Danilo Bogdanovic

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There is one very simple solution: Every Buyer Broker Agency Agreement should say, "Buyer to compensate Broker $_____ or _____ percent of gross sales price. Any compensation offered that is above and beyond this amount is to be credited to buyer." Done. Danilo Bogdanovic Real Estate Consultant, Realtor http://www.LoudounScene.com http://www.LoudounForeclosures.com

First of all...this is NOT about "hitting the number." This is about the accuracy and timeliness of appraisals by a qualified and knowledgeable appraiser. An accurate and timely appraisal is something that is not happening more and more often in the Northern Virginia/DC metro area especially when it comes to FHA/VA appraisals. Median prices and home values here have gone up in general. (Yes, that's correct - they've gone up by as much as 10 percent in some areas. If you don't believe me, feel free to contact any buyer or seller that has been in the market buying or selling a home within the last 4 months. And feel free to contact any data mining company such as Altos Research to look at their statistics and data.) Even though prices have gone up, some appraisers are still valuing properties for LESS than what comps from 5 months ago sold for. That's ridiculous. What's causing this? 1) Appraisers are coming from 20, 30 even 50 miles away and many times a different state (Maryland or Washington, DC) to do an appraisal in Northern VA. You want to tell me how they know the local market as well as a buyer, seller, real estate or broker that lives/does all their business in that specific area? You can't. Period. Therefore, they don't know the local market nor local market values. They also don't know that the REO property they're using as a comp needed all new paint, carpet, a new roof, new HVAC, new fridge, dishwasher and chandeliers (because they were stolen by the previous owners) and it had severe water damage in the master bedroom as well as the basement. Meanwhile, the property they're appraising only needed carpet on the upstairs level, paint on the main level and a good house cleaning service to come by. 2) The powers-that-be have put the fear of God into appraisers with silent yet, very real threats of "dinging them" if they don't perform to their "guidelines" and increased liability which is scaring some appraisers into being overly-conservative (and not accurate) when it comes to appraised values. Look...this is NOT a bashing of appraisers. They're getting the short end of the stick on a lot of things, I know. This is a, "The new laws governing appraisals/appraisers have not helped 'reform' the housing industry. Rather, they've hurt the housing market and the housing industry in general." How about a law that require that appraisers must do all of their appraisals within a specific area based on number of households/density? For example, if the area is the middle of Montana with little housing density, the area could be rather large. On the other hand, in a highly dense area such as Northern Virginia, the area should be something as small as even a 5 mile radius. Just my $0.02... Danilo Bogdanovic Real Estate Consultant, Realtor http://www.LoudounScene.com http://www.LoudounForeclosures.com

I'm glad to hear that someone is going public with trying this model out! I will be following RT's success/failure with this model closely because it's something I believe is very much needed and works well within the RE industry. Danilo Bogdanovic Real Estate Consultant, Realtor http://www.LoudounScene.com http://www.LoudounForeclosures.com