I Do Not Quit, Not Ever!
I Did Not Quit when HVCC, UAD and CU Came Along. I Do Not Quit, Not Ever!
I do not quit. Not ever. I have a different perspective based on lifelong lessons from my father.
I did not quit when a lost helmet in the last play of the season made it painful to block during high school football. That effort got me my school letter despite being 3 quarters short. It was worth the headache.
I did not quit Boot Camp in 1969 when at 129 pounds and six feet, very few thought I’d make it. To this day I am proud of my earned title United States Marine.
I did not quit when my city council (1986) started abusing my fellow live aboard boaters. Instead, we replaced 4 out of 5 of those members; one harbor director, made them appoint a harbor commission rep that actually knows what boats are, and forced them to draw a completely new general plan. Certain Army Corps of Engineers also had to redo hydrographic studies.
I did not quit when HVCC came along. I went to work as a senior appraiser for a federal agency that I had been fighting vigorously for over 25 years (IRS). I did not quit after I ‘embarrassed’ my boss “suggesting” she sat on a million and a half dollar refund for over a year and she tried to force me to resign. When I was eventually terminated after a case was constructed over 6 more months; I took her down with me. I do NOT quit, not ever. When I err, I am the first to admit it. When I have not, do NOT make the mistake of thinking my polite attitude is acquiescence. By the way, my ‘gift’ to IRS was to post their (unclassified) policies on Discounting for Lack of Marketability DLOM, which major CPA firms accessed off my site for three years before IRS posted it on their own.
I rebuilt my appraisal business from scratch. Like many, I too lost contacts and clients of over thirty years standing. I sought and continue to seek new ones. In four years I went from my home office to one on PRIME Wilshire Blvd., in Beverly Hills.
When my ‘peers’ accept $300 sfr fees; and as low as $185, I still do not quit. I seek to educate them, instead.
I joined my state appraisal coalition (CCAP) . Recognizing that is not enough, I also joined a national appraisal guild that is part of the oldest Union in America. I do not quit!
When UAD was implemented I did not quit. Nor did I quit when CU came along. I educated myself.
Crooked politicians and dirty players in my profession had better fear me, rather than thinking that I should fear THEM! You guessed it, because I DO NOT QUIT!
For those of you that ALSO do not quit, join me in the American Guild of Appraisers (AGA). Yes, it IS a union, but it is NOT your grandfathers union. It is OUR union. YOURS and MINE. I do not blindly follow opportunists. I work WITH like minded appraisers trying to reclaim our profession.
Together we can show those that need and use professional appraisal services, that WE DO NOT QUIT!
We WILL reclaim our profession.
Call me at (714) 366 9404 or email me at m…@mfford.com for information on joining our California Chapter AGA, OPEIU/ AFL-CIO. Alternatively call Jan Bellas, National Membership Coordinator at AGA, or Peter Vidi, President. Her number is 1(800) 660-1835. The website is http://www.appraisersguild.org.
It’s long past time to stop WHINING and start DOING SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE!
- The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” - May 15, 2023
- The Scam of Racial Discrimination by Appraisers - May 10, 2023
- What Is My Incentive? - September 20, 2022
I have not heard of the AGA helping anyone in the appraisal industry. I cannot afford another organization ripping me off like all the rest taking my money and promising results thank you.
AM, they helped John Dingerman get reinstated from Chase black list last year. Here is the article.
They also filed a petition with CFPB and the fed seeking revision to regs regarding appraisal independence of the Dodd Frank Act. They’ve fought to overturn regulations that cut appraisal fees etc.
Click here for all the articles posted on AppraisersBlogs about AGA.
The Dingman thig was over a year ago and the rest was 3 years ago. How’s all that working out for ya?
Dear AMoron
We also stopped CoreLigics dont ask-dont tell BofA policy re illegal drug growing operations; helped kill PACE PRO, have assisted more than 200 appraisers collecting unpaid invoices; getting off blacklists and defending themselves with state agencies against wrongful accusations of non compliance with USPAP. We’ve consulted with federal agencies and helped stop 2 out of 3 appraisal waiver requests (Ok and TN…ND was limited to short duration). We also stopped Californias AB6w4 dead in its tracks after it had already been passed.
We continue to advocate for appraisers. So in answer to your old question “Its been working out just great for us.”
i applause you for your tenacity Michael, but in this case your tenacity immediately reminds me of the Black Knight in Monty Pythons’ Holy Grail movie.
here is a link to a video if you don’t know what i am talking about:
Standing Ovation for Bubba Jay! A most fitting video analogy for residential appraisers.
