I really don't get it.

To protect all involved, they create this situation where all appraisals for conventional loans need to be ordered through the appraisal management company. Alright, fine, whatever.

Well, also added is the little nugget that an AMC will not order an appraisal until they have been paid. That is fine with me, having been through the collection wars. In fact, it is a damn fine idea.

Uh oh, but wait. So, the AMC has collected their fee for the appraisal, and now ordered the appraisal from an ACTUAL APPRAISER. Hmmm, so now, I've got to get this report done and back to the AMC, and I mean right now! Not next week. Right Now!

Luckily, I'm a very service oriented individual, and since I've built a reputation locally by providing good service and professional work, I'm able to deliver the appraisal to the AMC in a timely manner. Nicely done, appraiser dude.

The craziest thing happened on the way to the bank, though. I don't have a damn check! I completed the report five weeks ago, the loan closed two weeks ago, the borrower paid for the appraisal 7 weeks ago, and I, the ACTUAL APPRAISER, have still not been paid.

This is all really, really screwed up.

I'm out. I've got to create a new life for myself, and I mean NOW!

Technorati Tags: AMC fees, appraisal fees, appraisal payment, frustrated appraiser

That is a really good question. One day picking up a key to inspect a property at a real estate office, the real estate girls were spouting off about something, and I said something to the effect of, "what are they worried about, appraisers gone wild!?" Everybody laughed. I thought, hum, that is kind of catchy, I think I'll use that.

That was like 2 years ago, when things were starting to go downhill. Everybody in the residential appraiser world knows where we are now. My business is off over 50% from where it was in the good times of the mid 2000's. Naturally, when the good times were rolling, I was spending and buying at full capacity, like a good American. Well, the income dropped like a rock, but those expenses have stayed the same. You know what I mean...not a good position to be in.

So, while I gripe and moan about the state of the appraisal profession, I have, for the the last 16 months or so, been a part of an online community that teaches you, step by step, how to take control of your life and your income by creating online streams of income.

It is not a get rich quick type of thing. It is something that you have to work at. But, as appraisers, we have a talent for painting beautiful and clear pictures with our words (at least some of us have that talent). And, conveniently, that is the key to creating online income. The ability to paint a picture and convince potential customers to click on your link or buy Product A from you.

So, this post is a blatant attempt at that. The community I've been a part of is Wealthy Affiliate and it is a world class community of learners and doers who are making the changes in their business life that they need. Whether it is just creating a bit of extra income each month, or like myself, trying to create a whole new business life, there are resources and forums and levels of education for everybody. I can't recommend it enough.

There, how's that? See, many months ago I wouldn't have known how to put that link in this post. I wouldn't have known how to monetize a blog. I wouldn't have considered that I could control my life through creating many different streams of online income. It's pretty cool.

But, yeah, I'm still appraising. Still an appraiser going wild. Underwriters still are really a bothersome thing. Don't they understand if there were 3 closed sales in the last 3 months within 1 mile of the subject, they would already be in the report. AAAAHHHHH!

Technorati Tags: appraisers gone wild, online income, residential appraiser, wealthy affiliate

So, like I wrote last week, I was contacted by a loan officer at the bank for not only an additional comparable in an appraisal for an Aframe home, but also to remove the active listing that I had included. Well, I included that listing given the lack of sales and because it was in the SAME NEIGHBORHOOD. So, here is what I wrote in the appraisal that I forwarded back to the bank...

"The appraiser was contacted by the loan officer and asked to provide additional A frame comparables and to remove the active listing that has been originally included in this appraisal report. The appraiser has added two closed sales of similarly designed A frame homes, one a lakefront property on a superior site, and the other a dated sale of a similar property.

The current listing is not being removed from the appraisal. For properties with a unique design, a current and active listing from the immediate neighborhood is a very strong indicator of market appeal for these types of homes. Given the lack of similar A frame homes that have closed in the subject neighborhood, it is this appraiser's opinion that the active listing in this appraisal is a key component of the overall value opinion. The inclusion of the listing does not indicate that this is a "soft" market or that there are any market concerns at all, it is merely included to provided, as noted, the underwriter and any subsequent users of this appraisal report with an understanding of alternatives and marketability in the immediate subject neighborhood as of the effective date of the appraisal. It is also noted that the current listing is in comparable position number 5, and is not among the primary value indicators considered in the final value opinion."

I just had to include the part that I was contacted by the loan officer. Isn't that a violation of HVCC? They say this is a secondary market loan. Who knows. Anyway, I hope this clears this issue up.

Technorati Tags: appraising aframe homes, frustrated appraiser, listing in appraisal

Personally, I'm frustrated and pissed off with the appraisal profession.  I've hated it for years, but now we've all kind of rolled over and let big brother give it to us.  Sorry for the kind of graphic reference, but that's the way I feel.  And I'm not passing blame, I've been just as guilty as everybody else.

Regardless of fault, I've found a new career for the talented appraisers out there in internets (that's intentional!) world.  It brings out all the best qualities of an appraiser...the analytical side, the creative side, and  by gawd the capitalist side.

What is that new career for an appraiser you ask?  The broad answer is web entrepreneur.  The more specific answer, and the quickest way to replace your appraisal income, is by learning the ways of the affiliate marketer.  What is an affiliate marketer?  Well, in the internet world it is someone who promotes a product on the internet, whether through email, a website, or even, like I'm doing right now, on a blog, and gets folks to click on their links, like this one right

here

Go ahead, click it and check it out.  I'll keep venting about the idiots in the appraisal world, and the way out for you and yours.

