The Imminent Extinction of the Appraisal Industry?

The Imminent Extinction of the Appraisal Industry - Imagecredit Flickr - Andew MagillThis year the Valuation Expo returned to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, June 19-20, 2013. The consensus was that appraisers still have plenty of work at this time. The exhibit hall featured many appraisal management companies seeking appraisers for their panels which is good news. If you were an appraiser looking for more work, this was a good place to find it.

I attended all four of the sessions offered for CE credit. These included “Keynote – panel of government and GSE representatives,” “Valuation Visionaries,” “Appraisal Quality,” and “Appraisal Reform.” These panels involved more than 20 speakers, so I don’t have space to list everyone individually, but they all did a great job and had useful information for all appraisers.

I can’t possibly cover 14 hours of presentations in this article, but I did find the session with the “Valuation Visionaries” very interesting and wanted to share some of the information they covered. This panel consisted of Tony Pistilli, EVP/Chief Appraiser Axios Valuation Solutions; Jeff Bradford, Founder and President of Bradford Technologies; Rick Langdon, Chief Staff Appraiser for Wells Fargo; and Alan Hummel, Senior Vice President and Chief Appraiser for Forsythe Appraisal. The point all of the presenters were trying to make is that the appraisal industry is changing and must continue to change in order to not only survive, but to thrive. The session began with the distribution of a reprint of a press release covering proposed new legislation that would be very damaging to the appraisal industry. Many in the audience were a bit shocked to read it and were heard uttering things like, “I guess that’s it for this career.” Fortunately, it turned out that Mr. Pistilli actually wrote this article as part of his presentation and there is no legislation of this kind in the works. The appraisers in the audience were relieved to learn the article was just a fabrication, for now. Pistilli explained that appraisers need to take some action if they want to avoid this type of scenario. Things appraisers can do now to help promote the industry include:

  • Train the next generation of appraisers
  • Learn new technologies
  • Be open to new, alternative valuation methods
  • Become more professional
  • Become more competent

These five items were repeated and emphasized by the other presenters in the session and also in some of the other sessions. First, the lack of new blood joining the profession is becoming a real problem. All the presenters encourage certified appraisers to take on a trainee. Yes, it’s a lot of work and sometimes you feel like you are training your future competition, but if no one gets trained, there will eventually be no appraisal profession and lenders will be forced to seek some other type of valuation process.

The speakers emphasized that appraisers need to learn and embrace new technology. Yes, the modern form software is much better; there are digital pictures, laser measuring devices, and so on, but the basic procedure of pulling a few comps and filling out a form hasn’t changed much. Now with all the new requirements it can take hours longer to complete each assignment, making the profession less profitable. The presenters feel that technology is the solution to this problem. They all had a slightly different angle on what a solution might be, but the theme was clear. The basic methodology for performing most appraisals will be changing sooner rather than later.

Jeff Bradford believes appraisers need to get beyond the approach of just filling out the 1004 form. For now, that form is the requirement, but there is more than one way to approach completing it. New technology, such as computer-aided appraising, will soon make a big difference in appraising. Bradford was very clear not to confuse this new technology with faster form filling. By new technology, he is referring to things like stronger analytic products for appraisers and instant access to all the needed data. The appraiser’s job will be to gather and analyze the data using a variety of tools and then present it in whatever format is relevant for the assignment. Look to your software provider for the latest and best tools to help you get the job done.

All the presenters mentioned that appraisers need to keep working hard to make sure appraising is seen as a true profession. In fact, they recommend no longer using the term “appraisal shop.” Instead the terms “appraisal practice” or “appraisal office” should be used. I know I will use these terms from now on.

