Saturday, February 13, 2010

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:

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
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.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another shining example of one of the things that will lead us into the second phase of the housing crisis.

BPOs
AMC Bottom Fishing aka HVCC
AVMs

The never ending quest to turn what some have called the "appraisal profession" into a profit mill has and will continue to lead the country into an ever deeping housing slump.

I'm not even sure a repeat of the great depression would help gain attention to these root causes. As long as bankers are allowed control politicians we will be caught up in this downward spiral.

Anonymous said...

Yes friends you've waited nearly a year for it to come out. Many have stood in line for over a week for its release. At last though Feb 15th has arrived and the show is ready to begin:

HVCC (HUD STYLE): THE SEQUEL

Produced by FHA
Directed by Andrew Cuomo
Starring in order of appearance:

Mr. Potter played by AMCs

George Baily played by starving appraisers

Clarence The Angel (originally cast to be be played by Congress but removed at the request of the director)

It a sad sad story about an appraiser who wishes he had never been born. In his dreams an angel comes to save him at the last second. When he awakens he realizes that it's no dream and nobody is going to save his poor business.

From the director of the most hated movie of all time:

HVCC: THE SHAFT

You'll love this tale of greed and deception. It will make you hate and it will make you cry.

Anonymous said...

SO very sad but true....
Is anyone AWAKE in Washington, who could put a stop to this or who really cares about the "American Public" .....
I think not...the bankers have them all on "nodoze"...and funding Atty Gen Cuomo's run for Governor fund...

Anonymous said...

Dammit Frank, stop trying to humiliate those guys online. Can't you see they have an urgent need to turn higher and higher profits? Earning (did I say earning?...i meant taking) $300 per appraisal order just isn't enough. You're spoiling their new plan. Now they will be forced to start all over and build another bottom feeding mechanism.

Anonymous said...

Frank, good show... but never back down based on an email sent from a kid who's a "Web Developer III"!

The conditions on the original recipient are not binding on you. Besides, if the NY Times can print TOP SECRET cables from the ambassador to Afghanistan regarding our military plans, and they were given them by a recipient, I'm pretty sure you can print an idiotic email from Wachovia.

Keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Hello Frank, thank you for bringing this ridiculous nonsense to the attention of the taxpayer, who is essentially in conservatorship of many of our fine federally regulated institutions. I find it particularly telling that the individual threatening you with a lawsuit does not appear to want to share this fabulous 'valuation product' with banking or appraiser regulators, or the taxpayers who so generously bailed out his employer to the tune of $25 billion dollars.