YOU'RE THE PROBLEM-SHUT UP ABOUT IT OR FIX IT!

If you’re blaming the AMCs, the government, the lenders, and the so called ‘bottom feeders’ for why you’re starving, why your average fee has decreased, why all your business has disappeared, and why you’re thinking of getting out of the appraisal business, I’ve got some bad news for you: they are not the problem, you are.

Go ahead, turn off the podcast now if what I just said makes you so angry you simply can’t listen to another word, I get it. Nobody wants to hear that they’re the problem, especially after investing so much time and emotional energy into blaming everyone and everything else for the decline of their business.

Good morning my friends and welcome back to the show. My name is Blaine Feyen, founder of the coaching academy and your host for this, and every episode of the always sponsor free, Real Value Podcast. In this episode, we’re going to talk about why the blaming and finger pointing is actually doing you more harm than the AMCs ever could, and how you can take back control of your business. In fact, for some of you, you’ll look back on this time in your life and the profession and think, “that was the moment everything changed for the better for me.” Let’s dive in.

Let’s set the stage by first talking about some of the most common complaints, gripes, and tantrums we tend to hear about and see on social media. Before we do that though, let me clarify that, by saying these are complaints, gripes, and tantrums, I’m not saying these aren’t real issues that appraisers are dealing with. I’m placing the emphasis in this episode on what the appraisers are doing because your own actions, emotions, and responses are the only things you can control.

So, what are some of the most common complaints? Let’s start with the AMCs first:

• Low Fees:
  • Many appraisers believe the AMCs take a significant cut from the appraisal fee while offering half or less of that fee to the appraiser. Not to mention that the AMC is only the middleman and doing none of the work.
• Unreasonable Turnaround Times:
  • Tight deadlines imposed by AMCs often create high-pressure situations, potentially sacrificing quality for speed.
• Lack of Transparency:
  • Appraisers frequently complain about AMCs not disclosing how fees are divided between the AMC and the appraiser.
• Overreach and Micromanagement:
  • AMCs often request unnecessary revisions, excessive documentation, or explanations that go beyond the scope of USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice).
• Random Blacklisting:
  • Appraisers have reported being removed from AMC panels without explanation, which can be devastating for their business.
• Excessive Volume of Conditions or Revisions:
  • Some AMCs nitpick reports to justify their existence, demanding revisions that appraisers feel are redundant or irrelevant.

How about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

• Excessive Standardization:
  • Many Appraisers feel the "box checking" approach of Fannie Mae’s guidelines and forms prioritizes uniformity over real-world nuances in property valuation.
• CU (Collateral Underwriter) Frustrations:
  • The implementation of CU has led to appraisers being flagged for over or under valuation on assignments, often based on automated metrics that appraisers feel don’t account for their expertise or market realities.
• Automated Valuation Models (AVMs):
  • Appraisers see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pushing AVMs and hybrid reports as undermining their profession, devaluing human expertise, and prioritizing cost savings over accuracy. (The irony is that the hybrids often cost more than a standard appraisal)
• Scope Creep:
  • The GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprises) frequently update requirements, forcing appraisers to adapt to new processes without additional compensation.
• Liability Concerns:
  • Appraisers believe the GSEs put too much liability on them for issues they cannot control, such as future market declines or lender pressures.

Let me say again, by listing some of these things out in this episode, I am saying unequivocally that I recognize they are all very real things. All of these things have been called by some ‘attacks from all sides’. Appraiser independence is being challenged, if not threatened, and there are lots of hands in the appraiser cookie jar at the moment.

There is a very palpable, and very real fear for the future of the profession by many, especially by those who have seen their business and fees steadily decline over the past several years.

What I intend to do in this episode is talk through some of the very viable options available to appraisers for not only saving their business but actually having record breaking years as well. I also acknowledge that, for many of you, you’ve heard all of this before. You’ve heard all the suggestions, all of the tips, tricks, and hacks, all the marketing and branding suggestions for building a better business and your only response will be to roll your eyes and say, ‘oh great, another one of these episodes!’