Rick Langdon took this a step further and questioned current appraiser “Training, Guidance, and Accountability.”  He has coined this as appraiser “T.G.A.” Langdon reported that his research has found that in many cases appraisers don’t really get enough good training. Most appraisers attend continuing education only because they have to in order to maintain their license and most of that isn’t teaching them about new methods and better ways to do the job. Langdon feels that the CE requirements should be strengthened in order to get the appraisal profession to the next level. Here are some of his recommendations to help fix the problems with TGA:

  • Develop certification programs that require courses and testing in areas of expertise
  • Demand that only appraisers who have certified expertise complete the assignment
  • Review performance / remove those that do not maintain standards
  • Continuous renewal of certification

To cap off the presentations, Alan Hummel discussed how the various players in this industry need to work together. He noted that there may not be another profession where such a high level of animosity exists between the parties involved. This is especially true with the problems that have developed between appraisers and AMCs over the past few years. For the industry to move ahead, this relationship needs to improve.

Hummel recommends the appraisal industry adopt something he calls “co-opetition.” This is a concept that allows for cooperation between parties that are normally viewed as competitors. Appraisers compete with other appraisers and also with AMCs, but they also need to cooperate. This cooperative effort should involve the following concepts:

  • Share the knowledge – Trainees
  • Share the Standards – Agree on what is necessary in a credible appraisal
  • Share the Rules – Common rules engine
  • Share the Data – Data is gold

So the bottom line message from this session, and actually a common thread running through the entire conference, is that the appraisal profession will need to make some changes in the near future. Appraisers need to get the next generation properly trained, even if it’s a bit painful at times. They need to embrace and use new technology. They need to improve training for all appraisers. They need to keep pushing to make real estate appraisal a recognized profession (they need to be recognized as local market experts) and they need to cooperate to make sure all these things happen.

Finally, I have reprinted the above mentioned article by Mr. Pistilli in full below. Enjoy reading it, knowing that these things haven’t actually happened. However, all the presenters hope it will inspire you to take action on some of the items mentioned above so that an article like this will never become a reality.

The Imminent Extinction of the Appraisal Industry?

Late yesterday afternoon a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would alter the mortgage process and ultimately the way millions of Americans receive a mortgage.

HR 1108 would eliminate the need for an appraiser to appraise a home prior to the funds being disbursed to the homeowner. The bill, which was heavily lobbied by the American Banking lobby, calls on “real estate professionals” to assume the role of valuing homes rather than licensed and certified appraisers.

The growing lack of appraisers resulted in turnaround times that lengthened to a point where bank and financial institution customers became unhappy their loans are taking 4 weeks to close due to the appraisal. This in turn has made financial institution executives worried they cannot serve their customers efficiently and further grow their profits.

The banking lobby sees this as an economically viable solution to the shortage of appraisers and a way to better serve millions of Americans buying and refinancing homes each year.

Looking back, it wasn’t that long ago that appraisal fees were on the rise, appraisers were in demand and appraisers were as sought after and referred to as the most important aspect of the mortgage transaction. What has happened in the past few years started rather innocuously.

The number of appraisers has declined because of the aging of its members and the lack of new, younger individuals joining the profession.

New, more stringent requirements from The Appraisal Foundation to become an appraiser have further constricted the growth of new appraisers. The rate of decline in the total number of appraisers over the past five years was approximately 4% per year and the number of new appraisers entering the market was about 1% per year.

Appraisers have for years refused to train others in to their profession due to the perceived extra work required to accommodate a trainee and out of fear that the newly trained appraisers would take their clients and destroy their businesses.

In their effort to keep their own costs down and outsource their responsibilities, banks and financial institutions have heavily relied on appraisal management companies, or AMC’s, that some say coerce appraisers into accepting appraisals at artificially low, non-market driven fees. AMC’s state their services are critical in implementing the requirements of The Dodd-Frank Act and appraiser independence while appraisers state they are mere middlemen that offer no real value to the process, but take up to 50% of the fee, or more in some extreme cases.

In late 2010 regulations became effective to pay appraisers “customary and reasonable fees” yet, the language in the clarifying rules released by the federal banking agencies just added to the confusion by introducing a conflicting Presumption of Compliance.

Some industry veterans who have been calling for the “Cost-Plus Model”, which separates the appraiser and AMC fee, have said if the banking agencies had adopted that pricing model as part of The Dodd-Frank Act, the industry would be thriving.

