I found this great article about the death of the AMC's. It was sent to me via an article in the American Banker.
When the final chapter on this housing crisis is written, I hope that I am still around to see those who were responsible for its cause and the feeble attempts to fix it held responsible.
One of the worst fixes is the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. Enacted in 2009, HVCC was spearheaded by then New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. His objective was to rein in appraisal abuses by the lenders sending loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/AMC-appraisal-management-company-HVCC-Cuomo-quality-independant-1041437-1.html?zkPrintable=true