WHAT ABOUT THAT WELLS FARGO RVS DESKTOP APPRAISAL?

UPDATE!! - APPRAISER ACTIVE receives NASTYGRAM from Wachovia!

UPDATE #2 - JONATHAN MILLER weighs in - Will Wachovia send a NASTYGRAM his way?

This post has been modified in response to the email received yesterday (February 15, 2010) from the friendly, helpful folks at Wachovia.

This is the message sent to me by Wachovia.

Greetings,

Recently the following posts were added to your forum, the links of which are included below:

http://appraiseractive.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-about-that-wells-fargo-rvs-desktop.html

The posts include information that is confidential, proprietary, and intended only for the use of the owner of the e-mail address listed as the recipient of the original message. The posts did not include the email disclaimer originally included and is shown below for your review:

The information contained in this electronic message is confidential, proprietary, and intended only for the use of the owner of the e-mail address listed as the recipient of this message. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying of this communication, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited and subject to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete this electronic message and DO NOT ACT UPON, FORWARD, COPY OR OTHERWISE DISSEMINATE IT OR ITS CONTENTS.

Please remove any and all posts that include the information of this email in whole or in part, as this is a violation of its intended use.

Please advise me if legal recourse is necessary to have these posts removed from your website.

Thank you,

Jose J. Ramirez

Web Developer III

Residential Valuation Services

Telephone (210)543-5921

Fax (210)543-3128

Mail Code T7400-01E

Email jose.j.ramirez@wachovia.com

Well!

In response, here is the modified post:

Appraisers across the county found a communication in their email inbox from a firm affilliated in some way with Wachovia with an announcement for an exciting new opportunity.

YAY!!!!

What did the communication say?

It described the merger/acquisition of Wachovia by Wells Fargo and the resulting creation of two appraisal groups within Wachovia Settlement Services. These are Wachovia Settlement Services (WSS) and Residential Valuation Services (RVS). These two groups apparently share resources and will continue on that path.

The communication (which, by the way, DID NOT come to me from Wachovia) goes on to describe a new "product" to be used for loan servicing ad default appraisal needs for divisions of Wells Fargo.

The new "product" is the Wells Fargo RVS Desktop Appraisal. Included was a link to a PDF with instructions and guidance for:

• Compensation
• Appraisal Requirements
• Instructions for completing the "product"
• How to submit your name and be awarded contingent fee assignments for this exciting "product"

These folks also announce that appraisal requests would start on Saturday, February 13th. SATURDAY!! What's up with these folks?

Included in the correspondence was LINK to THIS "NIFTY" GUIDE.

---------------------------------------------------------

It's yours to decide if you would like to accept an assignment from an outfit that cannot spell "APPRAISER".

It's yours to decide if accepting assignments that pay $55.00 (net $51.00) is part of the business plan you have adopted.

It's yours to decide if you believe it's safe to upload a jpg of your signature to such a reputable company.

Compliance with USPAP, however, is not a choice for the appraiser.

For starters, let's take a look at just one small problem with this offer; it's a contingent fee arrangement.

Fees (Compensation), Charges, and Service Level Agreement (SLA)

1. The fee (compensation) paid for completing this product is $55.

2. There is an AppraisalPort charge to you of $4 for each assignment completed and returned with a value.

3. There will be no fee paid for a “No-Hit”, and no charge to you for returning a "No-Hit” through AppraisalPort. (Note: This product has a “No-Hit” component which means that either it is an ineligible property type or you were unable to develop a credible value. The compensation of $55 takes into consideration that you will from time to time have a “No-Hit”. For more on “No-Hits”, see the report instructions on page 6.)

4. There will be no additional charges to you for using Data Express provided that you are only accessing the RVS Desktop Form and Location Map features. Using any other features (plat map, comps search, etc.) will result in additional charges (refer to published pricing plan in Data Express). RVS and WSS are not responsible for any additional charges that you incur completing these assignments.

5. The Service Level Agreement (or turnaround time) is two (2) days.

6. All of these reports will be reviewed by the RVS Quality Control Department and reports returned to you for correction must be resubmitted within 24 hours.

For those of you certified in Florida, it might be wise to take a look at Chapter 475, Part II, particularly 475.624 (17):

(17) Has accepted an appraisal assignment if the employment itself is contingent upon the appraiser reporting a predetermined result, analysis, or opinion, or if the fee to be paid for the performance of the appraisal assignment is contingent upon the opinion, conclusion, or valuation reached upon the consequences resulting from the appraisal assignment.

That's it for now. If time permits, we might get around to noting some other problems with this offer. In the meantime, it's your decision.