Poll: Will you trade fee for volume in a slow market?

[George Hatch]

Work is slow, there's not enough to go around and you're already a couple months behind in your bills. AMC#1 says the prevailing fee for a 1004 is $400 right now, but you can get more work if you bid $375. Which choice will you make:

 

[alebrewer]

Any market participant acting in his/her best interest will see fees within the framework of opportunity cost (or should). Meaning that, if the opportunity cost of taking that job at $375 is higher than what they might make (in money, job satisfaction, time spent, etc.) in an alternative venture, they will engage the alternative venture. Problem is that it's not JUST about the fee. It's about freedom, not clocking in to work, working from your jammies, etc. Might make more taking that job at the local hardware store, but you sacrifice other stuff to do so. Meaning that, in most cases, while an appraiser might lie to his/her peers about their fees - they're nonetheless doing what they have to do to make a living.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Anyone taking a cut is hurting all appraisers not just themselves. Get a second job - RE sales, insurance adjuster, ROW work, etc.

 

[J Grant]

I don;t do AMC work where one bids on fees whether it is slow or busy, I did answer the poll however.

This scenario is pathetic—when it is slow and there are hardly any orders, for apparais to slash fees at that time is a quick way to starve. That is this is a reality in AMC land, should make newbies think hard about entering this field on the residential license side.

PS it is an optimistic poll wrt fees an AMC pays esp if slow - $400 is in the realm of decent, $375 borderline - but a reality is that they will pay $300 or less if they can find someone for it. f a

 

[OSU Beavers]

Working 8-4:30 at a real job while picking up full fee orders to inspect on the weekend and write up at night.

Still making less than I was under Trump!

 

[George Hatch]

The number itself isn't the point of the question. It's the same question whether the numbers are $500/$450 or $350/$250. The point of the question is whether appraisers will move off an all/nothing position if their work is drying up. Will they sit by and earn nothing while their competition limps ahead or will they continue to compete for work until starved out of the business and into a regular employment gig?

Get a different job is the functional equivalent of "I got starved out", which to be sure is a choice that some appraisers have already been making. "Get a second job" doesn't explicitly address the choice between holding the line on the fee or agreeing to less because you could do either if also working a 2nd job.

 

[J Grant]

The number itself isn't the point of the question. It's the same question whether the numbers are $500/$450 or $350/$250. The point of the question is whether appraisers will move off an all/nothing position if their work is drying up. Will they sit by and earn nothing while their competition limps ahead or will they continue to compete for work until starved out of the business and into a regular employment gig?

Get a different job or get a second job is the equivalent of "I got starved out" insofar the choice of sticking to the original fee. Those appraisers are leaving the marketplace even if only temporarily.

This question has already been answered in AMC land - of course, a segment of appraisers will work for less to snare the orders in an AMC environment;- it has been going on for years now.

My point is that it should not be happening in a profession where the appraiser is responsible for a product involving hundreds of thousands of dollars in collateral and a homeowner's biggest asset in many families - a less apprenticed or competent selected so the AMC makes $25 more? As you note, a number of appraisers were either starved out or choose not to accept AMC work, and often, they are the more competent and experienced.

 

[alebrewer]

a homeowner's biggest asset in many families

Actually, if there's an appraisal, the VERY high likelihood is that it's a bank's biggest asset - and a homeowner's biggest debt.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

The number itself isn't the point of the question. It's the same question whether the numbers are $500/$450 or $350/$250. The point of the question is whether appraisers will move off an all/nothing position if their work is drying up. Will they sit by and earn nothing while their competition limps ahead or will they continue to compete for work until starved out of the business and into a regular employment gig?

Get a different job is the functional equivalent of "I got starved out", which to be sure is a choice that some appraisers have already been making. "Get a second job" doesn't explicitly address the choice between holding the line on the fee or agreeing to less because you could do either if also working a 2nd job.

I have another source of income, its also a good idea to save up in the plentiful times. I can afford to take an all or nothing position because of these things. I learned early in life in my 20's not to put all my eggs in one basket, cause the government effectively knocked me off my first business and I had no backup.

 

[Dublin ohio]

With my regular clients I don't have to worry about cutting fees. But as it has been said volume is low. So if a secondary client says I can have it for $25 less. IMO in todays environment. I would be a fool not to. As far as getting a second job. At age 70 not many prospects out there that would be worth my time. I still pick up a concert lighting gig now and then. But that is about it.