End the constant ‘busy work’ USPAP updates. End the catering to lenders or ‘advisory’ councils. Appraisers are NOT supposed to be any of the things being demanded of us today EXCEPT good appraisers!… Return to a USPAP version (any version) that actually protected the Public Trust. That would be any version PRIOR to the revision of the terms appraisers and appraisals to “valuation & evaluators” (a term used only or at least primarily by the accounting profession historically). