Staff position vs. Independent Appraiser

[Wm. Hattaway]

Wm. Hattaway -

Regarding your comment that 10 a week is boring...are you referring to full 1004 type appraisals? How many hours total would you estimate that it takes you to complete an a typical full appraisal? Your comments indicate that you could complete 10 in a week and be bored. So how bored would you be- only having to put in 30 hours? So can you complete a full appraisal in 3 hours? Do you get to "cherry pick" orders? I can not even pull the subject info and drive and inspect the subject and comps in 3 hours - then I still have to write the report.

For me, in my area, 10 a week would kill me. I know, I've done it as staffer, and it killed me. And that was when the reporting requirements were not as high and the market had not tanked. It probably takes me about 8 hours per appraisal on average.

Im not doubting you or questioning the quality of your work. I know that others are faster than me and that some appraisers produce extremely high volume work at a high quality. But to say that 10 a week is "boring" implies that this can easily be accomplished in a typical work week...and I just do not think that this rings true for 99%+ of the appraisers in the country. So what is the secret?

Your not going to bait me Charlie, I'm to old to fall for these tricks. Staff appraising is not for everyone but it works for me.

 

[Charlie]

Your not going to bait me Charlie, I'm to old to fall for these tricks. Staff appraising is not for everyone but it works for me.

I wasn't trying to bait you and there is no trick. You made a statement (that you can complete 10 orders a week and be bored) that goes completely against what most appraisers in the country experience and I was asking how you managed that. Unless you are completing them in less than 4 hours per appraisal you are putting in overtime. Even if you can get reports done in 6 hours on average you are putting in 20 hours of overtime, not including non-production related time- I dont consider that "being bored". I am glad your staff appraiser position is working out well for you and I wish you continued success. Like I said, I enjoyed my staff appraiser position and I acknowledge that some can produce very high volume and maintain quality.

 

[Wm. Hattaway]

I wasn't trying to bait you and there is no trick. You made a statement (that you can complete 10 orders a week and be bored) that goes completely against what most appraisers in the country experience and I was asking how you managed that.

Your statement and question (accusation) is called baiting son and this old buck is not going to end up in your cross hairs.

 

[Charlie]

Your statement and question (accusation) is called baiting son and this old buck is not going to end up in your cross hairs.

OK dude...I guess I am not going to be able to catch you in my trap...whatever that was. Still wondering what I accused you of.

 

[Non Sequitur]

Your statement and question (accusation) is called baiting son and this old buck is not going to end up in your cross hairs.

The only "bait" was your quote: "7 a week, I would be bored off my *****. 10 a week is boring."

 

[AnonApprsr]

Of course they don't have to deal with clients, pat the bills, fix the office machines and do all of the other little things that independents do. When you consider that along with a regular paycheck, fringe benefits,vacations and legal holidays off it ain't a bad gig.

If the quota was 5 jobs a week, or 1 job a working day, than I would go for a $50-60k a year staff job with benefits. It would ALMOST be worth it. I would still, non-compete be damned, do 1 or 2 jobs a week for my own company for my best client to keep that relationship solid. Perhaps 3-4 a week for that one client, inspect on the weekends, type on one weekend day, and then type nights during the week. Hmmm... anyone know of staff jobs that don't have retarded quotas?

 

[Papoua Jose]

Staff Appriaser vs. Fee Appraiser Pro: Steady work, shoot one down and there's work the next day, no tracking AMC order requests, marketing, billing or collections to worry about, Insur. benefits, paid vacation, Fees paid, usually a production bonus offered. Con: Bureaucracy, HR carp, not your own boss, meetings, continual deadlines that if not met will impact your bonus. With organization and a scheduling it can be done but you'll be working nights if you want to make above average income.

 

[J Grant]

Anon, if such jobs existed, we'd all be staff!

I have interviewed for a couple of these jobs a year, out of curiousity. All of them are more or less the same...a quota or expectation of 8-10 a week, and when you work out the real pay, even inlcuding the benefits, it works out to $150-$175 a full report and $90-$120 for an exterior.I can't understand why these companies have such high production goals when they are making so much money off staff appraiser splits anyway. Well, I can understand it but don't condone it.

I do understand that some people thrive off a fast pace and/or are workaholics and a steady unending work stream fits their style. I'd find it an exhausting blur and find that these days, each report takes several hours longer, even the "easy" ones.

 

[JackG]

I will add this . I was staff at a major player for about 2 yrs .

They essentially wanted you to bill the bank 12,000 a month . That is kind of where the 10/week comes from . (385 fee for an appraisal on the avg full URAR times 9 would be around $3500 ) - so you can see that you could do around 14k a month in billing - if you can do 10 a week .

I was astonished at first because I could not bill even 7000 or 9000 a month and there were guys in my district that were routinely billing 28000 a month !

Yes that translates into $14,000 a month . Net pay. (if you bill so much then you get 50%). With Medical insurance , pension and the works .

I did get to a point where ... finally ... after learning the field and "cloning reports that are similar" and then picking the assignments somewhat "choosey" ... I did get to a point where I could bill them 12K - 18K a month ... but i was working my *** off .

I got frustrated after 2011 when i felt i was only getting about 34% of the billing ...

I chose to take another staff position with another large bank . So far it has NOT been as good (wish i had the other job back ).

I am convinced that alot of the staff guys have additional help . Maybe a wife that does secretarial stuff ... or an asst ... etc ... because I do admit at times today I have problems doing 2 a day (with the lack of comparables, the MC form and all the other things that go on ).

I have worked for other appraisers (as fee split) and they usually all had secretarial workers to do some of the mundane stuff ...

 

[Non Sequitur]

I will add this . I was staff at a major player for about 2 yrs .

They essentially wanted you to bill the bank 12,000 a month . That is kind of where the 10/week comes from . (385 fee for an appraisal on the avg full URAR times 9 would be around $3500 ) - so you can see that you could do around 14k a month in billing - if you can do 10 a week .

I was astonished at first because I could not bill even 7000 or 9000 a month and there were guys in my district that were routinely billing 28000 a month !

Yes that translates into $14,000 a month . Net pay. (if you bill so much then you get 50%). With Medical insurance , pension and the works .

I did get to a point where ... finally ... after learning the field and "cloning reports that are similar" and then picking the assignments somewhat "choosey" ... I did get to a point where I could bill them 12K - 18K a month ... but i was working my *** off .

I got frustrated after 2011 when i felt i was only getting about 34% of the billing ...

I chose to take another staff position with another large bank . So far it has NOT been as good (wish i had the other job back ).

I am convinced that alot of the staff guys have additional help . Maybe a wife that does secretarial stuff ... or an asst ... etc ... because I do admit at times today I have problems doing 2 a day (with the lack of comparables, the MC form and all the other things that go on ).

I have worked for other appraisers (as fee split) and they usually all had secretarial workers to do some of the mundane stuff ...

Good honest post.