The resulting adverse market conditions due to lower appraisal fees and the negative economic influences being forced onto appraisers by financial institutions through their relationships with AMC’s continued to drive down fees to appraisers while requiring more work per appraisal. An appraisal industry veteran who declined to be quoted for fear of reprisal said “this increase in work is commonly referred to as “scope creep” and it has added 1-2 hours on to every appraisal”. He continued, “Because of the declining fees and these increasing work demands being placed on appraisers, even more appraisers are leaving and even fewer are entering the profession”.

At the same time, home prices have declined to a point where nearly 70% of the homes in America are under the diminimus threshold of $250,000 (loan amount) established by Congress many years ago that requires appraisers to complete appraisals. The American Banking lobby argued the small change will open up the opportunity for lower-cost, non-appraisal “valuations” to be considered as alternatives that in the eyes of the financial institutions will better serve the consumers.

Knowing that there are almost 10 times as many Realtors as there once were appraisers, and their ranks are growing not declining, the financial institutions approached Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to rewrite their seller servicing guidelines to no longer require an appraiser to perform valuations on loans sold to the Agencies.

With ever increasing and improving technology and growing access to more accurate data sources, risk managers at financial institutions were able to convince senior management at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that the risk associated with potential losses can be overcome with the utilization of technology. One spokesperson at Fannie Mae stated, “Besides, look how good the appraisers did during the last crisis in the 2006-2009 timeframe”, referring to the overvaluation of properties that lead to massive losses within the Agencies. He continued, “This one small change allows real estate agents to perform ‘valuations’ that financial institutions then sell to the Agencies – totally eliminating the appraisers from the process.”

Many have said that because of their stubborn and ridiculously zealous professional pride, appraisers have created this issue themselves. For years they have refused to “lower” themselves to complete anything than a “full appraisal”. They have repeatedly rejected efforts from valuation providers to complete alternative valuations and to adopt new technology and automated processes that would have ultimately paid them more per hour for their services.

Others have insisted it was the lack of professionalism and the inability of the industry to perform competently that ultimately lead to the bill being introduced.

If HR 1108 passes it may very quickly cast appraisers into the same pile of historical dinosaurs like the telephone operator, bowling pin setters, and the ice man!

~ Source By Steve Costello, AppraisalPort Relationship Manager
Post updated to include full article (8/27/2013 @ 5:20 PM EST)

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23 Responses

  1. Frank Gregoire on Facebook Frank Gregoire on Facebook says:

    This was lame the first time around, and even more so now. http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th/house-bill/1108

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  2. Nancy Torchia Riley on Facebook Nancy Torchia Riley on Facebook says:

    wow…

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  3. Retired Appraiser Retired Appraiser says:

    You write that the number of appraisers has declined because of the high number of elderly appraisers and small number entering the field. There is absolutely NO TRUTH in that statement.

    Experienced appraisers are leaving the business (early) and they are refusing to train new appraisers for one reason.

    COMPENSATION (or lack thereof).

    The banking lobby successfully guided the appraisal profession on a undeniable collision course with a stone wall with the advent of HVCC aka AIR aka BS track. All they have to do is wait for the inevitable to take place. That’s not fast enough however. Not being content with 1/2 of the appraiser’s fee that their AMCs are raking in, they now demand the entire appraisal (AVM) fee and to have the appraiser kicked to the curb.

    I have three words for the banking lobby. Suck My Dickens!

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  4. Avatar Old appraiser says:

    Having been in this business for over 40 years I have lived through many “kill the appraisers” times. My observation is this. We will be here for a long time to come and for one reason. If and when things go bad they have to have a whipping boy to blame. We all know that the banks have a number they like, and the owner has a number he likes and the buyer has a number he likes. The banks and the government do not and cannot get into the negotiation process without pizzzzing off a ton of people. So relax we are going to be a circular firing squad for years to come.

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  5. Avatar masnow says:

    It was the banks who did away with the appraisal departments. It was the banks who wanted licensing. It was the banks who created the AMC’s to control values. It is only natural they now want to do away with the industry so they can control the market. Who is controling the banks?

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  6. Avatar Frances Shattuck says:

    HR 1108 is a cross border trade enhancement act. ????????

