What is the outlook for fees as UAD 3.6 comes on line?

[Scott Yeager]

Seems like more work. Will fees rise commensurately? I ask because I do not have a good feeling about its overall effect on how lucrative the appraisal business will or will not be. Throw in the threat of AI co-opting the industry in the long (short?) term and...oi vey.

After 20 years, I am seriously thinking about hanging it up. I also have an inspector's license and a pretty great related opportunity awaiting in that field. I'm getting closer and closer to making the shift.

Thanks for any insight.

RSY

 

[J Grant]

I suppose if the fees rise it is up to us to raise them.

Of course, there will be resistance but if appraisers don't back down, they will pay it - that said, even if fees rise a modest amount, it will not compensate for the additional time and detail these forms will entail

On the plus side, more appraisers will quit, which might create a bit of a shortage to force fees up - but the fee rises are always 20-30% below where they need to be .

 

[Scott Yeager]

I suppose if the fees rise it is up to us to raise them.

Of course, there will be resistance but if appraisers don't back down, they will pay it - that said, even if fees rise a modest amount, it will not compensate for the additional time and detail these forms will entail

On the plus side, more appraisers will quit, which might create a bit of a shortage to force fees up - but the fee rises are always 20-30% below where they need to be .

On the subject of quitting, the conspiracy theorist side of me thinks that this may all be nothing more than an effort to grease the rails for furthering lender reliance on AI by creating a new environment that appraisers won't want to deal with...hence increasing the number of those who choose to take the off-ramp from the industry.

 

[glenn walker]

On the subject of quitting, the conspiracy theorist side of me thinks that this may all be nothing more than an effort to grease the rails for furthering lender reliance on AI by creating a new environment that appraisers won't want to deal with...hence increasing the number of those who choose to take the off-ramp from the industry.

No conspiracys the expanded collection of data is what's required to move it into the AI production. The data in the future will be continuous but not done by appraisers but may even be done by paying owners a small fee to fill out a online questionnaire every 36 months or Realtors on listings and sales. Were about 36 month's to major changes in how things were done over the last 75 years and it coincides almost exactly to the baby boomers retirement and deaths.

 

[swandel1]

Why haven't you diversified? I still do 95% lending work, but very little that ends up at the GSEs, and very little AMC work unless they are willing to pay my fee. Getting outside of the mainstream residential lending arena has been a lifesaver for keeping me in the industry. 1 - 2 week turn times, no BS revision requests, no harassment if you haven't contacted the borrower within 4 hours, no fees under $1k. You have to analyze your area for appraisal opportunities that don't involve mainstream residential lending. And then you have go after those jobs by networking, joining organizations, attending meetings, etc.. It takes work to get there - these jobs don't just magically appear. Here in the PHX area, AMCs are typically paying in the $350 range because there is an over-saturation of appraisers. I can't afford to work for that kind of money at a breakneck pace e.g. 16 hours a day in order to pay the bills. It was having a negative effect on my health, so I had to figure out something new or change occupations. In my early 60's, this is not easy to do without starting a new business of some sort - which also takes a lot of energy, not to mention start-up cash. If I can do it, you can do it!!

 

[Non Sequitur]

Posted in a Facebook group not long ago:

 

[J Grant]

Posted in a Facebook group not long ago:


View attachment 101733

Just because one "national builder" said that....
At some point appraisers hold the lines at fees because it becomes not profitable or sustainable to remain in business otherwise.

 

[cpursley]

Came across this: https://go.alamode.com/uad

 

[Non Sequitur]

Came across this: https://go.alamode.com/uad

I'm not surprised but it isn't just real estate appraisers. I haven't spoken to a single UW that knows or cares about the dates. And let's be honest, most real estate appraisers are like everyone else in the real estate industry, they aren't going to do it until they have too.

 

[Scott Yeager]

Just because one "national builder" said that....
At some point appraisers hold the lines at fees because it becomes not profitable or sustainable to remain in business otherwise.

That sounds good on paper, but we've never been able to stand together as a bloc against our overseers. Hence, the fact that current average fees still remain 2017-vintage eight years later.