The first public edition of the Appraisal Fee Reference (AFR) was recently released by Oklahoma City-based a la mode, Inc., a provider of appraisal-related technology and services to the mortgage industry.

AFR, which is just one of the monthly data sets published as part of a la mode’s appraisal industry analytics practice, is an authoritative national analysis of independent appraiser fees. Using data from hundreds of thousands of verified and validated appraisals, the AFR reports the median appraisals fees for each of the 3,221 counties and districts in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

According to a la mode, the timing of the release was critical, because the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently implemented guidelines requiring participating lenders to ensure that appraisers are paid “reasonable and customary” fees, independent of what may be added on by appraisal management companies. The company said appraisers and the National Association of Realtors have complained loudly about the issue in recent months, which appears to have prompted the issuance of the new mortgagee rules by FHA.

By using the AFR, a lender or appraiser can objectively determine what a customary fee is, making it easy to

decide if an appraiser is being offered the correct payment. In addition, the AFR enables compliance with HUD’s new 2010 RESPA rules and the revised Good Faith Estimate (GFE) by giving lenders a defensible basis for estimating closing costs on a GFE for loans using independent fee appraisers.

“Of course knowing what’s customary or commonly expected is only the first step,” noted Dave Biggers, a la mode’s chairman. “As in any business, only the person performing the actual work would be able to say what is reasonable or required for a specific request. In real estate that’s especially true since every property is different. The key is that the AFR provides lenders and appraisers alike a logical, legally defensible starting point for that fee discussion and for GFE estimation.”

Several interesting fee statistics were revealed in the February 2010 edition of the AFR. Surprisingly, the most expensive counties to get an appraisal were not in major cities. Instead, the 50 most expensive locations were dominated by counties in Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

Data regarding locations with the lowest fees was equally fascinating. Ohio counties claimed 18 of the bottom 50 slots, and four nearby states — Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, and Wisconsin — each had three to four counties in the bottom 50.

The East North Central census division, comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, had a median appraisal fee of $300 and ranked at the very bottom of the nine divisions nationally. With a median fee of $400, the report found the Pacific division was the healthiest overall region for appraisers.

When looking at the larger census regions, the West and South fared best for appraisers, with median fees of $375 and $350. Fees were slightly lower in the Midwest and the Northeast, both showing medians of $325. Nationwide, the median observed appraisal fee was $350.