We do have one thing in common Michael. I refuse to quit when it comes to encouraging appraisers to uproot themselves and plant themselves in a more worthy profession or industry. I’ve posted thousands of warnings across the web for appraisers since 2009 and I’ll probably be posting when the year 2019 arrives. It is my sincere hope that there are no active appraisers left to read my comments four years from now (meaning I hope everyone has wised up and found profitable careers).
February 2020. Around 76,000 of us left. Many still fighting. Mark Skapinetz took down Coester VMS pretty much single handedly. Remember them?
They were the clowns that claimed credit for the one size fits all fixed national bank to AMC fees that the FTC ignored.
Retired appraiser you’re too full of yourself, in that regard. The appraisal profession is at the core of the checks and balances system. To make a statement that you’d rather see everyone earning more, rather than working hard to maintain a core tenant of liberty and free markets, which is the checks and balances system….. Well…… I don’t quit either. Audit the Fed! Pump and dump is the new economy. Now is the low rate easy access pump period, the pump. Soon, the fed will be back at it, raising rates and working with lenders to tighten credit access. Then the dump. Mega bankers play both sides of the coin. Good boy and girl Americans see past the regulatory jungle, and shout out high; Audit the Fed! We need checks and balances. Should the multi national lenders succeed at eroding the checks and balances system further, and eliminating the requirements for human appraisers, consumer risk will be higher than ever. This business is about liberty, respect, checks and balances. If you’re into this business purely for the money, you’re in the wrong business and don’t understand what the appraisal profession is really all about, and why it’s a mandatory inclusion in federally regulated lending. Regulatory take over is here, and it’s been here for some time. Fines based on income. Lifetime ban of congress and senator persons in the lobbying industry. Audit the fed. All are necessary to pull the blinds back down over the eyes of Lady Justice. She’s peeking out right now! I admire Mr Fords apparent patriotism, but what it’s going to take is Liberty, Justice, Equality. Nothing short of that will be effective. Corporations are not people, and money is not speech. Plain and simple.
Baggins,
I have to confess that worrying about an adequate checks and balance system has never crossed my mind. INJUSTICE on the other hand is precisely why I spent two years trying to organize appraisers to fight HVCC. INJUSTICE is precisely why I am America’s strongest advocate for getting appraisers out of the business.
Saying that I left simply because of fees is a bit of an understatement but that in itself is enough justification for appraisers to make their exit. If you enjoy working for 1990 fees more power to you.
HVCC aka Dud Frank aka AIR boils down to extortion. If you are paying out a hefty percentage of your appraisal fee each month in order to get work from an AMC you are participating in extortion folks.
Telling appraisers that they cannot collect their fee at the door and they must wait months to get paid after being raped is absolute BS.
Piling on new requirements (1004MC, UAD, CU) which has easily doubled the work load per assignment without increasing those $250 fees is absolute horse ship.
Wiping out appraiser client bases that were built over 1 to 4 decades was unimaginable and grounds for a class action lawsuit. We lost hundreds of clients overnight in 2009; which was the reason for our closing the firm.
If you are still in this industry more power to you; you’ve made your decision to become America’s Last Appraiser Standing. Personally, I am not into manufacturing buggy whips or making a stand for lost causes.
Here it is over 3 and a half years after the above article. No one has quit yet.
AGA™ is now a tax-exempt 501(c)(6). We have successfully renegotiated our affiliation agreement with OPEIU and AFL-CIO. The articles of incorporation revised our previous articles of association. In the past two years Jan Bellas and the National Appraiser Peer Review Committee have helped in excess of 185 appraisers get off blacklists; be reinstated with lenders and assisted those wrongfully accused in defending themselves before state regulatory agencies. Anyone that’s dealt with Jan Bellas KNOWS she doesn’t quit!
AGA was also active behind the scenes in my own case against the California BREA. There is no other way to put it except to state they were humiliated on a daily basis for five days. The judge noted our side testimony was credible. She did not say that about the other side. BREA DIrector attempted (actually did reject) the Administrative Law Judge’s recommendation; an almost unheard-of event and tried to continue coercion to get us to sign a consent agreement all the while knowing we had won-definitively. We declined and let it be known the next step would be a superior court and a repeated humiliation of the state there. We did not quit.
BREA, on the other hand, changed their policy (and law) from “California employees that are appraisers shall not do any appraisal or appraisal review work except in conjunction with their official duties” to ” “California employees that area appraisers shall not do any appraisal or appraisal review work” Changed 12/31/2018 effective January 1. 2019.
