A survey of appraisers who do work for appraisal management companies was done in an effort to dispel rumors about AMCs and their appraisers. But an appraisal trade group said the report should be viewed with caution.
The survey was conducted in August by Coester Appraisal Group, an AMC based in Rockville, Md. Results were reportedly received from 5,384 licensed U.S. appraisers.
Brian Coester, chief executive officer of Coester Appraisal, said he set up the survey to get firsthand feedback from appraisers and confirm that the “negative misconceptions about AMCs” which have been in the news are wrong.
The report indicated that 97 percent of AMC appraisers have at least five years’ experience, while at least half have been in the appraisal business for at least 15 years.
A survey earlier this year from the Title/Appraisal Vendor Management Association found that the average residential AMC appraiser has more than 15 years’ experience. TAVMA previously reported that 63 percent of all U.S. appraisers work with AMCs.
But Bill Garber, director of government and external relations at the Appraisal Institute, warned about putting too much credence in the survey.
“If this survey is like many others done by industry players, it probably was not a controlled study using scientific random sampling techniques,” Garber said in a statement to Mortgage Daily. “Therefore, the results should be viewed with caution.”
A spokeswoman for Coester Appraisal said that the survey was informal and conducted through SurveyMonkey.com. Respondents were solicited through outside Web site postings and Coester’s blog.
In the report, Coester said actual fees to AMC appraisers are higher than the $180 to $220 rumored to be paid by AMCs. In fact, Coester claims that nearly two-thirds of AMC appraisers earn between $250 and $350 per appraisal — the same amount that 40 percent of the respondents said they earned when working on their own.
Just over half of the respondents said a conventional appraisal should be priced between $350 and $400 in order to allow for the highest quality work — though more than three-quarters said the typical fee they receive was enough to ensure high-quality work.
On FHA appraisals, 45 percent said a high-quality fee would ideally be $400 to $450.
Most of the respondents — 82 percent — felt the AMC share of appraisal fees should be limited to 15 percent.
