First Enforcement of C&R Fee Provision: Louisiana Makes History Nearly five years after Dodd-Frank set forth rules regarding Customary & Reasonable fees (C&R) for appraisers, an agreement last week between a state board and an Appraisal Management Company (AMC) is the first evidence of enforcement. The bottom line for appraisers is that they may be finally on their way back to customary and reasonable fees. On June 4, 2015, the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board (LREAB) issued a Stipulations and Order Memorandum (SOM) wherein Coester Appraisal Management Group, also known as Coester VMS, offers no admission of guilt but agrees...
The Appraisal Foundation Resisting Change The Appraisal Foundation sent out a correspondence stating the Appraisal Institute is undermining their authority. This was very one sided and off the mark. Everything changes. The appraisal business is changing. AI is staying on the fore front of this change. The Appraisal Foundation is resisting change. The Appraisal Foundation policies are chocking the appraisal industry. It is next to impossible to bring on new people. As a result the number of appraisers across the country in 2007 were 120,000 +/-. Today its about 70,000. The industry is changing and so must the policies. AI does not want to go back...
Seems like everyone hates AMC’s and scope creep. Scope Creep!! I ordered a sub at a sub shop. I love tomatoes! So I asked for extra tomatoes. I was charged. I took my car in for inspection. I told the mechanic since my car was up in the air and the tires were off to rotate the tires. I was charged. BUT, the tires were off. The cook’s hand was in the tomatoes. WHAT’s up? I was asked for two listings. I wanted to charge. I did a restricted report on an office building (sales comp approach only). The client called and wanted a cap rate, then an expense ratio. They refused...
How do we move to be more of a Red Box? I stopped at a Sheetz to get gas. As I was standing there I noticed a Red Box Machine which had a steady flow of traffic. Next door was an old closed Block Buster Video. Hmm… When my kids were little it was a big treat to go to that Block Buster and rent a movie. We had to wait in line 5 to 10 minutes and now it’s closed. But the Red Box machine is steadily pumping out DVDs. So I got to thinking. What are appraisers? Are we...
Last Fall I had the pleasure of attending the annual conference presented by the Seattle Chapter of the Appraisal Institute. I was able to sit in on some interesting educational sessions. With all the conversation in industry surrounding CU and other initiatives directly impacting appraisers, I felt highlights from the educational sessions would be beneficial. The following information is from a presentation by Clark Dickson with HomeStreet Bank called, “Appraising for Lenders in Today’s World.” Mr. Dickson’s presentation was about appraisal quality and what it takes to have your appraisal be acceptable in today’s lending environment. He said that everything...
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on March 23 signed into law S.B. 1445, which requires appraisal management companies operating in the state to compensate appraisers at a reasonable and customary rate. The legislation gives the Virginia Real Estate Appraiser Board authority to take administrative action against AMCs not paying appraisers customary and reasonable fees in accordance with federal law. Prior to enactment of the legislation, Virginia law already required an appraiser engaged by an AMC to disclose as part of the appraisal report the actual fee they were paid. In 2014, the Virginia Center for Housing Research and the Virginia Tech...
The info below from AI’s Appraiser News OnLine is about the action taken by the AQB at their recent meeting in Seattle, WA, which I was unable to attend. It’s still unclear if “existing license holders” must undergo a background check at the time of their license renewal. Apparently that’s determined by individual states. And it’s still difficult to get all the multiple clients appraisers deal with, to accept “one” background check performed in a state or by a separate organization. So appraisers are sometimes faced with having to spend money to provide different background checks to individual clients. Frankly,...
Arizona will join a handful of states that don’t have an appraiser board or commission. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on March 12 signed into law SB 1480, legislation that eliminates the Arizona Board of Appraisal effective July 1. The ABOA’s administrative functions will be reassigned to the Department of Financial Institutions. This provision was included in the state’s FY 2016 budget that passed the legislature March 7. Arizona will join a handful of states that don’t have an appraiser board or commission. According to the Executive Summary accompanying the Governor’s budget proposal, the action was necessary because the shrinking population...
Why I’m Leaving Residential Appraisal – Dear AMC, Goodbye! The Law of Unintended Consequences is a law, like Murphy’s Law, which is always lurking in the background to foil the attempts we humans make to control the world around us. It is particularly true of government attempts to reduce crime. A couple of examples follow: I used to love air travel. I was a flight test engineer at Boeing and for many years I flew all over the world for both work and recreation. Then came the shoe bomber. Now I wait in long “security” lines while thousands of security...
The Appraiser Qualifications Board of The Appraisal Foundation on Dec. 2 released a new exposure draft of proposed revisions to the 2015 Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria. Among the revisions is a requirement that all applicants for real property appraiser credentials have a background that does not call into question public trust. To meet that requirement, applicants must provide state appraiser regulatory agencies with all information and documentation necessary for a jurisdiction to determine an applicant’s fitness for licensure. An applicant will not be eligible for an appraiser credential if they have been convicted of or pleaded guilty or nolo...
