We’d be better off if a majority of loans were made by automatic valuation algorithims, with appraisers charging enough for the unusual property.  Rather than a $250 appraisal which verified a sales price, see a $1,000 fee which studied a neighborhood and the individual property.  Appraisals shops would not grow as they had during the recent past and individual appraisers could and would defend their work

Today no one wants to hire a trainee and AMC company’s do not accept trainee’s work. Having a bachelor degree doesn’t make someone more qualified to be an appraiser. Not only is a bachelor’s degree required you add 200 hours of just the appraisal courses on top of that. All that schooling and money I might as well become an attorney with a set career. College isn’t cheap either and jobs are not easy to come by in today’s generation. I know plenty of people still paying back school loans and still haven’t gotten the job they went to school for.

Most of all how can you tell existing appraisers like myself who have been in this business that in order for us to upgrade this criteria applies to us too. I was told in 2009 I was grandfathered in and now you tell me I’m not. How can you take that back? This was not a well thought out idea and neither was Andrew Cuomo’s idea for the AMC’S. A man who never tried a case and took him 5 times to pass his bar exam and doesn’t have knowledge in real estate gets to come up with a plan to make changes in the appraisers field having no appraiser license or experience. I would like to know how many people on the qualifications board have a college background or appraisal experience?

RA; Seriously? Lol! As long as they get your honest cogent thoughts I don’t care HOW your salutation reads. Sometimes anger being communicated can also be a good thing.

Thank you.

KenQ, Thank you!

I hope you don’t mind that I started my long letter to the Appraisal Foundation with the salutation:

“Dear AF Holes”

I did as you asked.  If you can take the time to write a letter or article a day I am certainly willing to send them an email agreeing with you.

Took care of it yesterday Mike. Attached your letter and added a few things.

MAI’s have good and bad. IF they adhere to all they have been taught, then they are capable of some of the best work I have ever seen. Unfortunately it also seems like they invented boilerplate and report stuffers and other appraisal fluff.

When they go bad, they are VERY bad because they will bury the fact that they left out two entire approaches; never analyzed highest and best use (merely defined what H&BU means) , and then misapplied the only approach that they DID use!

TomD your SRA is not worthless. Those that know how hard you had to work to earn it, still respect it. Its not the letters, its the skill and knowledge represented by those letters. Same with Diane’s 46 years experience. NO ONE appraises that long without picking up a few things along the way!

ALSO Since article was written the AQB Member referenced sent me an email letting me know the bio and picture is from when he spoke before that group years ago; so it is NOT an unauthorized use…though no one has explained why it is still up or why there is no disclosure that it is not an endorsement of that group.

In las Vegas, APB and TAF (Dave Bunton) both said the boards and TAF do NOT HEAR ENOUGH from individual appraisers, and that they WANT OUR INPUT!

Otherwise, others will be speaking ‘for us’, with or without our permission.

RA, I know, but they ARE seriously considering an experience level exception that  I described (or something like it).

OK, I wasn’t very clear. I am asking ALL of you that post here and anywhere else to merely click on the link and say “I agree with Ford’s AGA letter of 02/29/2016.” OR, to write and let them know your own beliefs. RA you’d be perfect since you could tell them first hand WHY you chose to retire rather than stay in this business.

Right now they are merely speculating that people leave mainly because we get old. They are ASKING us to comment. This is your shot my friend. Please take it.

TomD I can STILL remember Maxine Waters tearing the guy a new one, that went before her committee to warn of the impending crisis from those types of loans! She, and all the rest of the elected hypocrites back then, on BOTH sides of the aisle.

Recipe for disaster: 2% ARM with pick a payment option (to be skipped each year) and negative amortization for the THIRD refinance in under five years! What could go wrong!

Thank you Ken. If you agree, then please copy and forward to the link included in the letter then. Or just refer to it and send an email to the link. Saying “I agree with Ford’s letter from AGA dated 02/29/2016.”

good memory Diana.  i valued my sra designation until it became worthless with certification.  but you are right, it was commercial financing that caused that crash.  the mai’s couldn’t count the amount of future developments that they were appraising, i guess they thought there always was only 1 near them to compete.  keep marching mike.

the 2006 market crash was caused by the adjustable loans that were given to people who could just afford the phony “A” rate they were baited with. when the rate went up, surprise surprise, these people could not afford the new monthly payment.  just like the hot market these baited loans created, their end reality caused the flood of foreclosures & the almost destruction of the economy.  funny thing is that the fed knew a year earlier that there was too much speculating going on because of their continuing low rates.  yea, a lot of people should have gone to prison. guess not.

They shattered the business model of the appraisers with HVCC, stole BILLIONS of dollars form the appraisers to line their own pockets, took our money and acted like they were saving us time. When in fact we can not afford assistance or office managers to be productive. Then they doubled the time to produce a credible report to 5-10 hrs, so we only produce 1 appraisal a day, IF that.

What professional in this country charges a FLAT rate no matter how many hours of work they are REQUIRED to preform or lose their license. Name one, I dare you.

Now they say there is a shortage of appraisers….Ya, that’s for sure! All part of THE plan to replace us with realtors and computers ALL in the name of Turn Time, Really its just so the Borrower does NOT have time to talk to another lender or to settle while the Borrower is in desperation mode.