I saw a quote today that really kind of, well, hit me.  It was from a link from a comment on this site....

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.  Begin it now. - Goethe

That is damn straight.  If  you think you can, by gawd, do it, because your right!

Technorati Tags: frustrated appraiser, new career for appraiser, new career for appraisers

Secondary market loan, so they said. So, I just get off the phone with the loan officer at the local bank. She didn't order the appraisal, they actually have a good system set up rotating through different appraisers.

So, she calls about an additional comp. It is an Aframe, and of the 4 closed sales already in the report, 1 is only kind of an Aframe. But, since there weren't any recent closed sales of comparable Aframe, I went the 4 sales, and also added an active listing from the immediate neighborhood that is an Aframe.

She asks for an additional comp, and no problem...I understand that. Just need to get outside the time frame and or price range and or geographic region, but I understand.

Then she starts chastising me for having an active listing in the report. Saying "well, I've been in the business for over 28 years, and never seen an active listing in an appraisal." I call BS! Bull pellets. No Way.

So, is she influencing me to take this listing out of the report. I told her for me to even consider it, I would need a request from her in writing as to why it needs to come out. I'm going to expand on that email conversation with her until she really shows how stupid she is. At that point, I'll give her a report with probably two more additional comps, both Aframes, and that listing will still be in there.

I hate this business.

Technorati Tags: Aframe, appraisal, lender influence, Lender pressure on appraisers

Ok so 3 more posts today that I've dug up - I'm an information JUNKIE on this stuff lately. Give em a browse and let me know what ya reckon. They're just from a few different sites I've been surfing lately that are generally good for information like this...

Appraisals kill deals | Miamism

In today's market, appraisals are coming in artificially low. We see sellers today pulling their properties Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: frustrated appraiser

The Real Estate appraisal business really appealed to me some 13 years ago as a great home based business. And, yes it has been very good to me. Sure, it does potentially provide those things that a solid home based business should provide, a consistent income and scheduling flexibility, but along the way there are many potholes of which to be aware.

Initially, getting to the point where you can get work as an independent appraiser can be a long, frustrating and
expensive road. Education and training requirements have changed so now it is required that you have at minimum a 4 year degree to obtain the certification required to provide the most opportunity. Many currently certified appraiser's have been "grandfathered" in with these recent changes, but anybody new to the profession will be required to have a 4 year degree.

Second, finding somebody to train and work with you over a period of at least two years can be trying. Many experienced appraisers refuse to train their replacements. The thinking is that once a trainee has completed the necessary training, education and testing, that they will then go out into that marketplace and instantly become the competition of the person or firm that trained them. Certainly this is a valid concern, and can cause headaches as your trying to get started in the business.

Lastly, over the past several months, the business has changed, and many long standing relationship between appraisers and banks and lenders have been dissolved with the introduction of the HVCC, and the following requirement that all conventional loans have appraisals ordered through appraisal management companies. What this has done is provide anybody with a certification to appraise an equal opportunity at the appraisal work available just by getting "signed up" with an AMC in your area. This can actually be a good thing for a new appraiser, as those long term relationships have been essentially ended.

Many long time appraisers have been forced from the profession with the changes in the process. If you can weather the challenges along the way, then certainly the appraisal profession can provide great opportunity for good income and scheduling flexibility. But, the path to those rewards can be very difficult and full of challenges.

Technorati Tags: Appraisal Jobs, New Appraiser, Real Estate Appraiser

The changes in 2009 to the real estate appraisal profession have brought the role of Appraisal Manangement Companies, or AMC's, into focus. While there are certainly negatives associated with this change, AMC's do also provide good protections for consumers, lenders and appraisers.

First, AMC's provide a "firewall" between the appraisers and the loan officers that have for so long ordered appraisals. These same people that were ordering appraisals often would influence appraisers to come in at a certain value, or make sure they could "meet" the number, or any other number of things that seriously brought into question the validity of the process and the independence of the appraiser. With the addition of AMC's into the process, the ability of people to influence the appraiser has been minimized, though not entirely eliminated. But, this is a good step in the right direction to protect the integrity of the process.

Second, AMC's have added another layer of review and accountability to the appraisal process. Through AMC's there is now a more standardized set of guidelines for all appraisals and appraisers for conventional and government backed loans. This includes the review of appraisals by more highly trained staff and the integration of more specific market and demographic data to review the reasonableness of any given appraisal.

The bottom line is that a good appraisal management company offers a great role in the loan process by providing the lender with a consistently higher quality appraisal that is free from the undue influences that appraisers have faced in the past. In the long run, these changes will be for the better for all involved.

Technorati Tags: Appraisal Management Companies, Real Estate Appraisers

Review appraisal after an appraisal.?

My mortgage process is hell. They are constantly giving me a 'to do list' for documents that I have know earthly clue what they are and only my agent can access. And I feel like it is impossible to get my loan officer to contact my agent!! What is a review appraisal? Is it really necessary? Do have to pay for it as well? Why is my mortgage company SO SLOW?? Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: frustrated appraiser

Back with more news for you today. It's amazing how much good information there is on this stuff out there if you know where to look. Three in particular that I found really valuable were...

Short Sales Are About to Increase

Short sales have developed a bad reputation as frustrated buyers have had limited success. We'll see if the Treasury can change this, but we are skeptical. ...  Read More... Read the rest of this entry

Technorati Tags: frustrated appraiser