I get it. There are some who are simply un-helpable. They were raised in a certain way and with a particular view of the world that will only ever allow them to complain and see the glass as half-empty instead of half-full. And, in fact, that is their defense mechanism that keeps them in that depressing cycle of whining and complaining about all the bad stuff, all the bad people, and how everyone and everything around them is living solely to make their life worse.

Friends, if you hear nothing else I say to you in this episode but this, move as fast and as far away from these people as humanly possible. These people are called ‘vampires’ because they will suck the life out of every room they’re in and every person they come in contact with. They have very few real friends, so they prey on the unsuspecting and weak minded who just happen to be scrolling the hundred percent appraiser style groups on social media looking for insights and answers.

These kinds of people, and you know who they are, think they have their thumb on the pulse of what is going on in the world and the profession and will have you taking out burial insurance by the afternoon because you’d swear the end is right around the corner.  Get away from and stay away from these people or they will bring you down into the pit they exist in.

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If none of this information helps you, it simply doesn’t help you. But I will also say, if none of what is shared in these episodes can help you, you’ve heard it all before and are still complaining about the attacks from all sides, you should probably leave the profession. Life is short and you are responsible for your own happiness. It doesn’t make sense to live with that much animosity and anger toward people and entities that don’t even know you or care that you exist. Get out while you still can and go touch some grass.

The question shouldn’t be, ‘why are appraisers being attacked from all sides?’, the only question that matters is, ‘what are you going to do about it?’

Let me state again for anyone who thinks I have my head in the sand and don’t understand what is going on in the appraisal profession: I get it! This is my 25^th year as a busy appraiser, a 3-time appraisal company builder and owner, and 40 years as a real estate investor, salesperson, mortgage lender, and developer. I’ve seen the changes in all of the real estate related professions and fields. What I have never done, however, is stop what I was doing, cry about those changes to people who have no ability to change them and ask why all the changes were happening because the why doesn’t really matter.

Knowing why something is happening can sometimes help you formulate a strategy for moving forward, but ‘why’ questions will only ever get you static responses, not tactical ones. What everyone listening needs right now are tactical plans and strategies, not a pity party because everyone is out to get them. “Why is it raining?” Because water vapor in the atmosphere has cooled and condensed into water droplets that are too heavy to stay aloft. Great, now you know why, but you’re still getting wet.

All of the things I mentioned a few minutes ago are very real things happening in the industry, but, and this is an important point, they are not happening ‘to’ you. The problem is not over-regulation, the problem is not AMCs, the problem is not fee compression, and the problem is not scope creep. Those are all very real things happening, but I want to strongly encourage every one of you listening to this to start practicing the art of reframing how you perceive what is going on around you as not something happening to you, but just something that is happening.

The difference may be lost on some, but it is profound. As a defensive tactics instructor for 3 decades, I can tell you that we teach the same concept in tactical training. When you add the words ‘to me’, as in, ‘this is happening to me’, your subconscious mind hears the word ‘victim’, and your strength, your power to act decisively, and your quick-thinking abilities degrade.

You are not a victim; you are a product of many millions of decisions over your lifetime that have led to the moment you are experiencing now. No, you may not have chosen what is happening in the world, very few of us would choose much of this, but what you choose today is not an obligation, it is your choice. If you are mad at the AMCs for low fees and egregious revision requests, you have a choice whether or not you continue working with them.

“But Blaine, I have to feed my family, and I can’t just stop taking orders from them!” Again, I get it, but it’s still a choice you are making moment to moment and crying about what is happening to you is an extremely disempowering mode of thinking. The AMC doesn’t care about you, your bills, your family, or any of the other choices you’ve made along the way to create the life you lead today; and, by the way, none of those things are their problem.

They are running a business, like you, and they get to make the rules for their business whether we like them or not. You’re not a victim, you’re a business owner, start thinking like one. Shut up about it or fix it! The great thing about being entrepreneurs and business owners is that we’re not employees. We don’t have to wait for the boss to give us permission to make changes. Stop thinking like an employee, start thinking like a CEO. Shut up about it or fix it!

You’ve likely heard all of the next action steps before, so the only question you really need to be asking yourself is, ‘how many of these am I doing and what are the results?”

