I heard of AppraiserSupport today, and this website is worth a look to see one of the core complaints about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). Certain AMCs (Appraisal Management Companies) are charging Borrowers big money for appraisals, but then turning around and giving appraisers less than 50% of the amount charged, while pocketing the rest of the fee. Ouch!!
The AppraiserSupport website lists a handful of these AMCs – what they charge and what they pay appraisers. Don’t get me wrong though. Despite the “AMC” topic being a sore subject around many appraisers, there are definitely some upstanding AMCs out there who respect appraisers and pay them reasonable fees too (I do business with a handful of the “good guys”). It’s just unfortunate to see what some AMCs are doing because it hurts the consumer, the appraiser trying to stay afloat in this economy, and definitely the overall quality of real estate appraisals (HVCC only applies to certain types of loan appraisals).
Have a look at www.AppraiserSupport.com and let me know what you think. And just so you know, I did not build this website.
For more on HVCC, have a look at my “Talking to Appraisers in an HVCC World: Tips for Real Estate Agents” and “Can Realtors Still Talk to Appraisers After May 2009? (HVCC went into effect on 05/01/09)“.
Looks like you need to rethink your business model. I would recommend brushing up on your golfing skills, then go “smooze” all the bank loan managers in order to convince them to chose you as their go to AMC, then you can sit back and make just as much money playing gold as you do actually doing the leg work 😉
Just kidding, I know you wouldn’t do that to begin with, and from what I’ve read of your posts, it’s only for certain loan types anyways, but you know, I do have a friend of mine that if he knew about this, would probably be moving to an area that utilizes the AMC model and would absolutely love his new “career”.
Robert, good to hear from you.
My golf game will never make me money (especially since I’m not a golfer). Miniature golf though… Watch out!!!
It’s funny that you bring up the idea of starting an AMC. This idea has crossed the mind of many appraisers and I know of some who have attempted to do that or are in the process. It’s not a bad idea, but it’s definitely not something I’m interested in right now.
HVCC actually is a huge deal because a very large percentage of loans are geared toward Fannie Mae. This means that most loan appraisals will have to be HVCC compliant. In light of this, I’ve definitely adapted my marketing strategy and I’m certainly grateful for non-lending arenas of appraisal work that are not under the umbrella of HVCC.
I hope your golf game makes you some money!!
I’ve actually only golfed once, with Randy Shelton and Neilesh (not sure if I’m spelling that right), from our old church. I did better than I thought I would, considering it was my first time.
Funny thing is, I heard a joke one time about peoples paychecks being in reverse proportion to the size of balls that they play with. The manual labor type person being more prone to playing basketball, while the executives play golf.
This reminds me of another way to judge how much a person makes, that is how far away from a person their name gets placed. A janitor will have their name on their uniform, while a supervisor has their name on name-plate holder on their desk. Me personally, I would love to have my name on a building some day 🙂
So what I hear you saying is that marbles could potentially be a status symbol. 🙂 I hope you do get your name on a building some day.
I forgot to mention, the manager having their name on their office door.