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  7. Avatar Not Kinnard says:

    The shortage they’re referring to is the number of appraisers who are willing to do the work for minimum wage. Raise the fees back to what every other client outside of the AMC loop are paying and you’ll have no problems finding enough appraisers to do the work. In perpetuity.

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  8. Avatar Adam says:

    Ah, yes….remove one of the last barriers between GIVING it to the American people/tax payer and forcing it on the tax payer…..great thought here, fantastic.

    Start enforcing the regs already in place. Have the banks retain a portion of the actual loan (invested in CASH) and we’ll see how quickly they want GOOD, invested appraisers gone. Also, allow the banks that make stupid decisions to fail…..when they fail (heaven forbid!!!).

    Then start reading the reports instead of forcing them through some scrubber for compliance. A compliant report is not always a reliable report. Silliness throughout this article. – Adam (active appraiser).

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  9. Avatar Noble says:

    Appraisers need a Barney Frank in Congress. He had good intentions. We need someone who sees what really is happening, what and who are the real problems and how anything like this will surely create a bigger Fiasco than was ever experienced after 2006!!!!

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  10. Avatar Fees says:

    The AMCs don’t want to say the real reason why appraisers are leaving the indurstry….FEES. They want alot appraisers in the industry to make it easier for them to find ignorant appraiser to pay $275 for a appraisal that takes 1.5 to complete. OBAMA admin. is not going to be on the AMCs/banks side this time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that AMCs are greedy…slave masters (AMCs) didn’t want there slaves to be educated!!!!!! AMCs are making massive profits….

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  11. Avatar Villa says:

    hmm….wow did the conference ever try to address the injustices of the current AMC business model, or the lack of collaborative professional leadership or the lack of solidarity among mortgage appraisers. the reason the appraisal ranks are declining is because the poor economic opportunities ($s especially within the mortgage arena) does not justify entry by a young educated professional people. the appraisal career opportunities with the mortgage arena are poor and does not likely to improve in the future. deletion of mortgage appraisers has been around for some 3 or 4 decades and it won’t happen. lenders will continue to live with appraisers as long as they/lenders can control the mortgage lending appraisal process. Currently they have more control than they ever have had, so appraisers should relax, if they can put up with all the recent regulations, controls and u/w over reaching methods.

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  12. Avatar dbrinton says:

    I offer a course on this exact topic, published just two days ago, it’s already receiving a great response from our fellow appraisers.

    In this course, I answer all of the questions that other appraisers have asked me over the years about how to improve their appraisal business. We talk about working with the AMCs, websites, marketing, new tools of the trade, accounting, trainees. Everything. Most importantly, we talk about how to secure great clients and improve efficiency and turn around time.

    Let’s start working better with each other! So that you can take advantage of this opportunity, FOR A LIMITED TIME, we are offering this course to the Appraisers Blog readers at a 20% discount.

    Best of luck to all of you!

    https://www.udemy.com/the-big-business-appraiser/?couponCode=appraisersblog

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  13. Avatar Fees says:

    There is no shortage of appraisers. A appraisals go out everyday and they are gone in 2minutes. There is no shortage. AMCS WANT AS MANY APPRAISERS IN THE MARKET AS POSSIBLE…..SUPPLY AND DEMAND ECONOMICS 101. ITS TO THE AMC BENEFIT TO SAY THERE IS A APPRAISER SHORTAGE

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  14. Avatar Chris says:

    The appraisal industry is here to stay. Too much political pressure to do away with us. I refuse to accept these ridiculous fees some AMC’s want to pay me. There is plenty of competitive fee work out there. You just have to put on your marketing hat and go find it!

