NY, FirstAM & WaMu article

[Moon Pie]

The waiting game. Rainy Days ahead

Moon Pie,

The answer is... for ALL appraiser's to simply refuse to work for peanuts from AMC's or anybody else. Collectively we have power. Alone none. But it won't happen. We can't herd cats or teach starving appraisers to have self respect.


Yes... finally I had to take a position of NO, My work is worth more than that. But at first I was promised by WaMu that the AMC fees would be competitive with what we were getting from WaMu BEFORE THE AMC take over. Tried it and came to realize... THEY LIED!!!! After trying to re negotiate on a daily basis.

Back in the day, yes... my business was busy with about 5 GREAT clients as well as FHA (which thank goodness I still have) but the other 5 clients... WaMu, BOA, Pinnacle, SunTrust, CountryWide (all with AMC's in my area). There was no getting around this big Monster here. So you are right... I have been in the business for long enough to know that you have to put away for the rainy days, but boy is this going to be a long rainy season.

 

[Doug Trites]

Based on my understanding (any I may have misinterpreted their explanations) from conversations with the MIS team at a lender, in order for any appraisal forms software to transmit through AppraisalPort, whether AIready format or a PDF format, the appraisal forms software has to use proprietary code libraries provided by FNC. The appraisal forms software has to license binary code from FNC. So while you might use your favorite appraisal forms software, the actual conversion and transport code is done by the provided FNC proprietary code. See the following sites:
https://www.aiready.com/dev/dev_registration.asp
https://www.aiready.com/dev/License%20Agreement/viewlicense.htm

A PDF file is a container format that can contain other attachments, similar to a zip file. When you use the AppraisalPort connection to transmit your file via the FNC software, you might be selecting the option to send your report in a PDF format. However, you as the end user, and your appraisal forms software vendor, may not have any control if that piece of proprietary code decides to send a PDF file, or a PDF file that contains an attachment of your data as a AIReady formatted file. The only way to validate the actual workings is if you had access to the closed/proprietary source code of the FNC code library or were able to do some serious program debugging.

A "locked" PDF file is no protection. It is a hint to any application such as a PDF viewer to honor the locks requested by the creator of the PDF file. A password protected PDF is temporary protection that is limited protection once you have sent the password.

The best protection for a PDF file is to get a personal certificate (X509) and sign the PDF file with your personal certificate. This will also hold up in court as the signing with a personal certificate will make the PDF file tamper evident. Adequate information on this procedure is available on the Adobe and similar websites.

What is a X509 and were can I get info on it?

 

[jnordquist]

So What Is The Solution To The AMC Problem? All Of Us Sitting Around *****ing To Each Other Doesn't Really Get The Job Done. Something/someone Needs To Be Addressed. I Hate It Just As Much As Everyone Else, But That Doesn't Change Things. What Should Appraisers Do?

 

[Queen City Gurl]

My opinion has always been that no changes would ever be made unless the general public became aware of all the crap going on. Noone really cares about our welfare.... but if it suddenly became their welfare, then that would be a totally different story !

Once there was a public outcry, then public and govt officials would have to address the issues to some degree... to satisfy the public, media etc..... or look like the bad guy. Again,,, it would never be our best interests at the heart of things, but protecting the public, which is what they are supposed to be doing. Hopefully in making the necessary changes to do that, our interests might be served.

With this happening now, it's the perfect forum to make everything be known. Public spotlight ! Get it out there !! Until now, only a few have really made public what is going on... such as Pam. But now, we have the opportunity to try to make some big changes.

We will never have the cohesion to stick together for the betterment of our industry, that has been proven for decades. Never going to happen. But if we voice things now, when things are really coming out in public view, we may be able to get legislature that will to some degree make positive changes for us.... I mean... how many appraisers that give a real supported value, don't have major problems keeping mortgage lending clients, and then that number really dwindles, if they want to obtain a respectable fee. It's 100% rampant ! All that matters is low fees and getting their value. A quality product hasn't mattered for 10 years !

While there will always be appraisers who undercut fees and find #'s..... the appraisal ordering model needs severe changes. AMC's were supposed to be the answer...... we see where that went. Lets fight for federal Legislation to change that model, we've gotten as low as we can... lower than we thought we could get. Get your letters to your A.G. and to NY's....... since he is currently taking it on..... we all know what has been going on these past few years especially....

Just my little soapbox !!

 

[Tony V]

What is a X509 and were can I get info on it?

Try goole Doug

 

[Riick]

Actually there are other ways such a system would be defeated, but screen shot would be the easiest. There are laws requiring the recording of all email in an archive as well as recording of Internet traffic. By the time I post it, this message is probably stored on 10 different servers around the country. Private in formation exists on the Internet, but unobtainable information does not exist on the Internet. It is just a question of having the right court order to get most anything.

Thank you CP... saved me the time and effort of ranting about this.
And in any event, Corps like WAMU, e***, etc. deliberately keep copies of ALL emails -internal, as well as incoming & outgoing external, for various purposes --- such as "monitoring employee communications", as well as blackmail and backstabbing on an internal level.

Working for Big Brother is always an enjoyable experience.
:new_bigcrowd:
LongiLiveBigBrother!LongiLiveBigBrother!LongiLiveBigBrother!LongiLiveBigBrother!

~~​

 

[smac2]

New to forum. Late to this discussion. I believe there are worse AMC abuses than those attributed to eappraiseit. Are any other AMCs currently being investigated anywhere?

 

[Mr Rex]

New to forum. Late to this discussion. I believe there are worse AMC abuses than those attributed to eappraiseit. Are any other AMCs currently being investigated anywhere?

"If I told you, I might have to kill you".:new_all_coholic: Cuomo has said he was on the case for at least 9 months prior to going public. You think?

 

[smac2]

So we've been hearing rumblings about eappraiseit for several months. Why aren't we hearing anything abouth countrywide/landsafe or lsi, etc?

 

[Mr Rex]

You didn't read my prior post? :new_all_coholic: