Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation

August 19, 2010

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you as an independent, one man appraisal business owner. I am state certified, on the HUD roster, and I always pride myself on doing the best job possible on every appraisal I complete. I take very seriously the responsibility of not only preventing my main clients, banks and other lenders from making bad lending decisions. I also feel my job is very important to protect the consumer, the borrower and his or her family from the possible perils of buying a home that has been overvalued and may not be worth what they will agree to pay for it. I act without bias and always do the most accurate appraisal I can, regardless of the fee. The problem is that the industry is suffering due to low fees. Many appraisers like myself who will only do quality work are having a hard time paying bills when the fee for each appraisal has dropped due to the HVCC and resulting AMC takeover of our industry, while the requirements to produce a quality report have gone up. I have not and will not waver in taking as long as I need to in producing a quality report, but my income has suffered because of it. I think the AMC’s practice of hiring the cheapest and fastest appraiser has hurt not only my industry, but ultimately American homeowners due to poor quality appraisals that either undervalue or overvalue a person’s property. This will ultimately result in more foreclosures down the road due to unsustainable loans made based on bad appraisals by “work fast and cheap” style unscrupulous appraisers.

I appeal to you to please make sure that some fee standards are implemented that ensure appraisers will have adequate pay that gives them the freedom to perform the best appraisal possible. Appraisers trying to feed their families are currently rushed by unrealistic turn times and low fees and more mistakes are bound to occur because of it. This is in the best interest of all Americans, for homeowners, and all the taxpayers who funded the bailouts we are currently facing.

Thank you for your time,
John Panzavecchia
Advanced Appraisal Services, LLC