Valuequestor: (March 22, 2010 3:54pm)

Deedie / James ta: I'll check out the ActiveRain article and comment. As far as these services are concerned: James, I use the free Realist data thats attached to our mls in the bay area. I was using NDC Data but its so damned expensive unless you share costs with others. If I need to get a third data source I've used Realquest on a pay as you go basis. You can get a fair amount of data if you play it right. How much do they charge for this new "Appraiser Data Package" anyway??

James the Appraiser: (March 22, 2010 3:14pm)

Hello - I used REALQUEST when it first came out and it was FREE. Then they started charging me a small fee for a year. When I quit is was running some thing like $65 a month. I get the same data from REALQUEST as part of my MLS and it is FREE.

Deedie: (March 22, 2010 3:06pm)

Valuequestor: I am located in Cocoa Beach, Florida (Brevard County) If you look at the bottem of the page with the disclaimer it says information herein deemed relibal but not guarenteed. Copywight 2010 Brevard MLS, Etc. But when you pay your due it is FIRST AMERICAN/EAPPRAISEIT, CORELOGIC and REALQUEST. If you attempt to copywrite your appraisals you will be blacklisted. I read an intresting artical/blog on Active Rain today. ActiveRain Daily Drop <[email protected]> Dated to day BPO, VS Apprials. Please read comments.

James the Appraiser: (March 22, 2010 2:48pm)

Hello Valuequestor and GODLIKE - I am in Shasta County in California. Our larest cities are Redding (100K) Anderson (12K) and Shasta Lake City (12K). I live in Cottonwood (4K) on the south edge of the county. As for having the Lender between us, HAAA, the only way the owner could have gotten my e-mail eas from the lender or if they did a lot of searching on the web, and at age 60+ I am thinking NO, haha

Valuequestor: (March 22, 2010 2:32pm)

Hey James, hope things are going better. Deedie: What part of the country are you in? Before everything went to hell ina handbasket. These data control and mls issues were my big concern.

GODLIKE: (March 22, 2010 2:26pm)

JAMES THE APPRAISER - your last line just made a very good case for the lender being between you and the consumer.

James the Appraiser: (March 22, 2010 2:24pm)

WOW - RELS asked me to make a change to my appraisal by e-mail, so I opened the report and made that change. I started to upload the report back to RELS and got an incoming e-mail. Opening the e-mail just to see that it was from that reports home owner. I was thinking that the owner could not have seen the report as RELS had not even passed it on, or had they. The owner conplained about the value and said they were unhappy and that this report cost them money. So RELS let the value out even if they did not send the report. I told the owner that claimed the houses around them sold for much more a year ago, WELLS required 2 sales with in the last 90 days, and all 3 in the report are sales with in the last 90 days, eat that.

Deedie: (March 22, 2010 2:19pm)

Mr.TN, Dweebster: First American, Eappraiseit, Corelogic and Realquest are one in the same. My MLS is Eappraiseit who steals my data and sells it back to me for a mere $1,000.00 a year. What gives? We either unite or go bust.

DV: (March 22, 2010 2:04pm)

If the SEC pays damages, that can only mean money from taxpayers, not from the SEC staff that failed to do their jobs. The only real punishment for a poor job performance by regulatory agencies is to lose one's job. If that threat is not enough, a 2-year ban on any further government employment would work.

Clulessdad: (March 22, 2010 1:50pm)

Godlike -I think you are right.

GODLIKE: (March 22, 2010 1:00pm)

TEXAS BROKER sound more like someone phishing rather than a legitimate inquiry. DO NOT RESPOND!

Mr.TN: (March 22, 2010 12:54pm)

To JUSTFRANK: Can you clue us in to a FirstAmericanCoreLogic alternative for data? My MLS subscribes to them and I access data from the MLS, which comes from Firstam, but an alternative may supply better or more information.

Mr.TN: (March 22, 2010 12:49pm)

Hold it, in CA someone can become a Broker IF they have significant experience in Escrow, Appraisal or some other similar fields. So, maybe that's how it is in TX! However, using the mere possession of a broker licence does not mean one can single-handedly enter the loan business, especially since the passage of the S.A.F.E. act.

Funrunners: (March 22, 2010 11:26am)

SouthlandAppraisersUnion.com is my project. We have been the scapegoat of the entire banking fiasco, time to stand up or lay down.

Clulessdad: (March 22, 2010 10:34am)

TexasBroker-How did you get a broker license without any experience?

joecolorado: (March 22, 2010 9:52am)

Yes the SEC should be held responsible but not liable to madoffs clients for their losses.The SEC shouild be fined heavily and the fine be allocated to a worthy cause, but madoffs investors should be liable for their own losses themselves.They should not be bailed out by the SEC for their gamble that went south.They were not so quick complaining when they were raking it it, now they have to pay the piper for their greed.Why should anyone but them, be resposible for their losses?They took a gamble that appeared lucrative but wasn't and they lost, THATS WHAT GAMBLING IS...you take a chance based on your own information to get that particular rate of return,if it doesnt pan out, guess what? you were wrong,Live with it but dont blame someone else.