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  15. Avatar Lori Kaiser says:

    This used to be a profitable profession. The AMC’s took 20% of our income overnight. Their main criteria is how low your fee is and how fast you can complete the report. Added on top of the decrease in fee, more work has been required to complete useless information such as the MC form. If I’m smart enough to manipulate the value of the subject, then I’m smart enough to do the same to the MC form. Most of us don’t even have MLS data that we can correctly develop the MC form anyway. Things like exposure time vs. marketing time, calling the report an Appraisal Report instead of a Summary Appraisal, having to use four sales within 6 months, and then add two listings….all of these things take extra time, and to be honest with you, they don’t even affect the bottom line – what the property is worth. We all know our market areas and have been on every road in the surrounding counties numerous time, yet we have to take original comp photos that are “in season” instead of using the photo we took 6 months ago when the house sold, or better than that using the MLS photo from when the house actually sold instead of an original new photo after the new home owners have made improvements. They pile us up with more work, pay us less, then want us to train someone else for free to compete with us in our market with our own clients. Every trainee does it, whether they realize it or not – they compete with you after you train them, and they do go after your clients. Now instead of 29 appraisers on the rotation, there are 30 appraisers – and you trained them to compete with you. This business needs a lot of alterations, but how about coming up with something that will make us want to stay in this business??? Every appraiser that I know would walk away from it in a heart beat if they didn’t have their whole life invested in it to provide for their families. Too much stress, not enough pay, too many long hours, unhappy home owners calling and blessing you out because it didn’t appraise for twice what it’s worth, unhappy underwriters because it appraised for more than they want, loan officers that drop you when one loan doesn’t close because the house didn’t come in high enough or needed too many repairs, AMC’s taking a third of your fee and the home owner thinking that you are getting rich off of them, lender’s guidelines + AMC’s guidelines + USPAP guidelines + FHA guidelines + Appraisal Board guidelines + Fannie Mae guidelines – just let us do our job which is appraising the property. We jump through so many hoops that it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. If you don’t trust me to do an appraisal, then hire someone else. If you trust me, then let me do my job. And we don’t have that luxury anymore because we are just a name on a rotation list. The personal trust between the appraiser and the lender is completely gone. Underwriters try to be the appraiser giving us three more comps that they think is better – which is most of the time foreclosures, short sales, houses 1/2 the size of the subject, or even worse – there wasn’t even a sale of that property. They take too much of our time for no other reason than to justify their positions as underwriter/reviewer’s. Again, this industry has a lot of things that need to be fixed, but for the most part – it’s not the appraiser that needs to be fixed – it’s the system that we are forced to put up with. And that is all I have to say about that!

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  16. Avatar Mike Armentrout says:

    Lori Kaiser just passionately expressed what most appraisers are experiencing.

    We can talk all day in platitudes of making our profession better, more competent, and more embracing of technology but these are like adding onto a building with a failing foundation. The foundation is our business model or more directly, our ability to be profitable. If we continue to allow scope-creep and liability to rise while compensation stays flat or falls, then naturally there will be negative results to the entire industry. Politicians and those instrumental in shaping policy and regulation (special interests) tout appraiser independence as their goal but most appraisers will claim far less independence than at any point in their careers. Most of us welcome change and innovation if it works well and is productive but only the insane and naïve promote change for nothing more than marketing and re-branding. Let’s be honest. We did not join the peace corps when we went into appraising. We selected a career to make money and as that ability diminishes, we can fully expect that anxiety levels will increase.

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  17. Avatar Frank says:

    There’s no shortage of appraisers in most metro areas, but one is on the horizon. 5-10 years from now, there will be less than half the number of appraisers out there compared with today. And no fix is forthcoming until the shortage hits. Then, rising fees will fix the problem, because with no supply and demand still present, fees must rise. Just ask my old buddy John Maynard Keynes. AMC’s are the devil.

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    • Retired Appraiser Retired Appraiser says:

      Don’t be so naïve Frank; “the fix” has been in place long before banks hijacked the profession in 2009. They call it AVM (automated valuation model). The plan is simple and sure to work out:

      1. Banks hijack the profession and extort appraisers out of 1/2 of their fees.

      2. Double the work load per assignment.

      3. Have the AMCs hire every known appraiser as a staff appraiser and issue insane quotas and even lower fees than the 50% independents are now charging. (Backup Plan #1 in case they grow balls and boycott).

      4. Increase the AVM data feed (UAD form) by over 20 times so that it will be well stocked by the time an appraiser shortage appears. (Backup Plan #2)

      5. Turn up the agony volume on appraisers five notches (more harassment, more addenda, more rewrites, longer pay times, lower fees, etc). Do whatever it takes to shake out more appraisers.

