Appraisal Advisor closure, new Community Partnership Program

Before joining the a la mode team as our Director of Community Partnerships, Matthew Biggers co-founded Appraisal Advisor. When he decided to close the company, he sent this message to the AA clients. Since it speaks to the roots ouf our new Community Partnership program, I'm sharing it here. Once you've read it, visit www.alamode.com/community to learn more.

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As you know, the Appraisal Advisor website has closed. But, moving forward, I’m continuing my advocacy and support of appraisers as the new Director of Community Partnerships at a la mode.

That’s why I’m contacting you. As one of my Appraisal Advisor clients, I know you care about the industry, and I want to continue the dialogue we shared previously. Now I’ll do it wearing an a la mode hat, but appraisal advocacy is nothing new there either.

Before I go into details, let me reassure you of one thing: While I’m using my marketing contacts for my new position, the identity of your anonymous online profile at Appraisal Advisor remains locked down in the Appraisal Advisor databases. a la mode doesn’t have any access to it, nor does it own any part of Appraisal Advisor; my co-founder and I still do.

Now back to the issue of appraisal advocacy. I grew up with my father running a la mode, and my grandfather as a practicing appraiser just like you, and I heard the constant dinner table conversation about the challenges facing rank and file appraisers. I saw the concrete actions my dad took to defend appraisers, from before the crash with data mining and AVM debunking, through the fight over HVCC, on to Dodd-Frank C&R fees with AFR, and finally with Mercury Network giving lenders a fully compliant alternative to using AMCs. While other vendors more or less abandoned appraisers to the post-HVCC AMC feeding frenzy, a la mode put its money where its mouth was and worked to keep lenders engaging directly with appraisers wherever possible.

Obviously, advocacy and transparency in the Appraisal Advisor style is in my blood, and in a la mode’s, so I’m really excited to be in this role. There’s a lot we can do together.

In the short term, my goal is to provide support for appraisal organizations – large, small, local, or national – through Community Partnership software and service discounts to help retain members, grow the ranks, and most importantly reduce daily costs for appraisers. The appraisal market is slow compared to last year, and I know firsthand that every penny counts.

Over the longer haul, I want a la mode to roll out new products directly serving the local grassroots appraisal community. For example, what about a system so any group of you can easily run your own local comp sharing service, directly integrated into TOTAL? Or maybe “Community XSites”, where local groups can create their own branded Appraisal Advisor-like systems? There are lots of other ideas, but I’d like to hear yours too.

So, I’ve created an online form for you to tell me your ideas, and for you to connect me with anyone in a leadership capacity in any of the organizations to which you belong. Please click here and get involved!

You don’t have to be part of a “formal” organization. If you’ve got a group of any sort, please let me know who’s in charge. I’ll take it from there.

I’ll sign off by saying that, especially today, it’s important to spend your money where it will have the best effect on your business. And to put it simply, with a la mode you’re not buying a product, you’re supporting the philosophy and culture – and the REAL results – of a vendor that truly and unwaveringly has proactively supported appraisers in ways that other vendors have simply refused to do. It’s that black-and-white.

So once again, please fill out that form by clicking here, and I’ll move forward with you on expanded local grassroots efforts, using all of our collective ideas, and a la mode’s reach and influence. I’m looking forward to speaking with you and your groups in that capacity in the future.

Sincerely,

Matthew Biggers
Director of Community Partnerships
a la mode, inc.

P.S. Future e-mails you’ll get from me will be from alamode.com, not Appraisal Advisor, so please add that domain to your e-mail “safe sender” list.