How stupid can this business get?

There is absolutely no lower bound to corporate intelligence...this is more proof

this business is going to make me pull the last hair out of my head!  And let me tell you, NOBODY wants to see a bald headed grandma!

That is odd.  Maybe they need to pay them more to do more work or are they doing comp's on appraiser fees?

Any time you hear "I'm from the govt and I'm here to help you" take all odds costs are going up and stupidity will be added. We may see the ultimate with obama-care and 'cap & trade'.

I am so sick of hearing how idiotic these companies can be.

The understanding I have is that the AMCs are puppets of the lenders who do not feel they can stand up to the banks or loose their contracts to another AMC, so they just pass on all the lender requests on to the appraiser.  It's kind of like when lenders used to call us & say, we need these comments added or we can't accept the report or pay you on it. If you want the business, you comply, if you don't need the agrivation, you decline. It is what it is, & there is probably little we can do about it except try to build a non-lender based business. 

Mike,

I had a similar experience with Bank of America five years ago.  They were my best client, and, had been my client for sixteen years.  I completed an appraisal for them on a simple, conforming tract home in Las Vegas.  I had used, (as I recall), five comparables.  All of my sales were from within the subject's subdivision, and either two or three of the sales were model-matches to the subject.  It was a really cut-and-dried analysis, the kind that leaves little room for interpretation or subjectivity. 

Guess what happened next?  I got a phone call from a BofA review appraiser in California informing me that a realtor friend of the borrower found numerous sales I had "missed."  The reviewer sent me a copy of this list, (I believe there were nineteen sales, but it may have been only seventeen), and asked me to either utilize or explain in detail why I didn't utilize, each of these sales.  It goes without saying that each of these sales was from within a more desirable subdivision located to the North of a main traffic street, (which happened to be the North boundary for the subject's subdivision).  Although these homes were proximate and otherwise physically similar to the homes within the subject's subdivision, the fact that they were from within a subdivision perceived by typical buyers and sellers to be more desirable and valuable than homes within the subject's subdivision was irrefutable.  None of these sales were as physically similar to the subject as the sales I had utilized in my appraisal, and many were dated.

As this was for my best client, I decided to suck it up and play her game.  I thoroughly researched each and every one of these sales, and delivered my analysis, as requested, to said review appraiser.  I might add, that this review appraiser was a California State Certified Residential Appraiser with substantial experience - in other words, she knew what she was doing.  After this contortionistic act, this lovely lady informed the powers that be that I had cussed at her on the phone, (which was completely untrue).  Without so much as a phone call, that was the end of my sixteen year workflow from Bank of America.

Nearly every loss of a client I have experienced has been the direct result of my unwillingness to lie and inflate values, or conceal adverse physical characteristics of a property.  By the way, I never had problems like these in the pre-licensure era.  Before the S&L "debacle," FIRREA, the Appraisal Foundation, the ASC, USPAP and mandatory licensure, the industry was self-regulating.  Mortgage brokers who wrote bad loans had to buy them back from the bank.  This kept things pretty honest - there was much less fraud and abuse.  For those of you who don't remember, the vast majority of losses from the S&L thingy were from bad commercial paper - not residential, (which accounted for less than five percent of those losses).

In case it's not obvious by now, the government's intervention in our profession has served only those who are employed by the various governmental agencies created as a result of this regulation.  Our profession is rapidly becoming a joke.  If all that was required to adequately value a property was sheer objectivity, we wouldn't be necessary.  Clerks could gather the necessary data, and complex algorithms could be created to analyze that data.  The fact is, that methodology doesn't work, and the subjective, human element is crucial.  When clients ask me to explain subjective adjustments, I don't hesitate to list the factors upon which the adjustment was based, and then tell them that the adjustment itself was subjective, based upon my experience and market knowledge.  If that's not good enough - too bad.

Increasing governmental and quasi-governmental intervention, (like the 1004-MC and the HVCC), will not work.  Solutions to the problems plaguing the industry are not one-size-fits-all.  Unfortunately, the bureaucracy is blind, and wants only to expand, (job security and greed), regardless of the cost to others.  If you guys think the S&L "debacle" or the current meltdown have been bad - just wait until next time.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the bottom-feeders have taken over our once noble profession.  Mostly a bunch of hacks who will do whatever they're told just to make, (literally), a few bucks.  Most of the "real" appraisers I know have either left, or are working on leaving the profession.  You losers know who you are, and in the process of continually "competing" with others for a larger slice of the pie, (otherwise known as greediness), you have cut your own throats as well.  Those with substantial education and experience won't generally do this, because we have invested too much in ourselves through the years.  My practice is diverse enough and I've been around long enough to be pretty much bulletproof, but I've watched a lot of hard working honorable people get sucked into a dark morass these past few years while once again, the lazy and crooked have prospered - it's sad.

By the way - I don't work for AMCs.  I don't work for anyone who is unwilling to pay a fair and reasonable fee for my services.  For those of you who are willing to work for half of what I do, don't forget you're working twice as much for the same pay.  Have a great day!

I wonder what LSI would say if you typed (for each comp): "A picture is worth a thousand words.  A thousand words is approximately twenty five paragraphs.  Please refer to picture of comparable property."