      6. Be patient as the clueless buggy whip makers cut their own throats (they’ve already raised their own education requirements, thus assuring no new blood enters the pseudo profession).

      Long Term Result
      Banks will in time go from churning a nearly 50% profit from voluntary appraiser servitude to a 100% profit once AVMs become the preferred method of residential valuation.

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  18. bubba jay bubba jay says:

    here we go again – its all the appraisers fault. we arent willing to train our competition, we are getting too old, we arent educated enough, blah, blah, blah. yeah, none of this has anything to do with appraisers leaving in droves because of the mess OTHER people have made of our business, is it?

    want to threaten to get rid of us, and use your little models and historical data? i say go for it. but let me say this – without appraisers, in about 5-10 years, there wont be any little models and historical data, because no data was coming in. then what? you think you can train realtors to do thorough appraisals and make them deal with all our headaches to get the data stream running again? (look at most listings in our MLS, we are lucky to get realtors to do their own jobs as it is.)

    yeah. good luck with that. lets just create an even bigger mess, shall we?

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  19. Avatar Appraiser says:

    We just need to act by refusing to accept assignments from AMC for two months (be creative with the reasons such as, Not customary and reasonable appraisal fees in my area, sickness, Travel, busy with family, personal matter) with a zero Service for 60 days we are going to witness the biggest mudslide of AMC to  the gutters of the lending industry.

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  20. Hmmm. I guess there is no use sugar coating it. Some people and I are NOT going to be friends.

    I’m beyond offended by both this article and the author.

    An Appraisal Port manager writes citing the views of: an AMC; a software vendor, A rep from Rels Mommy or Daddy Corporation with possibly the second worst AMC reputation in the country, and a national appraisal firm or franchise about what YOU and I need to do to preserve our profession. Appraisal Port; one of the first of the unnecessary extra cost items foisted on appraisers to eat into our profit. (How about WE just deliver a locked PDF file via email to OUR client and YOU folks can play with it however you want to AFTER delivery at the other end. Sell special services to the lenders directly.)

    Lets start with their first five suggestions:

    Train the next generation of appraisers
    Learn new technologies
    Be open to new, alternative valuation methods
    Become more professional
    Become more competent

    Despite exceptionally and unreasonably low fees that don’t compensate a single appraiser, they now want us to defy basic economics and include TWO appraisers time on one assignment, or don’t they understand the concept of ‘direct supervision’?

    Now, while I don’t believe in it, I have had numerous applicants for non existent jobs, say they will work for free for the experience. Aside from the immorality of that; and the probable illegality there is the issue of practicality.

    Appraisals are like rotten fish. Delivered too late and they are useless. How can I rely on uncompensated labor that has to somehow find the time and money to otherwise support themselves and their families? What makes MY time priority THEIR time priority? By the way, didn’t Bank of America just settle a compensation lawsuit for PAID appraisers, for $36 million?

    That’s a bit more than I’d make in a really good month; or year. Or even a lifetime unless I start an AMC. IF they are serious about trainees then ADD $200 per assignment and pay REASONABLE base fees on top of that!

    Which specific “new technologies” did they have in mind? The over priced new regression tool of Bradford’s that remains unproven; unclear to lay people, and as far as I’m concerned, unreliable? Data importation technology that is unreliable? Auto complete 1004MC software that gets check boxes 100% OPPOSITE of what they are supposed to be? Typing services located in offshore nations? No confidentiality violations there, right?

    I currently use ACI, Alamode (Aurora AND Total), Bradford Clickforms and Narrative1. I have an iPad , droid smart phone, several computers PLUS my virtual computers, and so much software its unbelievable. I now carry a laser measuring tool but still need steel tape too. By the way Mr. Bradford, your clickforms wont let me just open photos on a memory card or thumb drive and right click and hit copy and paste into your software. OLD software does that, but not yours. YOURS makes me hunt for every single pictures through the entire computer tree to its source…unless I ‘learn’ YOUR counter intuitive software and THEN upload everything in the process YOU dictate rather than what I WANT!

