AQB Releases December 2012 Q&As
TJ’s Rant…
Almost all of the questions deal with Supervisor – Trainee issues that will change in 2015. If like me, you believe it is difficult enough to find people to become appraisers today, just wait until you read all of the new requirements.
I don’t understand where the AQB is coming from with all these new requirements. Do they really believe that someone will want to go to college (at an average cost of about $120,000) to get a degree and then become a Certified Residential appraiser who would be lucky to make $20,000 for their first few years in the industry? …that’s assuming clients will allow appraisers to use trainees and most don’t anymore. If the trainee manages to get enough experience and take more additional courses that will cost them thousands of dollars, (not to mention E&O insurance, gas expense, join the local MLS, join an appraisal organization, buy appraisal software, buy health insurance, etc, etc, etc,…just how much money are they really making now? Don’t forget paying back their student loans…and I suppose they will need a little cash left over for things like housing, food and clothing! Finally, the trainee becomes a Certified Residential appraiser and he can now perhaps make around $40,000 a year…until he gets a notification that a major bank has placed him, unfairly, on their exclusionary list and their short and costly career is over and they are still in their 20’s.Â
Where do I sign up?
Then the supervisor must now take a course to work with a trainee…meet other additional requirements beyond simply taking a class…sign off on the trainee’s log and possibly be subject to disciplinary action by their state appraisal board if they feel the supervisor assisted the trainee in preparing appraisal reports that have USPAP violations or didn’t fully comply with all of the assignment conditions correctly. Why would you want to be a supervisor?
Unfortunately, I’m afraid the AQB is attempting to build a perfect professional appraiser that can be held in high regard like a CPA, an engineer or an attorney, but the sad reality of the situation is that our clients don’t want to pay that NEW and IMPROVED professional appraiser enough to warrant all of these additional costly requirements!
By TJ McCarthy, SRA, IFA of TJ McCarthy & Associates
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TJ, your rant has just put all the supervisor/trainee issues in the most succinct collection of words that I’ve seen yet. You hit every dot along the way. Now, for anyone who has ever taken a course in Economics, the supply and demand relationship is not a strange concept. It is however, a foreign language to the appraisal industry. With the number of appraisers shrinking by the day, refis still running fast, and the market imroving overall, WHY hasn’t the average rate for an appraisal gone up since 2008 or earlier??? I’m at a loss as to how this is ever going to change. With AMCs taking their share of the pie, appraisers are seldom going to get more than $350-$400 for a 1004. I don’t know what it will take but am hoping something will happen.
The Real Estate Appraiser average age is in the fifties, in 10 years, will the average age be in the sixties, in 20 year will the RE Appraiser be extinct?