TAVMA Study: Average AMC Appraiser Travels 13 Miles or Less

The average appraiser in most metro markets traveled 13 miles or less to value a property, according to a new survey by the Title Appraisal Vendor Management Association in Pittsburgh. The group is using the results to counter an argument made by the opponents of the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, that appraisal management companies are assigning work to appraisers who have to travel long distances and are not familiar with the neighborhood. One of the reasons AMCs are getting a bad rap is because the whole mortgage industry is changing and more work is going through them, which means there can be pushback from some appraisers and mortgage brokers that may not like how business is business done, says Jeff Schurman, executive director of TAVMA. "We polled our AMC members in light of unsubstantiated statements that AMCs send out-of-market appraisers great distances to value properties," he said. "Based on what our members are reporting to us that's simply not the case." AMCs typically use one of three methods for controlling how far appraisers travel: Geo-coding; ZIP code to ZIP code mapping; and/or order form instructions not to exceed defined distance parameters. The 40 companies in TAVMA represent 85% of the market share in the appraisal management space. That an appraiser services a particular area, how often, and how recently are three critical selection criteria that AMCs use in selecting the most appropriate appraiser for an assignment. "The nature of the business is that appraisers sometimes travel outside of their own neighborhood but that doesn't mean outside of their sphere of professional expertise," said Steve Haslam, CEO, StreetLinks National Appraisal Services.