See Something, Say Something
…engage in a brief healthy debate with the other side to expose the falsities being spread…
Anyone wanna play the “what if” game with me? Ok fine… I’ll be the dreamer and you tell me the reality of it. Here we go…. What if… all of us independent appraisers, since we are the only ones with a voice for the industry, were to actively engage in a campaign to call out real estate and mortgage marketing propaganda across the internet as and when we see it, which should be several times a day.
The internet is riddled with lies that serve to damage our relevance and reputation and we have to sit by and allow it because we’re out matched and our livelihood is dependent on the salesmen telling their tales.
They say God is in the detail and if we each religiously engage in a brief healthy debate with the other side to expose the falsities being spread, we would actively be educating the consumers. Maybe even bring them into the conversation. While I believe we should pursue every avenue to protect our industry, we know that by ourselves we don’t have enough manpower or dollars to show up on Capitol Hill and be heard. However, with the information superhighway to bank our statements and discussions and with thousands of appraisers standing up for the truth we can do what the government originally intended for us to do as an industry which is to safeguard the best interest of the economy.
I’m sure there’s some of you that have, I haven’t done it enough and not consistently, but what if we start engaging daily, several times a day, with agents and lenders across every social media to respectfully point out pitfalls of marketing propaganda that does not serve the consumer and we make recommendations that is in the consumers best interest.
As a suggestion, as we definitely are an opinionated bunch and of course we will each use our own voice and style in approaching this but for the integrity of our industry, it would be beneficial to be professional, clear and concise and move on. There are two very good reasons to do this is; (1) We have plenty of lies to set right so let’s not linger too long, make your point and move on but most importantly, (2) to not get into vile debates in open forum that will not serve to elevate public trust in our industry.
I see some of the benefits and drawbacks in us committing to something, list this as a group, but I’d like to hear everyone else’s opinion.
I understand we all need to make a living and as a wide spread campaign this could have negative implications to the professional relationships, we each have with lenders and agents, but if we’re eradicated, we lose not just our livelihood but our relevance and our voice.
If this is something already discussed by the few hundred of you that attended AppraiserFest my apologies for being redundant and its awesome if you guys already talked about doing something like this. Now lets all of us talk about it.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I don’t intend to go back to engage further just say my piece and move on.
https://youtu.be/H7U6QE0up3s
By Gynell Vestal, Certified Residential Appraiser at Vestal Appraisal Solutions. Gynell has a diverse appraisal background covering Commercial, Residential, Rural, Complex and Luxury Properties as well as National Appraisal Review work in the secondary Market. She began her Appraisal training in Oklahoma in 2001 covering Rural and Commercial Properties. With several years as a National Review Appraiser at Fannie Mae and other big banks, Gynell has keen insight into the secondary market guidelines and requirements.
I think this is a wonderful effort and I hope Appraiser’s will contribute with their voices. My only suggestion is that we always always always respond in a very professional manner. The way we respond represents our profession so we have to do it carefully
https://publicservicenetwork.com/grassroots_marketing/
I’ve recently created an appraisal page on FB – I’ve got 400 friends, mostly average type income and many own homes. I’ve wanted to open up the conversation but don’t want to start on any type of negative note – I’d like to keep it really positive. One of the subject’s I’ve wanted to hit on is “How reliable is Zillow?” Or something along that line… How restricted are we… I want to let them know – in a positive way – the appraiser is NOT the bad guy when the value of the appraisal isn’t the same as the price agreed… I so want to let them know – We ARE looking out for their best interest… Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.
YES, I agree completely and have been doing the same kind of thing for the past six months. I have also suggested, in the past, on this blog, that all appraisers begin to use social media to inform and educate the public, especially when there is misleading material present. The public needs to be made aware that the greed of financial institutions and AMC’s are putting them at greater risk. Reality real estate TV shows with happy endings and a new trend of making it acceptable to ignore the hands-on, boots on the ground experts in the field are also having adverse effects. When Realtors boast about having sold a home for a record high price per sq.ft., If available, I always write a comment asking if the buyer is aware that he may have overpaid and if the realtor is aware that the buyer could seek for damages against the Realtor? ( “Tindall vs. Murphy”, CA, recent post on this blog)
Your idea has my vote as well. It’s not a solution by itself, but its a valid tool to be used toward solutions.
Yes, great recommendation Gynell. I agree that our voices need to be heard. It is imperative that we represent our industry professionally and not engage in online bantering. We need to provide information to educate the public and keep it positive! As we learned at Appraiser Fest, blogging is an effective way to achieve this goal.