Upcharging for appraisals.

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

Just completed the first assignment that was recievied from a web site service. The order comes through the website and gets delivered back to the lender through the website. The website/forms company issues the check to me. Upon uploading the report the site states that an invoice should not be included in the report and if it is it would delay payment. :twisted: I suppose this is to keep the lender in the dark as to the true cost of the appraisal and so the website/forms Co. can add on some fee.
I decided to disclose the agreed upon fee within the report and not send the invoice as requested. I did this because of the recent ruleing against lenders upcharging the borrower for appraisals as I do not want to be party to this type of rip off. What do you all think of disclosing your fee amount in the body of the report?

 

[Verne Hebert]

Violation of Smith-Bliley?

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

Vern,
How so?

 

[Verne Hebert]

I haven't been reading this by the lake lately, but my interpretation in a nutshell is, if it is not of public record it is a violation of client confidentiality. This goes for the fee as well.

I am not positive on this one, but we are goin' to find out I bet!

 

[Restrain]

It seems to me that the question is "who is the client". If the Lender is the client, then a separate invoice to the Lender appears appropriate. If the client is the Web Service, then you should respect the contractual agreeement between you and the Web Service and only invoice the Web Service.

It seems that this is no different in kind from LSI or ValueIt, just a different method of obtaining work.

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

OK, The Client field is required to have lenders name. Therefore the lender is my client and the web site is their agent? Web service does not require an invoice furthermore disclosing my fee amount within the report does not qualify as an invoice does it ?

 

[Verne Hebert]

hey fred,

the lender/client field is the for the lender/client. Who ever orders it is your client; they post second (after the /)----different if the lender did not order it directly.

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

Vern I realize that but, appraisal.com has someone other than themselvs listed as "client/Lender" on their order form. It is my understanding that I am completeing an appraisal for the Listed "lender/Client" and that appraisal.com is assisting with the ordering, and delivery process. Do I have this right? or should it be Lender/Appraisal.com? If the latter I bet they (appraisal.com) will request that I remove their name.

 

[Lee SW IL]

As of July 02, In Illinois we must now put who ever ordered the appraisal within the report.

 

[Larry Lyke]

I would not disclose the appraisal report fee in the appraisal report.

The fee is not part of the appraisal report transaction. Specifically, it has nothing to do with the value of the real estate.

The transaction between client and appraiser is a commercial transaction. The appraisal report is simply a commercial product.

If there's add-on value provided by the provider, so be it.

You are not solving a problem by disclosing the appraiser's fee in the report. You are creating one [for yourself].