Appraiser Qualifications Board - Appraisers Blogs

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

Guest Author — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:30:25 +0000

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...

Bias Accusation Collapses as HUD Clears the Appraiser HUD just confirmed what the appraisal showed from day one: the accusation never had a pulse. If you read the…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
Appraisers Freed from DEI Propaganda This bold move immediately resulted in the removal of all appraisal bias propaganda from the official whitehouse.gov website. With a…

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Should Property Data Collectors Be Licensed?

Peter Christensen — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 13:30:02 +0000

Should “property data collectors” who inspect properties and provide information to real estate appraisers be licensed by state appraiser boards? In Mississippi, a bill has been introduced this week to require exactly that. The legislator behind the bill happens to be an appraiser. HB1663 would establish a license category for property data collectors under the jurisdiction of the Mississippi Real Estate Appraisal Board. A property data collector would be defined as an individual or company, who is not a licensed appraiser and “who collects, either physically, virtually, or digitally, any information on real property, and produces such information to a...

AMC Hires a Convicted Felon as Property Data Collector The recent case of Paschal Uchendu, a convicted felon awaiting sentencing for orchestrating a $1.2 million armed robbery of a…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
West Virginia Appraisal Board Scheme The Doomed Quest to Reform a corrupt West Virginia Licensing Board “Board members earn money working for a law firm…

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PAREA Program & Its Negative Impact on Diversity

Guest Author — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 12:30:04 +0000

The study also found that the PAREA program is not as effective in providing a more accessible pathway to licensure as the traditional apprenticeship model. Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) is a program that aims to revolutionize the real estate industry by increasing the number of appraisers. However, after listening to the Appraisal Institute speaker at yesterdays board meeting it quickly became evident that this initiative is a complete failure. You cannot start PAREA until you have received all your real estate appraisal education. 94 hours = $1,700 per McKissock Appraisal Institute speaker said that most AMC’s/banks won’t...

The PAREA Program: Costly Promises, Empty Support The PAREA program markets itself as a shiny, mentor-free express lane to becoming a real estate appraiser, but its steep…
Federal Agency in Charge of Appraisers Having a federal agency in charge of appraisers will be a NIGHTMARE. Leave it to the states as it is…
Is the GSE's "Appraisal Modernization" Really Just… Mass Appraisal tend to exhibit a regressive nature... In the intricate landscape of real estate mortgage financing, the notion of…

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AQB Initial Fair Housing Course

AppraisersBlogs — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 12:30:54 +0000

Mandatory completion of an initial fair housing course lasting 7 hours by January 1st 2025, as well as 4 additional hours every renewal cycle thereafter. Recently, the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) has proposed new requirements for those looking to become an appraiser or renew their certification/license. These include mandatory completion of an initial fair housing course lasting seven hours by January 1st 2025, as well as four additional hours every renewal cycle thereafter if this becomes standard practice. The following is taken right out of the new exposure draft on real property appraiser qualifications criteria. “The core goal is to...

Truisms - Taxes, Death... and Bias Training ...other states will also modify their appraisal license renewal CE class requirements to include some form of anti-bias training... Folks,…
I've Retired & I'm So Glad I Did What we got, was 30+ years of complaints from the lenders and politicians who blamed appraisers for all of the…
Two Cheers for an 'Evolved' Beltway Entrepreneur...… We come not to bury David Bunton, the public figure, but to praise David Bunton, the evolved Beltway organism. Who…

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No End Date for Future Editions of USPAP

Dave Towne — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 12:30:23 +0000

Future editions of USPAP will have an effective start date but no end date. Folks, on Thursday August 11, 2022, the ASB/TAF announced the extension of the current USPAP to the end of 2023. Assuming that a ‘new’ USPAP is formally approved in time, the next issue of USPAP will become effective January 1, 2024. But here’s the interesting wrinkle about this, which I admit I missed in their 8/11/22 announcement: “How long is the current version of USPAP effective? With this announcement, the 2020-21 USPAP will now have an effective date through December 31, 2023. This is an additional...

