The Independent Community Banker Association September magazine publication had a great article titled “Fee or Free?” Trent Fleming, a bank consultant stated “Community banks have given away so much for so long they’ve spoiled customers.”
The main thrust of the article was that the expense of processing is often missed by the community bank. This is where SAMCO saves their clients significant dollars. Instead of having mortgage processing staff or another individual perform real estate appraisal order management (for both residential and commercial) AND performing a USPAP appraisal review for each appraisal, all at the cost of the bank’s bottom line profit, it is given to SAMCO to perform and the customer pays a slightly increased overall appraisal cost. Not only does the bank save money but they are insured of meeting the new federal regulatory appraisal requirements. There is no pushback from the customer as they expect to pay an appraisal fee anyway.
Trent Fleming recommends for the bank to actually estimate their staff opportunity cost by doubling the salary cost of an employee’s time and then add a markup. As lending margins remain tight, this can make a big difference in the bottom line of any community bank.
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