Sick to my stomach but fired AMC

[carol109]

So, after a stress filled and horrible day, I fired an AMC which placed me on their panel at the behest of a former client of mine. This decision will have a small financial impact, but only until I fill the hole with something else. The fact is, although I continued to work with this AMC only because of my prior relationship with the lender, my stomach could not handle their constant rewriting of requirements, picking, inability to read a full report before requesting corrections, etc, and their lack of knoweledgeable individuals to act as a go between for conflict resolution. I can't be the only person who believes that it "should" be the AMC's duty to get clarity when requesting additional information on a report which no one is claiming is flawed. They took issue with my asking for an explanation and full detail on the lenders request for "2 additional comparables" on a report which had 7 very good and recent comparables....most within 90 days. The request suggests I include "older sales"...but why, I am not certain. Ok, this is just a rant, remove it if you want, but now I feel better and have buried my old relationship with a lender who I once had great respect for but have lost due to their selection of this particular AMC.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Did you forward a Letter summarization of the above directly to your Lender Client (with a C.C. to the President of the Bank)? I would not make an assumption the Client is aware of exactly what their new "agent" is demanding. They often are extremely appreciative and, cited many times here on AF and other Forums, decide "the old way is still the best way".

 

[lionfish]

I have fired all AMC's that take greater than two weeks to pay; pretty much all but two. I have taken a full time job and am beginning to market to private party appraisal sources. I am not waiting for an Obama check to pay my bills because all that money went to the big time owners of AMC's. That is why they can pay me within two weeks.

 

[carol109]

Hi Mike.

When I feel calm again, I intend to market the he?? out of this bank. My contract with this AMC specifically excluded this client from a non-compete clause because, well, it was already a client. I still receive commercial orders directly from this bank, and I am aware that they are not very satisfied with the appraisals this AMC is providing. I do believe that I was being targeted because this bank wanted me on their panel, but this AMC did not want to pay my fee. So now that I've quit their roster, they believe they have gotten what they wanted. The tragedy is that while they pick my reports for stupid details (like saying 3 months instead of 90 days in an addendum and other sundry mean nothing details) at the lenders request I have reviewed other reports which were entirely garbage that had gone through this AMC's "strict" review. I'm sure my total rejection of those reports, didn't help matters.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Carol, based on your second post, I reiterate my prior suggestion. This could very well be "the icing on the crumbling cake".

 

[CANative]

You don't have to fire them. Just tell them their request is silly or non-sense and to forward the report "as is" to the lender because it's holding up the loan process.

If they stop ordering eventually so what?

 

[Lloyd Bonafide]

Since you are still working with this client on commercial orders, and I'm sure they trust you and value your work, I would take some time, and then go right back to the bank with your complaints about the AMC. They can't be happy with the results they are getting from this AMC.

There's a good chance that they could be talked into using a company like Appraisal Firewall, Solidifi, or Mercury Network to place their orders, which can be completed with no outside AMC review of their appraisals if they choose, or possibly they will do what some smaller lenders do, and order their appraisals directly from an in-house department.

 

[Thomas Fiehler]

I had one client the other day request that I label the photographs in the report. After I checked, my only response was "Which one(s) aren't labeled?"

 

[SutnNC]

Did you forward a Letter summarization of the above directly to your Lender Client (with a C.C. to the President of the Bank)?

Very good suggestion.....if you choose not to work with them moving forward (the AMC) and don't expect to get any other work from them if you do contact the bank but don't care, maybe this will be one of many little nudges in the right direction.

+1

 

[Carol Ames]

Good for you! At a recent meeting I spoke with an appraiser I have known for over 20 years. She was much more relaxed and happy than I have seen her in years. She said she had fired all but one of the AMCs she did work for. She only kept the one who was fair, did not have stupit stips and paid well. Because the turn time on her other work is better now she has not had that much of a negative financial impact.

Do let this client know why you quit. They do not know, they only get the reports from their AMC.