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No one wants to work

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Maybe a different forumite will tell me....
 
I get bids from an AMC all the time. It's consistently for a nearby state or on the opposite side of my state. I've bid very fairly for them a few times and never got an order. I've spent the last two hours today bidding and it's time consuming. What I'm seeing is a search for cheapest, fastest from many. Some AMC's are blasting appraisers across multiple states. I have another bank that I'm batting less than a 10% capture rate on. Bids can take 30 minutes on some properties by the time you log into the portal they have, search the property and make sure you understand the scope of work. If you spend 5 hours+ to get a single report, you can understand the logic of business minded people not bothering with bids. It's not that we don't want to work, it's that we get to choose who we work for. Sounds like there's some choosing going on.
 
I get bids from an AMC all the time. It's consistently for a nearby state or on the opposite side of my state. I've bid very fairly for them a few times and never got an order. I've spent the last two hours today bidding and it's time consuming. What I'm seeing is a search for cheapest, fastest from many. Some AMC's are blasting appraisers across multiple states. I have another bank that I'm batting less than a 10% capture rate on. Bids can take 30 minutes on some properties by the time you log into the portal they have, search the property and make sure you understand the scope of work. If you spend 5 hours+ to get a single report, you can understand the logic of business minded people not bothering with bids. It's not that we don't want to work, it's that we get to choose who we work for. Sounds like there's some choosing going on.
This is our experience as well for the few AMC's that have contacted us in the last year for commercial jobs. The time spent researching to make sure the bid matches the actual scope is lost if we don't get the job. Multiply that by every job we don't get and staff time becomes a noticeable expense. It's better to find work in smaller niches where there is less competition.
 
So...AMC's competing leads to both banks AND appraisers winning? Aren't banks paying less for appraisals and appraisers getting more sort of mutually exclusive?
C'mon now, this basic supply/demand. If the AMCs are competing with each other for appraisers it's because the demand for appraisal services exceeds the supply of appraisers, which also means the lenders are competing with each other to get their deals done.

I know people want to blame all their problems on the AMCs, but it's still the lenders who are making all these decisions about how much your appraisal is worth to them under the prevailing market conditions. Any time they can get those appraisals for less they're going to do so. They're only going to pay more if/when they have no other choice.
 
Appraisers didn’t win, the lowlife snake oil salesmen came up with alternative products that we’re all seeing now. Appraisers lose.

Or did you believe them when they said these products would only be temporary?

Appraisers will win when we start playing the same game they play. Start making threats and bribes. As soon as we do that it’ll be a level playing field.
Appraisers will never "win" at the expense of the bankers. If you were to put even two minutes of your own thinking into this you would realize that - 13 years on - the lenders have a very complete understanding of how to get their appraisals for the lowest fees possible at any given time. Even if the AMCs were outlawed and even if the interpretation of C&R was revised to its original intent, water will still seek its own level in the market for appraisal services. When ALL the lenders are operating under the same limitations you won't be able to blame the AMCs for the availability of $200 appraisers. And the lenders will STILL be doing the accounting it takes to break-even over the long haul on the appraisal management functions they are performing; so the borrowers will still be paying twice as much as the appraiser is getting paid.

You have X amount of market demand and Y amount of appraisers and Z amount of actual lenders. Which in 2022 they're all operating in the Amazon age, not the fax/answering machine age. Outlawing AMCs because they failed to be the effective firewall - which is the only reason the govt would prohibit the lenders from using AMCs - immediately shifts 100% of those operations directly back into the lenders. Not back to the inefficient market for services of selling appraisals door-to-door to the mortgage brokers. No more Farmer's Market for mortgage lending appraisals.

Some of the lenders might take another swing, for a few years, at running their in-house staffs, in which case those appraisers will be working for wages. That is, until they figure out again that in-house appraisal staffs are inflexible when it comes to matching with demand. That means most lenders will still put their bids out on blast because using 1099 fee appraisers IS scalable insofar as controlling the overhead. The only difference is that the pinhead "reviewers" you're interacting with will be working a bank instead of an AMC.

You will never live to see the day when lenders pay appraisers more than they have to out of some sense of "equity" or altruism.
 
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You all should look more carefully at the tax document Baggett posted. The actual amount the Appriasal foundation spent on lobbying was $17,014. The $1.4 million was the cap on the amount they could have spent. Ask any accountant or CPA.
 
Maybe some fall into my category. Appraisal business gets bad and I turn to other things and get wrapped up in them, so that when orders start to come back in -- I don't even have time to check the email [well I might of course assume fees are still low -- but even if they weren't - I am now tied up with other things - for the time being.]

Yes, orders have increased the past week. God knows why. - But I don't have time to look into them.
 
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