Why Appraisers Should Join GoUSAppraiser.com
To All Appraisers:
The Problem We Appraisers Are Now Facing:
Our client list has become obsolete.
The May 1st 2009 deadline has come and gone. The HVCC regulations drafted by Fannie Mae bringing sweeping changes that affect our appraisal industry are now in effect.
As things stand right now, soon, all appraisal orders must be ordered through a neutral third party known as Appraisal Management Companies (AMC) thereby preventing contact between the loan agent and the appraiser.
Sweeping changes are now in effect due to the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) that was formed between the Attorney General of New York, the OFHEO and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Make sure you view the HVCC page on this site for the details, but most loan agents and loan brokers will no longer be able to select the appraiser that does their appraisals.
Most of you are familiar with the big lender friendly AMCs that take a big chunk of the appraisal fee to pay for their services. Many of these pay the appraiser $150 to $200 for a full URAR 1004 in an urban area, and some pay even less. Unfortunately, in this market they have no problem finding appraisers that will do the appraisal for that fee. You don’t have to take this!
For non-Fannie Mae loans (including FHA loans) there are also appraisers list you can join; most of these require the appraisers to pay a fee to be on the list, with higher fees to be placed higher on the list. Either way there is no guarantee that they will receive any orders. These sites list their membership appraisers showing their fees by counties. Some even have a button “Show me the lowest fee” thereby forcing competition between appraisers whereby the appraiser listing the lowest fee will get the job even if located 100 miles away. Once again these are detrimental to individual appraisers because they force a high level of competition between appraisers and bring appraisal fees down. If you do sign up on such lists, please keep your fees reasonable, not just for yourself but for all appraisers. It took a lot of effort to become an appraiser and we should be paid accordingly.
What GoUSAppraiser.com Can Do For You:
GoUSAppraiser.com is an AMC created and controlled by Appraisers, for Appraisers. We have the appraiser’s best interest in mind at all times. Our online automated system will allow us to accept appraisal orders, assign the order, collect payment, forward the completed appraisal, pay the appraiser and much more.
Our Goals:
The appraiser to get paid more: We will be negotiating higher appraisal fees while at the same time taking a minimal fee for our services. We do need to be realistic about the current appraisal market and know that in order to get work right now we may have to cut our fees just a little bit, but when the appraisal market does come back we will once again get our full fees, and if market dictates even raise our fees.
Reduce your driving distance: Instead of appraisers listing all the counties that they service, we use a formula that takes several criteria into account including Zip codes. You enter your zip codes by order of importance. The appraiser showing the subject zip code highest on his list of zip codes combined with a performance history will be selected. By this method, in an urban area most of your appraisals should be within a 5 miles radius. In the future, you will not need to enter your list of zip codes, just your home base, and the software will calculate proximity.
Get more orders to you: The more appraisers are signed up, the more influence GoUSAppraiser.com will have with the lenders, resulting in more numbers of higher paid orders to you.