Principle number 1 – Build a base of direct client relationships.

I want to emphasize the last word in that step because, in my opinion, it’s the most important. The word is ‘relationships’, as in, build some damn relationships. Now, I know, some of you have really big issues with relationships in general, both personal and professional, so this one may be off the table for you. If you have no clue what it means to be in a relationship that isn’t geared and focused all around just your needs and wants, just skip this step and move on to the next one.

For those of you who are fairly normal and not entitled narcissists, start thinking about ways you can partner with and help your local lenders, realtors, credit unions, title companies, and mortgage companies and help them in some way. Think beyond the appraisal, which is the way most appraisers think. Most appraisers go into the market thinking, ‘what can you do for me today?’, which is a big part of the problem. Go into the market with a ‘servant leadership’ mindset and attitude and good things will start to happen. And don’t come at me with, “Blaine, I did that and it didn’t get me anything”, because you’ll be outing yourself as an entitled narcissist.

I just told you to go out into the market ready and willing to serve, not to get something. The reason ‘it’ didn’t work for you is because you did something one time with 3 banks and expected your bank account to explode. No, this stuff takes time. We’re talking about choices made today that have consequences and ramifications in the future. What you’re experiencing today is not the result of a choice you made yesterday. It’s the result of the many layered mini choices you’ve been making for the past 5 or 10 years. You won’t undo the results of those choices in one day with one outing prospecting a couple of mortgage companies.

Everything we’re talking about in these episodes are based on principles, and principles work everywhere every time because they are immutable and based on the human condition. If you want to lose weight because you’ve been eating crap and being lazy all your life, doing 1 or 2 workouts and eating a salad does almost nothing for you today. Yes, it’s better than eating Burger King, but it’s what you do consistently over a long period of time that will ultimately change your body, your weight, your overall health, your attitude, and your mindset.

Here's a quote from Jesse Itzler that I recommend you commit to memory: “Under-performers want ease. Mid-performers want credit. Winners want pressure.” The market is putting pressure on you, the industry is putting pressure on you, the GSEs are putting pressure on you, the AMCs are putting pressure on you, and the list goes on. You have the choice of succumbing to the pressure, which comes with its own set of decisions, or you get stronger from the pressure and do something great. The choice is yours, shut up about it or fix it.

As a side note on pressure, I also recommend you seek out some of the writings and talks by author, Nassim Taleb, on the topic of becoming ‘anti-fragile’, which is a word he created and essentially describes the opposite of fragile. Something that is fragile breaks from pressure, chaos, and disorder. Something or someone who is anti-fragile, doesn’t just survive the pressure, chaos, and lack of order, they get stronger from it. You and your business need to become anti-fragile, meaning that you become stronger from the pressure from all sides, and you improve your systems when things are tested and break.

Principle number 2 – Level up your branding and marketing game!

I’ve done lots of prior episodes on this topic already, so I’m not going to bore you with the details. The bottom line is that, if nobody knows you (and I mean really knows you!), they default to the next known thing. That goes for direct lenders, non-lender clients and customers, and anyone who could benefit from knowing you and paying you for your services.

A question you need to ask today is, “how many people in my market could and would find me if they were searching for an appraiser?” For most of you, the answer will either be zero, or not enough. And, by the way, the only right answer is ‘never enough’ because you should always be improving your marketing, branding, market recognition, searchability, SEO, and reputation in the market. The goal should always be to become what Jay Abraham calls the ‘preeminent product or service provider in your market’. As in, the only real choice for people who are serious. The market should come to know you and your service as unbelievably cheap relative to the ridiculous amount of value you provide (not the cheapest in the market).

Principle number 3 – Raise your fees!

I get it, this one comes with some explanation. If we go back to the first part of the episode where I said to change your mindset and quit thinking like a victim, your fist instinct might be to exclaim, “that’s what we’re screaming about, Blaine! The AMCs are lowering the fees!”, to which I would reply, ‘I didn’t say to try to charge somebody more than they’re willing to pay, I said ‘raise your fees’.