I suspect the State Legislators never saw that change. BREA came right out and finally admitted what we knew all along. That they do not perform USPAP SR3 / SR4 compliant appraisal reviews of work they are seeking enforcement action over. In fact, they do NO appraisal review work at all. None. Despite retaining the titles and pay grades of “Senior Real Property Appraiser / Investigators.” When time permits the State Auditor will be asked to look into this one.
Early on AGA wrote numerous articles and letters to various federal regulatory agencies about PACE PRO, the blatant fraud inducing forerunner of the currently hyped bifurcated appraisal fraud & bad appraisal practice inducing products. ASC was also involved. Pace Pro as it was originally designed disappeared.
Before last April, CoreLogic announced to all panel appraisers for B of A that they were not to inquire about, photograph or investigate or opine about legality of marijuana grow operations observed in residential housing they inspect. AGA wrote ASC who in turn referred the issue to OCC. OCC contacted CL and B of A. Shortly after OCC notified AGA the matter had been resolved, and a week later CL posted a new message to appraisers admonishing them to follow USPAP; and FEDERAL, state and local laws.
IN 2015 AGA joined with TAF and ASA; along with the California Coalition of Appraisal Professionals in opposing AB 624 that would have created alternative standards in appraisals for evaluations. We lost. That’s right. Despite all our efforts we lost. AI won the day and AB 624 was passed. We did not quit.
Within a few days of learning this, OPEIU (our ‘parent’ union) reached out to California Labor and the Bill was buried in Appropriations where it expired.
From 2015 to the present we have engaged at many levels from federal to state; and via professional peer associations to promote the interests of our members, and other appraisers at large.
Our current AGA™ National Guild President; Mr. Mark Skapinetz of Georgia essentially single-handedly took down the self-proclaimed originator of national one size fits all AMC/Lender price-fixing. Several articles have been written in AB over the intervening years from 2015 to the present about that company.
Primarily because of Mark’s efforts, Coester VMS no longer exists except as a bad memory. At great personal expense and despite extreme pressure against him to give up, Mark didn’t. Ultimately he prevailed in a long drawn out series of court battles. Friends and foes alike tried to get Mark to quit. He’s not built that way. He does not quit either.
Mark was also instrumental in creating and co-organizing the never had one before event or “Appraiser Happening” in San Antonio called Appraiserfest; along with two other nationally renowned appraisers Phil Crawford (Voice of Appraisal) and Lori Noble of The Network. Despite hardships, none of them quit either. They put on one of the most remarkable appraisal educational and peer networking events in appraisal history.
When AGA™ President Leo Regensburger resigned, we wanted someone able to face personal pressure and adversity & who understood first hand what issues regular appraisers face every day.
After all, we are a union, and executive leadership generally have targets painted on their backs from AMCs, possibly REVAA, some lenders and a host of self-serving interests that include designated appraiser owned national puppy mill type appraiser shops. We wanted someone who does not quit in the face of adversity. Someone willing to work very long hours, for free. Someone willing to accept very few “thank you’s”.
To the Executive Leadership Panel which included the outgoing President, Mark was the logical choice. Mark reenergized us all. He’s relentless in pursuit of improving the appraiser’s professional lives. He doesn’t quit.
I am proud to call Mark “friend” as well as a colleague.
I could go on for many, many more paragraphs citing large and small AGA™achievements, but it’s not necessary. I ran across this old article that asked a valid question going back to my earliest days as a Guild Member. An update seemed most appropriate.
Retired Appraiser is still around goading us to greater efforts (though he believes his goads are in a different direction altogether); Desiree is still the best podium appraisers can have for getting their issues before other appraisers; the public, many government agencies and a host of other ‘stakeholders’. Baggs and bubba Jay have become online friends and never-ending sources of information.
AGA™ regularly works with other groups from around the country, including others that have never quit. Such as Pat Turner of VaCAP, Marion Rhodes a quiet, behind the scenes researcher and information magnet; several employees of a few State regulatory agencies, and many hundreds of others that cannot be named due to space and respect for their privacy.
Only the anonymous ‘appraiser morons’ has disappeared. I think he quit.
Which seems wholly appropriate to me. Appraisers are fighting back. All over the country. Through professional associations; through state coalitions, through NAR, through consumer outreach and yes, through the American Guild of Appraisers, #44, OPEIU, AFL-CIO. (Did I mention we never quit?) contact janbellas@appraisersguild.org
Many thanks to all those that were open minded enough to hear us out. Who were not afraid of the word ‘union’. We said we were a new kind of union. I believe our actions demonstrate it.
Sincerely, for AGA™
Mike Ford,
Chairman, National Appraiser Peer Review Committee
V.P. Special Projects
American Guild of Appraisers, #44,
OPEIU, AFL-CIO
PS-Never quit!