NAR and Representation of Appraisers
As Real Estate Appraisers, we are encountering an assault on our profession from the GSE’s with the hybrid appraisal reports, the rollout of the new desktop product and with appraisal waivers. These junk reports and the waivers continue to undermine the public trust in our industry and leave the appraisers exposed to great risk and the consumers left holding the bag if their mortgage goes south. This impacts not just us, but the Real Estate profession as a whole, because if the public loses trust in the industry, we will all lose, not just the appraisers. As appraisers, we need a national voice to stand up and speak for us. We have the American Guild of Appraisers (AGA), but there are not enough members. Most appraisers are members of their local Real Estate Boards and in turn, members of National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). NAR has a very powerful voice, lobbyists and power because they represent a collective membership and advocate for them. As members of NAR, appraisers should be pressuring their local boards and NAR to stand up for them and to use their legislative connections, lobbyists and national platform to stand up against these products that endanger the public trust and negatively impact the very people that realtors and appraisers have vowed to protect.
Please use your voice and encourage others to reach out to their local boards and to their state and national NAR leadership and demand that they start speaking up and representing us. Most members pay a significant amount of money each year for board membership (I pay $600 a year to belong) and we should expect and demand that NAR start speaking up on our behalf.
NAR has a Real Property Valuation Committee. The RPVC, AGA and our local boards would be a great place to start. We should be using our collective voices with this group to pressure NAR to take a stand. We need to step up and get involved with our local boards, reach out to our local and national NAR group and get involved with the AGA and start fighting for the representation, voice and action. We need to fight for the future of our profession.
Thank you!!!
Agree. Pressuring NAR & our local boards is a good place to start. Thank you Kathleen!
Most realtors I know would rather appraisers not be a part of the process at all. So we’re not going to get any assistance from them. My local realtor board won’t even consider getting rid of the 3/4 bath option on the MLS. They call a shower in a bathroom a 3/4 bath instead of a tub enclosure in a bathroom making it a full bath. Why? Because a local once-NASA guy came up with the idea. Ridiculous. No. Realtor’s do NOT want our input.
We don’t need their permission. We pay dues to the board and deserve representation. One person telling the board something needs to change may not get a response, but hundreds with the same message would. Ask your Appraiser colleagues to stand up with you. There is power in numbers and we should not be taking no for an answer!
This has gone on for decades and appraiser do not carry the same weight as realtors on the boards in this state. We’ve been blown off.
We get blown off because we allow them to blow us off. There is strength in numbers and if we all start talking, they can not just ignore us. Our money is just as good as the agents money.
Our political action committee is non existent. Realtors however hold all the power and the funding. We have no real voice.
I am an Appraiser and a Realtor. I will be doing my best to try and change that dynamic! If we don’t at least try we will get nowhere!
Realtors might fight against hybrids because they will likely kill some deals. They will never fight against waivers. They love those.
Great article. We will have to become a vocal force within the NAR and our State and Local Boards.
Heres an idea also, have the heads of each Appraiser Organization have a meeting and form a syndicate. A little muscle might help!
I get too much private work and high end appraisals to accept that sort of nonsense. I have never done a Hybrid appraisal nor would I ever care to do one. I did do one desktop through COVID, but it was just on MLS prior to and I had also been in the house 3 months prior to do a private appraisal. Therefore, I did have enough knowledge of the property to appraise through a desktop. If all appraiser just say “NO” to these sort of jobs, they will have to shut it down. It is a HUGE liability for us as it is our license on the line and we are suppose to depend upon a third party to send us credible information. Just say “NO” to hybrids and desktops and the problem will be solved.
Thanks for the article. Here are a couple of links you all might wish to follow:
https://www.nar.realtor/appraisal-valuation
https://www.nar.realtor/washington-report/nar-comment-to-fhfa-on-appraisals – from that link:
“In general, NAR believes a traditional, in-person appraisal continues to provide the most comprehensive and thorough opinion of value for a real estate transaction. NAR also supports innovation in the valuation field and allowances for various forms of appraisal type depending on the need of transaction. Continued work in improving the valuation field must ensure fair and sound appraisal practices and processes.”
There is an ongoing effort to encourage state associations of REALTORS to create appraisal or valuation committees with the purpose of providing REALTOR-Appraiser members a means to advance issues of interest to a state public policy committee or board of directors for action. State groups may also play a role in education of agents about the appraisal process and specific requirements.
Yeah, great comments Francois. Great article from Kathleen too.
I’m continuing to work this effort on an individual basis when I can carve out such a conversational opportunity with realty agents. Sadly the conversation usually starts with just explaining what an amc is and how they operate in a predatory manner. I try and inform agents of the importance of understanding if any specific lender uses amc services or not, to verify the person inspecting is actually licensed, to avoid allowing appraisers to use scheduling services and speak with them in person, etc. These days I deal with agents complaining to my lenders that I bothered them with phone calls to set up an inspection and did not use the third party scheduling services. Some better focused NAR education to realty agents could go a long way. One suggestion may be to turn off showing availability once contracts are confirmed and to require as a term of the sale that only a licensed appraiser inspect properties for the valuation service. The amc’s have a leg up via a lax regulatory structure but agents can supersede that with contractual terms. I also make a point of informing agents that accepting relaxed inspector requirements is not a smart way to judge and weigh purchase offers.
Related: https://www.nar.realtor/appraisal-valuation/benefits-for-appraiser-members
https://www.appraisersguild.org/about_us.php
https://cdn.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/reports/2017/2017-03-appraiser-trends-survey-03-16-2017.pdf
Thank you.
The problem with local regulatory boards and local appraisal groups is they’ve often been co opted by amc interests. Even the NAR appraiser report illustrated how bank owned amc’s pay far less than lenders. Yet another admission that the refusal to abide the original spirit of Dodd Frank on Reg Z Appraiser Independence and C&R customary and reasonable billing has created negative systemic consequences which extend beyond the appraisal industry itself. If anyone examining real estate issues needs someone to blame, look no further than the unnecessary over bearing amc middle managers.
Not much will be brought into balance until amc’s bill for their services separately. Amc’s are possible the best example of antiwork possible. They stole the entirety of our industries potential and rather than give some of it back, will see even more dramatic industry restriction, total work product re organization, just so they can continue to rake off the top and expand. The amc’s model at this point has become to replace licensed appraisers entirely. Consumer safety be damned, the unnecessary middle managers don’t care. As long as appraisers refuse to mobilize on the point of mandated separated billing with amc’s things will just get worse.
Next time you’re meeting with an agent have a conversation with them about success ratios with appraisal service. They’ll say it’s hit and miss. I’ve had conversations of some lenders pushing such faulty appraisal service that agents say it’s as good as a coin flip if some deals work out. And it’s always an amc focused lender whom allows the lowest priced appraiser operating under the most challenging strict terms. When I started nearly 20 years ago the appraisal deadline was a week or two before closing and the appraisal fee was by way of group surveys for what the majority of all appraisers in the area would be willing to accept. We hired. We trained. Nobody was pilfering our income. It does not work that way anymore.