The best ways to raise your fees are by engaging in the first two principles, diversify your streams of income, diversify and productize your offerings, make offers to a market that needs what you’re offering and is willing to pay, leverage technology and labor resources to increase your efficiency (making your dollars per hour go up), build a bigger funnel, invest in yourself and your marketing, attract bigger and better clients, think bigger, act smarter, take better care of your health (mental, physical, and emotional), and so on.

Yes, ‘raise your fees’ is a way bigger principle than just filling out a rate sheet for an AMC and raising your fee by $25 or $50. Raise your fees means elevate everything you do in your life and business and watch what happens naturally over time.

I learned this principle while running my martial arts school. We had the option of being the cheapest in the market for what we were teaching (a loser’s game), somewhere in the middle (also a loser’s game), or the most expensive premium facility for what we were offering. I chose the latter. We became the most expensive Aikido and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school around, by a large margin, and business boomed. Why? Because when people pay, they pay attention. There is a perception of value change when you have to pay more for something.

Another interesting thing happened: within 6 months our closest competitor raised his prices above ours. What did we do? We cried about and whined on social media about the unfairness of it all! Silly! We raised our prices again and business grew. We used the pressure from the market to make us better and we grew from it. Don’t like your fees? Shut up about it or fix it! You always have options, even when you can’t see all of them. The main point with this principle is that, by telling yourself you must raise your fees, you will activate your intellect and creativity in order to find a way to do just that. If you can’t raise your fees with your current clients, it’s time to start down the path of building a new client base.

I get it, it’s not going to happen overnight, and I don’t mean to insinuate that it will. What can and will change things overnight, however, is when you change your mind, you change everything. When you change the things around you, the things around you change, as the saying goes. There’s another great saying by the late author, Wayne Dyer, who titled a book after this saying, which is, ‘you’ll see it when you believe it’.

As you probably already know, the common version of the saying is, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’, or ‘seeing is believing’. The reality is that you have to believe something is possible first before your brain will allow you to see it. If you don’t believe there are any alternatives available to you, your brain will not allow you to see any way out. We see lots of those people on social media whining and crying about how everyone is out to get them. Why spend your precious and limited time crying about something that you can change? Just get to the work of changing it! Raise your fees!

Principle number 4 – Diversify your income streams

This goes along with principle number 3 and raising your fees, because one of the best ways to raise your fees is by offering your skills and expertise to a market that isn’t as commoditized. That doesn’t mean that the market of non-lender business options doesn’t think you’re a commodity; they may very well think that based on something they’ve read or seen on the news. That’s where your marketing, branding, position in the market, and communication skills come into play.

There is a whole big world out there of people willing to pay more to get more. It’s your job to identify who those people are, what they’re needs, wants, and concerns are when dealing with somebody in your role, and then get them to see that you’re the only logical choice, regardless of the price. That, my friends, is called ‘sales’ and, if you want to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world, you’d better add ‘sales skills’ to your list of skills to acquire, because most of the typical appraisal buying public doesn’t care about all of your designations and 3 letter acronyms after your name. They care whether or not you can talk to them like a normal human being. They care whether or not you sound honest and ethical from the first few seconds to minutes on the phone. They care whether or not you’re capable of asking them the right questions and then caring about what their fears are.

It will be almost impossible for you to really diversify your income streams if the only skill you have is filling out a random appraisal form. And, by the way, if you think that takes skill, that is the first thing you’ll need to address before trying to diversify your income streams. It takes very little skill whatsoever to fill out a form, which is why you can fairly quickly and easily train other non-appraisers to do data entry.

Your real skills, and the skills that make the most money, are the skills that are rooted in communication. Your ability to empathize with the needs of your market, instead of trying to cram your one product quiver down the throat of the poor, unsuspecting victim that happens to call you on a Wednesday afternoon, are what will propel you and your business into much higher income territory.

I did a podcast sometime last year where I showed you the 4 levels of value we can deliver in the world of income generation. The first level was doing, as in, doing the work and trading your time for money. That’s where most of us start out in the working world. If you’re lucky or good at managing people and resources, you can move to the next level of value, which is directing. You go from the doing of the thing to directing others to do the thing.

