Category: The Appraisal Foundation

Inspectors Blocked the Door, Appraisers Handed Over the Keys 39

Inspectors Blocked the Door, Appraisers Handed Over the Keys

A fellow appraiser dropped a direct message in my inbox with a link to home inspector Preston Kincaid’s Facebook video, and watching him warn the public sent a chill through me because his words mirrored the exact warnings I have been shouting about our own appraisal profession. To understand the shock, you first need to know what Spectora is and how home inspectors work. Spectora is the dominant cloud software platform used by roughly 7,000 independent home inspectors across the country to draft, format, and deliver digital property inspection reports. By law and standard contract, home inspectors operate under strict...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM

UAD 3.6 Erases My Legal Defenses: Insurance Industry Agrees 38

UAD 3.6 Erases My Legal Defenses: Insurance Industry Agrees

The insurance industry just verified the erasure of my legal defenses under UAD 3.6. The corporate apologists and tech insiders have spent weeks trying to downplay the Certification 25 confidentiality crisis. They’ve lined up to tell independent appraisers that the new language is just a passive weather report, a routine disclosure, or an innocent acknowledgement of a reality that has existed for many years. But the ultimate reality check just arrived from the very people who calculate risk for a living, and it completely blows the corporate defense strategy out of the water. Isaac Peck, Publisher of Working RE Magazine...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / E&O / Errors & Omissions

Cert 25 Dilemma: TAF Abdicates Its Role as Ethics Arbiter 84

Cert 25 Dilemma: TAF Abdicates Its Role as Ethics Arbiter

We finally have a direct written response from The Appraisal Foundation regarding the Cert 25 confidentiality crisis and it is a masterclass in bureaucratic buck passing. A peer recently contacted TAF to ask how appraisers can remain compliant with the USPAP Ethics Rule while signing a form that opens the floodgates for data distribution. TAF basically hid under their desks. They claimed they cannot give legal advice and told us that questions about Cert 25 are best suited for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since they built the form. Then they dropped this standard canned line to try and brush...

ACI / Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Software / Appraisers News

Certification 25 and the Quiet Breach of Appraiser Confidentiality 67

Certification 25 and the Quiet Breach of Appraiser Confidentiality

Certification 25 made me realize that my refusal to participate in UAD 3.6 was justified long before I even knew what was buried in its certifications. A peer sent me Phil Crawford’s new podcast episode this morning, and I opened it without thinking much of it because I had assumed his retirement from the show meant he was done weighing in on industry developments. I have been following the news and the chatter around 3.6, but I haven’t been preparing for it. I have not taken any UAD 3.6 classes, have not attended any seminars, have not tested the form,...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / The Appraisal Foundation / Trending

When Protected Becomes Pressure: Object by July 27 7

When ‘Protected’ Becomes Pressure: You Have Until July 27 to Object

The new fair‑housing course weaponizes protected characteristics to pressure appraisers into outcome‑driven valuation, directly contradicting USPAP’s prohibition on advocacy. The Fair Housing Course Is Training You to Break USPAP. You Have Until July 27 to Say So. The Appraiser Qualifications Board’s Second Exposure Draft keeps a required course that pressures new appraisers to advocate an outcome based on protected characteristics. That is not fair housing. It is not lawful. And you can still stop it — but the comment window closes July 27. Let me say it plainly. We are being pushed — through licensing law and federal fair-housing regulation...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / AQB / The Appraisal Foundation

The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code 17

The AMC Industry Won’t Be Toppled by Code

Call me when AI stops summarizing and starts suing, because until it drags the AMC industry into court, raids their coffers, and rewires the entire system they broke, it’s just another overhyped spectator in the plunder parade.  We’ve entered an era where more people are giving AI broader directives, asking bigger questions, and expecting deeper responses, only to receive yet another AI-generated summary. But what, exactly, is AI doing in response? That’s the real limitation of the tech. Right now, millions are spinning their wheels in digital circles, posing complex problems to a machine built to mimic intelligence. And when...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / The Appraisal Foundation

Appraisal Institute Scandal - Widespread Fraud Uncovered 92

Appraisal Institute Scandal – Widespread Fraud Uncovered

The Appraisal Institute is embroiled in yet another scandal, and this time it involves widespread fraud and cover-ups at the highest levels of the organization. Alissa Akins, a former director at AI, blew the whistle on a long-running scheme where the nonprofit knowingly misreported test scores to state regulators, potentially allowing unqualified appraisers to get licensed. When Akins tried to sound the alarm and fix the problems, she was met with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude from leadership and ultimately got fired in retaliation. It’s absolutely mind-boggling that an organization tasked with upholding standards and ethics in the appraisal...

AI / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News

Key Part of USPAP Not Available from TAF 14

Key Part of USPAP Not Available from TAF

this is a colossal failure on their part – to have a key document on BACKORDER until a month from now, or longer!  Appraisers, I have a print copy of the current USPAP, but need/want a PRINT copy of the AO/FAQ Reference Manual, which TAF decided to make into a separate document for this version at a cost of $75. I prefer the printed versions, rather than the PDF so I can read it and use a highlighter for key items. I went onto the TAF web site on July 17, 2024 to order the document, and found this: In...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisers News / The Appraisal Foundation / Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice

Obscure Federal Official Has Hatched ‘Sick Chicken’ in Housing Sector 18

Obscure Federal Official Has Hatched ‘Sick Chicken’ in Housing Sector

The case eventually found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it came to be known to the public as the “Sick Chicken Case”  It was the Great Depression’s bleakest year – 1933. At President Roosevelt’s urging, Congress passed the National Industrial Recovery Act, a New Deal bill that partially ceded lawmaking authority to private organizations and industry boards to develop codes of conduct that would then be enforced on citizens as binding law. The owners of poultry producer Schechter Poultry Corp. were indicted for violating the new private business code for the poultry industry. The chicken men lawyered...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee / Appraisers News / ASC

Recap of the 4th Appraisal Bias Hearing 11

Recap of the 4th ASC Appraisal Bias Hearing

On February 13th, 2024, the fourth ASC appraisal bias hearing took place. For those who were unable to attend, the video of the hearing has been included below. The hearing was a crucial event for the appraisal industry, and it is important for all appraisers to be aware of the discussions and topics addressed. The panel of witnesses included: David Bunton, President, The Appraisal Foundation E.C. Neelly IV, Executive Director, Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board Maureen Sweeney, Principal, Maureen Sweeney, Real Estate Appraiser Ltd. Melissa Tran, Director, Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board Jillian White, Chief Executive Officer, Appraisal Insights...

AMC / Appraisal / Appraisal Management Companies / Appraisal News / Appraisal Organizations / Appraisal Subcommittee