TAF Charging for Misleading Classes From the organization that brought you the bat-shit crazy letter and the chickenshit letter, they are charging for classes that are misleading. ASC…
USPAP Absurdity From one of my appraiser colleagues in NYC on a McKissock class, taught by Dan Bradley, husband of Michelle Bradley…
County Assessors' Standards | AVM Final Rule Guidance County Assessors have the advantage of being able to calibrate their models specifically for one market, allowing for a more…

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2022 7hr USPAP Update Course

Dave Towne — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 12:30:08 +0000

Appraisers, if your license renews in 2022, you will need to take the ‘new’ USPAP 7hr Update course. See below. The Update class you have already taken for the 2020-21 book, which has been extended to Dec. 31, 2022, cannot be used for CE credit again. However, I’m somewhat confused as to the effective dates of this ‘new’ Update class. It says “2022-23” which implies it will be valid through the end of (or into?) 2023. But the ‘current’ USPAP is presently undergoing Exposure Drafts for the proposed changes, which will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2023. Normally, the Update...

Advisory Opinion 16, a Game Changer? The Appraisal Foundation has issued an exposure draft for Advisory Opinion (AO) 16. Advisory Opinion 16 is Fair Housing Laws:…
When ‘Protected’ Becomes Pressure: You Have Until… The new fair‑housing course weaponizes protected characteristics to pressure appraisers into outcome‑driven valuation, directly contradicting USPAP’s prohibition on advocacy. The…
The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…

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TAF Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee

Jonathan Miller — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 12:30:12 +0000

TAF president Dave Bunton has made it a point in the last two monthly newsletters to mention TAF created a “Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee” which is great if it actually accomplishes something. The Appraisal Foundation Board of Trustees added a Diversity and Inclusion Subcommittee in April of this year, one month before the death of George Floyd, which highlighted some of the inequities experienced by Black Americans. The thing is, the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) hasn’t had a minority member and only 3 women in decades of existence. I really hope that this subcommittee is more than just window-dressing. Adding...

Promoting False "Racist Appraiser" Narrative Some Lenders promoting false "racist appraiser" narrative to optimize profits via AVMs Like most businesses lenders want to optimize their…
Biased Appraisers? I Don't Think So To judge an entire profession by anecdotal evidence is equally both stupid and harmful... The entire emphasis was on "anecdotal…
Top DEI Bosses Have a Problem - Diversity The ranks of the new DEI bosses at the financial institutions are no more diverse than the appraisers their institutions…

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The Importance of Attending Live CE Classes

VaCAP Board — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 13:30:20 +0000

The most beneficial part of participating in live CE classes is what you learn from other professional appraisers attending… The Best Decision You Will Make in 2020! What was the one thing your parents answered your “Why” questions with that made you angry every time? You have probably said it to your own kids as well. “Because I said so” would get you every time. You knew you were never going to win that argument, whatever it was about. VaCAP is not going to tell you “Because I Said So”. But we are going to explain to you why you...

Are Appraisers Really Professional? 2019 is winding down with just one more day remaining. As we reflect on the past, the changes we have…
Bifurcation Policy Adopted By no means are we promoting bifurcated appraisal products... "Credible valuations of real property are critical to the health of…
Veterans Administration on Hybrid Appraisals See the announcement by the Veterans Administration basically telling lenders and appraisal management companies we are going to protect our…

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Should Appraisers Study Statistics?

George Dell — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 12:30:50 +0000

Yet what was (and still is) presented in appraiser education is the old inferential statistics. Difficult statistics. Convoluted statistics. Statistics for appraisers started to become a hot topic some 15+ years ago. I was more involved with the Appraisal Institute then, and often argued that with the changes in data sources — appraisers would have to learn to apply statistics. Around 2003, the AQB (Appraiser Qualifications Board) revised qualifying education to include the requirement for Finance, Statistics, and Valuation Modeling class. Although I was not solicited to write this class, I was put on the development team, which reviewed and suggested edits and improvements. The...

USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee…
Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process The story of this single mother's harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD's negligent oversight exposes deep flaws…

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AQB Qualifications Criteria Changes

Dave Towne — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 13:30:48 +0000

Folks, I wanted to wait to send info about this until the AQB actually published a document showing the actual ‘new’ Qualifications Criteria for Real Property Appraisers. When first announced a few days ago, no official document was posted – only a news release. These take effect May 1, 2018. See the attached 4 page PDF. Due to ‘states rights’ issues in 54 jurisdictions (states & territories), implementation may not actually happen on 5/01/18. The document says this: “Because state appraiser regulatory agencies are only required to adopt minimum AQB Criteria, it is crucial that candidates contact their state to determine if the state intends...

AQB Moving Like a Turtle Appraiser Qualification Board moving like a turtle in solving how to get more people into the appraisal profession. I recently…
Competition & Joe Above-Average The appraisal profession is in competition with other professions Ask any appraiser nowadays, and they can give you numerous details…
Experience Requirements Reduced Sometimes the only substitute for experience, ...is more experience. Dear Mr. Traynor: The American Guild of Appraisers has long been…

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Careless Order Takers?

