Editor’s Note: Here, one appraiser explains why he is better off after HVCC and shares the names of a few AMCs he says are worth working for. The individual profiled here has been appraising 21 years in a large metro area in Texas and wishes to remain anonymous.

Diary of a Happy (AMC) Appraiser
 

I'm not sure why so many other appraisers are having such a hard time with life after HVCC and I am not.

In 2000 I left a mid-size appraisal office and began working as a solo independent appraiser out of my home. Although there were only a few AMCs at the time, I knew that this was the way of the future for me. I have always seen the AMC model as a way for the fee-splitting appraiser could break free of the office environment. My experience of over ten years working in fee-split appraisal offices was mixed at best.

I was making really good money for several years at the office, however, the value pressure from local clients trickled down to become value pressure from the owner of the company. The owner assigned the work and could turn it on and off like a faucet, just like the local mortgage brokers who could use our company or not use our company for whatever reason. The idea of not having to drive to an office that reeked of burnt coffee, having to put up with constant phone ringing, overhearing conversations from the next cubicle, having to make small talk or teaching appraisal 101 to the newbies and trainees, having to split fees or putting up with anyone's BS with respect to my opinion of value, seemed like a far off dream. And it was.

Breaking Free
I left that office and got my own local clients. The volume was less but I didn't have to split the fee so I broke even on the money. The pressure to make value and difficulties collecting were still issues. In 2001-2002 I started seeing more activity from the AMCs. I signed up to get on every list I could and little by little the ratio of AMC work to local work began to change. I worked with numerous AMCs. Most of them are probably not in business anymore. Some of the big lenders like Wells Fargo and Bank of America started using their own management companies. These were primarily for convenience and management purposes and did not actually serve the purpose of separating loan officers from appraisers but they paid well and on time. There was little relief from the pressure to make value but the big advantage was that getting work no longer depended on taking donuts and coffee to a lender's office or treating them all to lunch.  

One day, my biggest client, a local Chase branch, called me in for a conference and announced that they were being forced to turn over all of their work to a third party management company. They were good enough to submit my name as one of their primary appraisal providers but they said they no longer had any control over how much work I got. Suddenly, nearly all of my work volume was coming from AMCs. I realized that my earlier dream of being autonomous was getting closer to becoming a reality.

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