    MY advice to technology hustlers; COORDINATE YOUR competing products so they all operate similarly and without unnecessary crap I don’t want or need! K.I.S.S. !

    Be open to new alternative valuation products? Read THAT to mean be open to short forms that come nowhere near USPAP compliance that WE would have to write volumes of text to make compliant; and which YOU guys would cut out in the XML delivery process. Forms that you could say dictate appraisal fees of around $13.00 each? Too much? $9.00? OK, how about if we just pay YOU for letting US work? We’ll pay whatever’s ‘customary and reasonable’, ok? Everything we get should just about cover it shouldn’t it?

    More new valuation products? How about AVMs? I can do those in five to ten minutes and give you VERBAL results all during the same phone call; and no one has any liability to ANYONE, ok? +-20% size, (GBA only), range of PRICE reported paid is $1,200,000 to $4,700,000. Your property is RIGHT IN THERE! Oh wait! Zillow already does that, don’t they?

    Become more professional? Nice euphemism. Obviously you mean buy more of YOUR products and services, right?

    Silly me. I usually take more than 60 to 80 hours of CE EACH cycle, have completed the NACVA business valuation courses at home on my own; learned BizPricer and how to support it; took courseRA Statistical Analysis from Princeton on line (no credit, merely for self improvement), completed the Appraisal Institutes three sustainable/High Performing buildings appraisal courses less than a year ago; studied CU online; UAD and ongoing USPAP. All that in my free time when I’m not doing volunteer work on behalf of fellow appraisers.

    Become MORE COMPETENT? As if ANY of those on the panel making idiotic statements like this would know a truly competent appraiser if he or she bit them on the ass! The fact they THINK appraisers are not competent (its like pregnancy-either you are, or you are not-no in between) PROVES they are not paying enough for competent appraisers OR quality appraisals. Seriously. I don’t know who specifically made that comment but the fact is it is being made at all tells me THEY are churning out or accepting UNACCPETABLE quality appraisals.

    I am competent enough to know never to do any work for those on the panel anymore; and I’m seriously second guessing my recent Bradford Clickforms purchase. (I’m excluding Forsyth since I know nothing about them except a few of their appraisers and I are LinkedIn)

    I have five suggestions of my own to “improve and preserve the appraisal profession”…but I don’t want to offend the blog sponsors with that kind of language. Besides, I think the Vegas Talking Heads are just stuck in there too far or removal without surgery.

    I have no idea who or WHAT Mr. Langdon is but before making HIS “TGA” suggestions did anyone let him in on the panels own suggestions, first? Like taking on trainees? Maybe he thinks trainees are also certified appraisers? MORON!

    From now on when you hucksters have these self serving “Appraisal Forums” as an excuse to go play in Las Vegas, keep them to yourselves!

    If YOU folks are serious about ‘acting like professionals’ than have working seminars in major cities where people actually WORK…not go to play. By the way, what was the ratio of real appraisers to vendors and promoters?

    I’ll agree to discontinue my use of the term ‘shop’ or industry’ (though an industry can still include professions) if YOU folks top referring to yourselves as Appraisal Managers; knowledgeable appraisal profession insiders, valuation experts, “appraisal” software developers or anything other than hypocrites, parasites and phonies.

    By the way, I am NOT a valuator. THAT is an accounting profession & IRS term for a Business Valuator. I don’t do ‘valuations’, I perform appraisals of specifically defined values of clearly identified interests in real estate. I worked very hard to get into this profession and for nearly thirty more year engaged in its practice. I am NOT about to let a bunch of hacks promote the current INCORRECT fad of referring to my PROFESSION as “valuation” which as any engaged in it, can tell you is the practice of reading chicken bones, blue smoke and entrails of polecats.

    Usually at this stage I encourage people to join our Appraisers Guild… but I don’t WANT you Vegas showmen in my union.

    Apologies, and exclusion from remarks above to any real appraisers reading this.

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The Imminent Extinction of the Appraisal Industry?

by Guest Author time to read: 9 min
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