Your lender does not have to use a management company (AMC) to order an appraisal. Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com with your appraisal questions.
There’s trouble brewing in appraiserville — and it’s beginning to cost some unsuspecting homebuyers money. If you’re planning to buy in the coming months, be aware.
The problem is part work overload, part resentment over fees. In many markets, diminishing numbers of experienced appraisers are available — or willing — to handle requests for their work on tight timetables and at fees that are sometimes lower than they earned a decade or more ago.
The net result: The system is getting gummed up. Scheduled home sale settlements are being delayed because banks and appraisal management companies can’t find appraisers who’ll do valuations on timetables needed for closing dates in realty contracts. A recent survey of agents by the National Association of Realtors found that appraisal problems were connected with 27 percent of delayed home sale closings, up from 16 percent earlier this year.
In some cases, panicked lenders and management companies are offering appraisers fat bonuses and “rush fees” just to complete valuations to meet deadlines. The extra charges can range anywhere from $200 to $1,000 or more, turning $500 appraisals into $1,200 or $1,500 expenses that typically get paid by homebuyers.
Take this example from a mortgage broker in the Seattle area. Matt Culp, owner of Bainbridge Lending Group, says clients who urgently needed to close on a newly built house — and to move out of their rented dwelling — were squeezed into paying $2,000 for an appraisal that normally would cost $625.
read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/ct-re-0918-kenneth-harney-column-20160913-story.html
Green Real Estate Appraiser 