Appraisal assignments

[Nancy Price]

I am in the Cleveland, OH market area and workload has been slow. When I read blogging sites that state business for appraisers is booming I cannot figure out what is going on. Is there still moratorium on regarding foreclosures? I have not received a VA foreclosure in several months. Prior blogs have indicated that market conditions will weed out bad appraisers and the survival of the fittest will be worth the wait, however, I do not know if this is happening. I got state certified in 1993 and would like to continue working for another 5-10 years but I do not know at this point. I have tried to diversity with the attorney business and that is going nowhere.

[Pete Deatherage]

California, but don't hold it against me ;)

[R. Scott Harritt]

I know what you mean about making $15 an hour to do an appraisal. I was inspecting a house the other day and getting about $200 for the appraisal. It occured to me that I could probably make more money cleaning the carpets than I was getting paid for creating the report that a lender was going to use as the basis for lending someone hundreds of thousands of dollars. If I were cleaning the carpets, I would probably be done by 6 PM and have very little liability not to mention all the other headaches that go along with being an appraiser. Best of luck to you Pete in whatever you decide to pursue.

[eddie]

It just seems so unfair i have been ok with work but july which has been a good month in the past is slow, i do take work from SOME amcs but i take my time when sending the report i mean take my time i love the fact that amcs have no regulation, julios deli can have a amc. Plain and simple this stinks and i hope for the worst for these amcs.

[Pete Deatherage]

Yeah, my July has been way down from past years also. This is usually my best month and it looks to be my worst month this year.

I was asked by an old client to look at a report completed by an AMC in a nearby City. The appraiser came from 2 hours away (one way, total 4 hour trip) to do the appraisal. The client said he was only at the property 10 minutes. First thing he did when he go there was ask the homeowner how much was his loan amount and if he had a recent appraisal completed. The homeowner told him the loan amount and told him it had been appraised a month earlier for $450,000. The appraiser must have though he said $415,000 because that was what he came in at (exactly 80% LTV, wow, imagine that!). I looked at his comps and he used one very old comp 10 months old and made a huge time adjustment. All the other Comps supported a much higher number, but he used this Comp as his number 1 Comp (I should note that there were 10 other sales within 3 months of the appraised date). The issue that really bugged me was that he used all MLS photos. He did not even bother to drive by these Comps located a few streets away.

[Lucia Goheen]

RE: where have all the REO assignments gone? To BPOs and loan mods. If you're like me and used to do REO's for VA loans from OCWEN, they now hold the record for loan modifications. Don't blame AMCs or cheap appraisers for this, it's the govt who required lenders to do work outs before foreclosure action. Blame the lenders who use BPOs and inhouse valuations for REO marketing.

I'm 60 years old now and live in a rural area with 18% unemployment, so there's no other work for me outside of appraising. I live and work on a shoestring and a big garden. I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet in the future, but somehow I've made it this far. Until I have other options, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and take one day at a time.

[Amanda Graves Rivera]

The only appraisers who are busy are scabs working for cut rate fees. Our business is down 60% or more since May 1st, but I refuse to work for half my original fees. I got my appraisal license in 1997 and I have never seen it this slow.