignment, let me know and I'll pass your info along.

By transparency I mean such as letting me know after its been assigned so I'm not wasting my time looking at it to bid on it. There are ways they can show good faith also. Sometimes when professionals bid they are told when a decision will be made.

 

[sputnam]

IMO - the only reason to request a "Bid" is to determine how much you can skim off the top for being the middleman

Prior to the last bailout, Requests were sent to obtain a cost for the assignment - you could estimate the time to actually do a professional (the elements required) job and get it back in a timely fashion. Now, every job is a "Rush", but without compensation, therefore, "customary & reasonable" is non existent.

Might be true in some cases... the AMC I mentioned works on a cost plus model. They get bids and then the Lender chooses which bid to accept. Nothing comes out of the appraiser's fee. The AMC adds their fee on to the Lender's bill.

 

[Bobby Bucks]

There is a major difference between challenging, rewarding assignments and time consuming, endless nightmares with bad clients, unreasonable borrowers and insufferable agents. In today’s climate, the latter assignments often go to trainees or those new in the business because experienced appraisers have learned the stress involved and possibility of a witch hunt resulting from complaints by unhappy participants is not worth the hassle. There is more than enough quality and rewarding work available that doesn’t involve jumping through hoops. I had dinner with a mortgage broker buddy recently and he told me that the nightmare assignments that take months to complete all have an underlying reason, a mortgage broker or LO who is toxic, an AMC that is bottom of the barrel, a flawed property or a problem borrower. He went on to say he never had problems getting difficult properties appraised because he leaves the appraiser the hell alone, doesn’t question higher fees and doesn’t have the reputation of complaining and criticizing the participants because the deal doesn’t work out.

 

[jay trotta]

Might be true in some cases... the AMC I mentioned works on a cost plus model. They get bids and then the Lender chooses which bid to accept. Nothing comes out of the appraiser's fee. The AMC adds their fee on to the Lender's bill.

Time to move to NC ?

 

[EddieB]

Might be true in some cases... the AMC I mentioned works on a cost plus model. They get bids and then the Lender chooses which bid to accept. Nothing comes out of the appraiser's fee. The AMC adds their fee on to the Lender's bill.

I’d say your AMC is the exception. The vast majority do not work that way. I mostly work with only one AMC and they follow the cost plus model. When they call, they get my undivided attention

 

[Mark K]

The only way you learn and become a better appraiser is to do the 'hard' ones from time to time. The more difficult appraisals offer an opportunity to learn but, also to make a pile of cash.

I think some of us have learned a lot from the hard ones but didn't make any decent $$ on the first one of its type. I've appraised (and will continue to appraise for the right fee) properties that most appraisers in the area turn down. I'll do it because I've lost $$ on others in the past and now have the knowledge and can make good $$. A difficult one that used to take me 20-30 hrs. I can now do in 10-12, for the same fee.

Another thing I've learned about the difficult ones is that, by the time they get to me, they've been rejected by several others and they don't fall over or hang up when I quote the fee. BTW, none of these are for AMCs; I've never worked for an AMC.

The most important thing I learned, as Terrel mentioned, is that if an unknown client calls with a difficult/unusual property, I nearly always get paid up front (especially from lawyers). I'd rather play golf than work for free...or even for cheap.

 

[J Grant]

The problem is a set supply of appraisers ( with a number aging out of the profession ) and a work demand for orders that goes in cycles of busy and slow. In a slow cycle, there can be a surplus of appraisers, whereas in a busy cycle, there is a shortage of appraisers. So unless lenders want to subsidize appraisers in slow cycles (sarcasm ), pay them to sit a year on standby so they can be at the ready when it gets busy, the cycle of shortage and surplus will continue. The Appraisers on staff get laid off in a slow time too so that is not a safe harbor either.

The cycle of slow and busy is made far worse by the fact that when it gets slow, the AMC's employ their worst tactics of reducing fees. Appraisers remember that in the busy times and might ignore pleas from the AMC's who screw them over in a slow work cycle.
My experience is also that by taking an order from a very low volume client, even at a good fee, distracts from being able to finish orders on time for my steady clients, and it becomes simply not worth it to take on orders from a small AMC or lender that might only call once or twice a year -- I always regret taking these on no matter the fee, they always somehow take a longer time and make me late for my good clients and why should I risk that to help out some company I might never hear from again.

The continually expanding levels of scrutiny on res lending assignments make even a so called simple assignment a minefield - bidding is a PITA and takes time so why would an appraiser even bother to do it for an oddball assignment- lenders and AMC;s have themselves to blame for creating a "shortage" - they might attract newbies to train but will they stay in a field with despite having some good earning potential in a busy time, has built in limitations financially and where an appraiser is subject to intense scrutiny , ROV, and possible future reviews or complaints on any order no matter how mediocre the fee was.

 

[lefty2cox]

Saying there's a shortage of appraisers is like Danny Devito saying there's a shortage of women. (Sorry Danny).

The appraiser/client relationship has changed. It used to be a mutually beneficial relationship of trust and respect. Now it's a relationship of resentment.

In the past, taking a crap assignment was a value-added for a good client. It was love and respect that completed those assignments. Now they rot in the queue for days before being put out to bid. No one wants them or feels obligated to take them.

Management companies are reporting a shortage of appraisers because they're ugly and unloyal. No one wants to be with them. Sure, we'll spend a night with them if they want to take us out to dinner by throwing us a profitable assignment, but when their grandmother dies, we go fishing for the weekend.

F them.