Michael Ford — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 13:30:55 +0000

Appraisers were simply order takers… A friend that refers a lot of commercial work to me forwarded the following communications from an AMC. He’s been telling to ‘go away’ for some time now. This time he played along to see exactly what it is they are hustling. I’ve redacted my friends name and eliminated excessive line spacing and repetitive email signatures. I also bold highlighted references to John Brenan & AQB communications. Otherwise it’s as copied from my email. We’ve all heard enough about hybrids so you can either read the copied emails or skip them. It’s the article from...

Homeowner Rejects Hybrid Appraisal Appraiser Alert: Don’t Mess with a 4’ 10” Senior Citizen! Last week I called a borrower to schedule the appraisal appointment.…
Appraisers Pushing Back! Solidifi has taken the disrespect to another level... Appraisers Pushing Back Against AMC Bad Behavior! Appraisers have finally had enough…
Appraisers Need to Learn to Stop Being Doormats! Being a bad businessman is not an excuse not to pay me. Period. The borrower pays the AMC up front.…

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Hybrid Appraisal Products & Public Trust

Dave Towne — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 12:30:06 +0000

Are busy appraisers doing Hybrid Appraisal products? Appraisers, The article titled First American launches new appraisal solutions technology popped in my system Tuesday early morning as I was getting ready to park my slippers. This article touts another ‘major’ company’s effort to design and implement a new version of what’s become to be known as a Hybrid Appraisal product. These products are designed to have a real estate sales person do the on-site property observation and photos, which are then provided to an appraiser, who completes a USPAP compliant ‘desktop’ appraisal. The whole point of these Hybrid appraisal products is...

Hybrid Appraisals - Why They Are Impacting Appraisal… How hybrid appraisals may impact your future Appraisers, A day or so ago, I found out about the rebranding of…
Valligent New $40 Alternative Valuation Assignment Valligent, an AMC with ‘national’ presence, is soliciting appraisers to complete a new alternative valuation product on behalf of their…
Software Provider Conflict of Interest(s)? ACI software & “restricted appraisals” that suffer from schizophrenia... It’s been awhile since I reviewed or researched influences affecting products…

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AQB Proposes Alternative to College Degree Requirement

Isaac Peck — Thu, 19 May 2016 12:30:20 +0000

In a long-awaited and highly anticipated announcement, the Appraisers Qualifications Board (AQB) has just released an Exposure Draft (May 18) that indicates it intends to walk back the bachelor’s degree requirement for Certified Residential appraisers and more. The AQB also is proposing significant changes to appraiser experience requirements. An AQB Exposure Draft is issued in anticipation of implementing changes to the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria (Criteria), which is the set of education, experience, and examination requirements for appraisers to achieve a state license or certification. The AQB always sets a comment deadline and is committed to reading and considering...

The Decline of Appraisers The problem is not simply that too many appraisers are retiring. Very few appraisers are entering the profession. In Illinois,…
How to Make a Profession Disappear ...You can see how difficult to become a state certified appraiser. We are fairly near the end of the continuing…
College Degree Requirement is Flawed Why the 4-year college degree requirement is flawed and how to make the requirement work? Many, many years ago, my…

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AGA Open Letter Regarding Changes to the Criteria

Michael Ford — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 13:30:04 +0000

Request for appraiser input on current and future educational / experience requirements… The AGA sent the below letter to the AQB in response to their outreach asking for comments. Please write them and tell them YOUR views. If you agree with what we have said, then just copy it and add your name to it saying “we agree”. Or don’t copy it, and just say “We agree with the AGA letter”. If there are any significant parts you disagree with, then please ‘except’ those. If you have additional thoughts or suggestions for them (civil ones), feel free to add them....

USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…
It’s Time to Take Out the Junk: AMC Practices Exposed Appraisers have spent years carrying the weight of broken AMC practices, and this article pulls every one of those practices…
The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee…

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The Decline of Appraisers

Isaac Peck — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 13:30:04 +0000

The problem is not simply that too many appraisers are retiring. Very few appraisers are entering the profession. In Illinois, the drop in real estate appraiser trainee applications went from 1,231 in 2005 to only 55 in 2015. That’s an over 95 percent decline. This drastic reduction in new entrants is being seen in states across the country. Many appraisers welcome the shortage, which has already driven up fees in many areas. But many believe the celebration is shortsighted. A decline in the number of appraisers threatens the integrity of lending and undermines the stability of the real estate market…

Real Estate Appraisers...Who Are We? Appraisers...Who are we? With the current requirements to enter the profession of real estate appraisal, it is likely that who…
Uncovering Flaws in FHA Appraisal & Loan Review Process The story of this single mother's harrowing experience with a defective home purchase and HUD's negligent oversight exposes deep flaws…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…

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Number of Applications Tell a Story

IDFPR Board — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:30:42 +0000

Applications plummeted another 74% Recently the AQB held a public hearing in Washington DC regarding Alternative Experience Requirements and what to do about the anemic number of appraisers nationwide. I read their concept paper when it came out and I’ve read the testimony of those who submitted ideas. I didn’t attend and I didn’t offer up any written solutions. Back in 2005, I remember when everyone was so fired up about finally raising the bar, insomuch as formal education was concerned. They were going to make appraisers in the image of CPAs and lawyers. Four year degrees would be the...

Hire & Reverse the Mass Exodus of Appraisers If you are doing too much and not being paid enough, you are a PERFECT candidate to hire and train…
"Hiring of Trainees to Remain Slow" Shocking News? "Hiring of Trainees to Remain Slow" This is ‘Shocking News?’ According to a recent survey conducted by the Appraisal Institute,…
Why are Lenders not Allowing Trainee Appraisers? Appraisalbuzz recently posted a 'White Paper on Training the Next Generation of Appraisers. I thought it was a good enough…

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Calling on Residential Appraisers

Dave Towne — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 12:30:05 +0000

Calling on Licensed & Certified Residential Appraisers Appraisers, The Appraisal Foundation seeks candidates for its Boards. We need a diversity of ‘license types’ to serve on these Boards. Your service time and travel expenses are covered. I just completed an analysis for the current members on the Appraiser Qualifications Board. Individually, they are all nice and very qualified people, but they are ALL Certified General appraisers. In the US there are fewer CG’s than there are License or Certified Residential appraisers. The composition of the AQB has been largely dominated by CG’s for years. These are the folks who have mandated...

The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…
Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…
It’s Time to Take Out the Junk: AMC Practices Exposed Appraisers have spent years carrying the weight of broken AMC practices, and this article pulls every one of those practices…

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Appraiser Background Check Requirements

Dave Towne — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 12:30:01 +0000

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,...

Fannie Mae Filed a Complaint Against Me An appraiser shared the following with us which was posted on one of the appraisers’ groups. Fannie Mae filed a…
How U.S. Home Valuations Are Being Subverted At the crossroads of it all is a campaign to weaken or eliminate valuations... The nonprofit is now exploring ways…
AQB Initial Fair Housing Course Mandatory completion of an initial fair housing course lasting 7 hours by January 1st 2025, as well as 4 additional…

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AQB Proposed Background Checks Focus on ‘Public Trust’

AppraisersBlogs — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:30:23 +0000

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...

The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0” Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie…
How to Destroy the Appraisal Profession Anytime the government gets involved in an issue, it tends to have more adverse effects than positive ones. It makes…
When ‘Protected’ Becomes Pressure: You Have Until… The new fair‑housing course weaponizes protected characteristics to pressure appraisers into outcome‑driven valuation, directly contradicting USPAP’s prohibition on advocacy. The…

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Fannie Re-Evaluating Your Adjustments & VA Hiring Appraisers

Guest Author — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:30:54 +0000

Fannie Mae’s Murphy stated that over the past year, the GSE had been focusing on “quality” and “condition” ratings of comps used in multiple appraisals by the same appraiser and found many cases where the appraiser has changed the quality and/or condition ratings on the same comparable from appraisal to appraisal. Now, based on the examination of the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) data, Fannie Mae’s focus for the next 12 months will be on adjustments. The data indicates that many appraisers are not using...

The Great Debate on Appraisal Fees She included several different fee split examples indicating AMCs retained as much as 70 percent of the total appraisal fee…
How to Destroy the Appraisal Profession Anytime the government gets involved in an issue, it tends to have more adverse effects than positive ones. It makes…
USPAP’s Typical Buyer Standard in the Fair Housing Era The Irreconcilable Conflict Between USPAP's Typical Buyer Standard and the Current Fair Housing Compliance Regime. Retain this document as a…

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Appraiser Qualifications Board - Appraisers Blogs

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

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Should Property Data Collectors Be Licensed?

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