There's more than one answer to this question...

And that's because it varies by lender; meaning, some lenders have made significant adjustments to their fee structure to be commensurate with the current demand. These lenders have seen fewer fee increase requests and quicker turn around, specifically at the assignment stage. There is often a lag between when the AMC sends a fee request to the lender and when the approval is granted. Because these lenders are seeing fewer fee increases, their pipelines are moving with more fluidity, as there is no longer a bottle neck at the front end of the process. Some lenders have even implemented "surge pricing" in certain markets where demand is high and the number of available appraisers is low.

Those who have opted to press forward without making an adjustment are feeling the pinch of the bottleneck, which is resulting in extended turn times and an overwhelming amount of communication to keep up with; bogging down the lender's operational support and creating yet another bottleneck in the process.

For AppraiserVendor, effective communication and setting proper expectations at the forefront of the process have played huge roles in our success. We also work with a core group of appraisers, for whom we keep very busy, pay very well, and pay quickly. This dynamic keeps AppraiserVendor at the top of their priority list when it comes to which AMC’s work they accept and keep at the top of their stack.

Supply / Demand for housing is a great comparison. The supply of available housing is dropping, so as a result, pricing is on the rise. Appraisal is no different - it’s a supply and demand issue. There is one caveat to this- and that is, expectations for turn time on appraisal are remaining the same, while expectations for closing a loan have increased in many cases, on refi's up to 90 days, and purchase at as much as 45, while the demand for appraisal turn time has remained relatively constant, despite the under-supply and over-demand for appraisal services, further pressuring fees to increase for appraisal.

No one is exempt from seeing fee increases in today’s market, especially given the sheer volume versus the number of active appraisers. What will make it easier for you and your team is how the lender's AMC(s) manage these situations, which is something we do better than anyone else…and those are not my words, those are the words of our clients. We are the top performing AMC for some of your competitors for this very reason!