Seriously Speaking: (March 22, 2010 9:41am)

Texas Broker?? Seriously, you wont join anyone who could help, you know you can close deals but you didnt take any time or due diligence to know what to do once you got a license in this industry??? WOW... good luck and you might want to reconsider as this industry is a bit more detailed than that. You might want to try just requesting broker packages from some of the larger or reginonal lenders in your area but with no experience and, sounds like, no support or back office experience you will find it difficult to get anyone to approve you. Good luck and welcome to mortgages. Peace

edbisquera: (March 22, 2010 9:33am)

Awesome stuff at the RE Bar Camp Seattle 2010 Frank & Brian! Video of Frank here - http://bit.ly/tbwsrebcsea You guys were fun!

TexanBroker: (March 22, 2010 8:40am)

Hi, I am a newly license TX Broker and need help with some lender arrangement. I know I can close deals; but I do not have lender to work with. Can someone help? I want to work independently; and do not want to join anyone. Please help. Send email to: [email protected]

Gabecaplan: (March 22, 2010 8:31am)

Thank you for your efforts and energy! Your effort is uniting all of the players within the industry! Missouri Residential Certified Appraiser Referred viewer since spring 2009.

GODLIKE: (March 22, 2010 7:40am)

The SEC should be held responsible for not shutting down Madoff, but not COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE as your poll question asks. Madoff has responsibility as well. Now should they have to pony up some money for things that happened after they were notified and did their investigations? I believe so.

GODLIKE: (March 22, 2010 7:36am)

FIRST AMERICAN is also the AMC that outsources their scheduling to INDIA. Just try to reach an english speaking American when you have an issue.

MoKunz: (March 22, 2010 7:28am)

Isn't it interesting that the Federal Reserve has been in charge of all of the money loaned to the US, yes all of the money that enters into the United States is borrowed from the Fed. They are like a law unto themselves. Now yesterday when watching CNN for the Health Care results, I saw a note that Bernanke says that the Fed should take over and be in charge of ALL the banks! Wouldnt this be great? Then there would be no transparency for any of our money...

Dweebster: (March 22, 2010 6:59am)

Here is my story of what I am doing to try and change thins for the better. I am no fan of BOA but I have serious problems with First American’s AMC, EAppraisit. They are easily the worst AMC we have had to deal with yet. I love my First American Title Rep and have not ordered title through anyone but FAT for years. But after EAppraiseit killed the second purchase deal with poor appraisal work, I believe my hands were tied. I started ordering looking out for another title company that offered the same or better rates with comparable service and began ordering form them. When my title rep from FAT came by, I told her what was going on: if Eapparaiseit is untrustworthy perhaps FAT is untrustworthy, too. Based on the flurry of email I received on Friday, I may actually get a refund for the most recent poor appraisal. More than the appraisal, I want to see good work in the future. Let’s see what happens if we all put this kind of pressure for better service on these and other large conglomerates.

JUSTFRANK101: (March 22, 2010 6:35am)

Due to the economy I changed my yearly First American CoreLogic Realquest to a by monthly service for three years running I paid for a yearly service. There was no signed contract. In November 2009, I called and cancelled the service. December, January and February they continued to send me bills / statements and now threaten to turn me over to collection. I called each month and the said "yes, we received your notice of cancellation disregard the statement. I called a person that swore he would care for the issue. First American CoreLogic OUT SOURCE their work to the Philippines and when you try to speak with someone the barley speak English making the frustration even greater. In my opinion, Realquest is a Limited source of data, they are not utilized by many counties they are a SECOND HAND DATA source! Please cancel your service with First American CoreLogic people there are so many other Quality American Based Companies.

socalappraisalgal: (March 22, 2010 6:11am)

Common on, First American has been working against us, we know that. They have that wonderful CoreLogic product in which they charge for a review to the investor and all their review is a statistical AVM done by an appraiser in another state that gets paid $30.00 to ruin your loan and the appraiser who actually inspected the homes life. They use dated data to come up with a number that if it does not match the appraised value they will more than likely cut the appraised value. CoreLogic/First American are not anyone in the industry I would trust or use to determine value. Of course guys we all know they cut corners and should be sued. I would love to sue them for all the time I have had to spend on needless condition letters. It was pretty obivous to me that they may charge for a review but no one ever actually read my appraisal nor had mls data in their area to adequately review my work!

Ezradams: (March 22, 2010 6:06am)

Good to see First American getting sued. They are the biggest whore mongers in the appraisal management business!

socalappraisalgal: (March 22, 2010 6:01am)

Okay guys on the new sign up again there is no box for an appraiser to select. Are we really that unimportant to the industry? I know we are a dying breed but I would like to be recognized as "An Appriaser", not mortgage, real estate, title/escrow etc.!!

DNasty: (March 22, 2010 5:59am)

Bernie Madoff should be held completely liable for what Bernie Madoff did. The SEC should be held accountable for negligence; they failed to fulfill the one duty they exist to perform. The consequence of their failure has been the undermining of precious public trust.

Chik: (March 22, 2010 5:43am)

Seattle Pac NW Housing Summit and ReBarcamp were a great success. Best events so far. It was great to meet you. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with video. Everyone I spoke to took away a lot of great ideas from your sessions. The quality of people and the number of ideas flying around was pretty amazing. You guys were the exclamation point. Hope to see you at M-Rev. I agree. Everyone should seek out one or more of these Barcamp events.

Atlanta LO: (March 22, 2010 5:08am)

BoA ???? . . . People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.