Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation

August 18, 2010

To Whom It May Concern,
I just read an article stating that the Appraisal Institute and other appraiser related organization are NOT included in the discussions about the appraiser related wages that passed with the new finance reform bill, and that only major bank representatives and the like were invited. Here is a quote from the article:

A source indicated that the White House controlled the guest list, which include the CIO of PIMCO, the world's largest mutual fund, the president of Bank of America Home Loans, the co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the chief economist of Moody's Analytics and representatives of the National Urban League, the MacArthur Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute. What is even more interesting is who was not invited. They include industry trade groups such as the Mortgage Bankers Assn, the American Bankers Assn, the National Association of Realtors and the Appraisal Institute or any other group representing the appraisal profession. The administration even "snubbed" its own "quasi-public" agency, the Appraisal Subcommittee and members of the Appraisal Foundation who is responsible for the determination of education requirements and appraisal standards. It appears to me that someone is "speaking with forked tongue"

If this is true, I am very disappointed. I voted for our current president and if this is case, I'm be sure to take my vote and anyone else I can influence elsewhere. How a bank can charge a borrower $450 for an appraisal and the AMC (who is just assigning the order) make $200 of that!!!! I can provide many examples of that split and it is only getting worse. Chase is now saying they will only be paying the appraiser $200 for a full URAR report! This is really out of control and appraisers are being taking advantage of. The typical charge for a full URAR form for a home less than a million was $350 prior to HVCC. I think the large majority of the country had similar fees for full URAR report. Please respond to my email and let me know that in fact this email has been received.

Thanks,
Geoffrey Lane

Alpine Appraisal