Maybe I'm the only one who has a gripe, but its my feeling that you just don't get much for your money when you are buying appraisal software anymore.  A simple program that fills out forms for $ 1,000 or more doesn't seem to me to be a deal. 

I paid $ 500 for Report Builder some time ago, its a commercial narrative appraisal report program, and it was so complicated that I never got it to work.  Then I paid the company again for an update with the promise that they would make it work and again it never happened.  I still get soliciations from the Report Builder company wanting me to buy in again, they are probably under new ownership and there is always a new update, but there are only so many times that I am willing to pay for a software program an receive no benefit from it. 

My latest a la mode purchase of WinTotal 2011 (see News) has turned out to be a fiasco.  The program worked for a while, now it won't work at all.  Its a new low on the part of a software company (a la mode, Inc.) to demand that I have a "membership" in order to get the software that I purchased to work.  Its not like I am an advanced residential forms user with all kinds of problems, demands and multiple users.  I am one guy who fills out a form now and again.  My focus is commercial narratives.

I don't know if the "membership" thing is new, but I would appreciate the honesty of being told that a company will abandon their product (regardless of the fact that it is new) if you don't continue to pay them.  I guess that honesty might hurt their bottom line.

Since when did residential real estate appraisers begin to paint big, red bull's eyes on their backs?  I think that they started passing around the paint when the Appraisal Management Companies (AMC's) started to take over the appraisal assignment process reigns, and with May 1st looming there is a lot of red paint on the shelf.

I have to admit that I have not read many of the AMC agreements in their entirety, or their indemnity provisions, and being a commercial appraiser I haven't been faced with having to make a decision to accepting no business from them or indemnifying them on their terms.  My first reaction after having seen some of the indemnity provisions was No Way!  I told myself that I wouldn't sign those agreements no matter what.  Food or no food, however, as yet has not been a factor in my decision-making.

The HVCC has been reborn in the 71 page "Proposed Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines" see http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/bcreg/20081113a.htm.  If you are an appraiser you had to know that some "guidelines" of this type were on the way.   

Will requirements for bonding keep appraisers honest and force bad appraisers out of business?  Or will it just be another requirement that doesn't accomplish anything?  Since this original posting, Appraisal Port has stepped back from their Amended  contract, what's next?

I just got my e-mail notice today that in order for me to use AppraisalPort I need to agree to their new "amended" agreement.  I haven't read it, but I am assuming that the amended agreement takes care of any and all issues regarding their use of my appraisal data for whatever purpose they like while it forces me into arbitration if I have a problem.  In my opinion provisions like these will continue to keep appraisers down, and continue to take advantage of their hard work.