On May 1, the responsibility for managing home appraisals has moved to a middleman, known as appraisal management companies or AMCs.
Under new federal regulations, mortgage brokers and loan officers can’t directly order appraisals. Instead, they are expected to go through third-party AMCs, which are supposed to prevent them from pressuring appraisers.
But critics of the new plan say nobody is watching the AMCs.
The new rules have transferred the improper influence problem to these appraisal management companies, which are not regulated by anybody.
The marketplace is still vulnerable to appraiser pressure because the incentives are still there to get deals done and collect the fees,”
Federal housing officials, who helped write the new laws, say they will hold AMCs accountable.