The next level up from there is communication. If you’re really good at communicating and can use your communication skills to create content, move people in a new direction, and leverage those skills profitably, you can add tremendous value for others while also making more income than someone who is in the doing or directing phases. The final level of value is creativity, which we won’t get into in this episode. The point is that your communication skills will separate you far better than your appraisal skills ever will or could. Not to mention, if and when the appraisal industry changes to the point that you don’t want to do it any longer, your appraisal skills will be more or less worthless, while your communication skills can be applied everywhere.

With all that being said, let me say clearly that this principle of diversifying your income streams means exactly as the principle is written. In 2025, if your sole source of income is you, and your sole source of income is from lending appraisals, and your sole source of income is dependent on how quickly you fill out an appraisal form, I hate to be this guy, but you’re headed for struggle. When I talk about diversifying your income, I am, of course, referring to diversifying within your business and within your market, but I am also talking about adding other ways outside of the appraisal business to bring in income.

Nevertheless, for this episode, I’ll stick to just talking about diversifying within the appraisal business. And, since we’ve talked about it a lot and you’ve probably heard many others talking about it, we won’t go deep on this topic either but suffice it to say that you should definitely have some portion of your focus on offering your services to the non-lender segment of the market. Estate, pre-listing, divorce, cash transactions, high net worth individuals, investment, etcetera. Don’t listen to the doom and gloomers on social media who exclaim that, if all the appraisers get into non-lending work that there isn’t enough to go around. That’s just a bunch of Karens and Darrens expressing how little they understand life, business, and being the go-to authority in the market. They’re only expressing their inherent sense of entitlement and lack of desire to put in any effort to build up a reputation and a brand. They want everything handed to them, like in the lender side of the business.

The lender side of the appraisal business has ruined many people when it comes to business because it has falsely led so many to believe that you just get a license, get on a list, start getting paid. Short term and over the last 10-15 years that method has worked great, but it never works long term. What always works long term are principles-based strategies like improving one’s sales, networking, and communications skills. Pick a niche in your market and become the go-to authority in that area starting today!

The last principle for this episode is:

Principle number 5 – Systems and processes for efficiency

The bottom line, friends, is that you simply can’t scale to any level when you’re bogged down and drowning in admin tasks and easily replicable and repetitive tasks that don’t require a specialized knowledge of or training/licensing to complete. If you’re one of those people who ignorantly says, “I don’t trust anything anyone else does so, if I have to spend my time checking their stuff too, I’ll just do it myself”, you’re only sharing with the world your lack of sophistication. You simply can’t build a scalable system that relies on you for everything.

If that type of business isn’t for you, it simply isn’t for you. But, if that’s the case, I definitely wouldn’t be out there trying to talk others out of that way of thinking. Just because you’re too dense to see the benefits of simple leverage over your time does not mean that others can’t see the benefits. An appraiser is supposed to be an open-minded researcher who remains objective and open to the data. If you’re not open to the data that says there is a tremendous, outsized return on constantly refining your systems and processes for better efficiency and higher quality output, how good of an appraiser are you really?

I challenge each and every one of you, starting this week, to really think through these 5 principles and test your own life and business against them to see how yours stacks up. You’re not stuck with the business you currently have You’re not stuck with working for AMCs. You’re not stuck with the low fees you’re getting from some of your clients. You’re not stuck with anything in life except the family you were born into the genetics that won’t ever let you grow to 6 foot. If you don’t like something in your life or business, shut up about it or fix it. Never complain about what you’re willing to permit in your life and business, shut up and accept it or fix it! Life will give you what you settle for, so what have you settled for in life and business? And why? Shut up and accept it or get to fixing it!

I challenge you this week to take one step forward towards greater independence in your life and in your business. If you need help doing so, reach out, I’m always happy to help you on that journey at no cost. If you’re struggling with something in your business, I want to hear from you. Email me, call me, message me on Facebook, join our Appraiser Increase Academy at www.coachblaine.com/freemonth and talk with 100 other people like you who want to be better tomorrow than they are today. Whatever you choose, just do something!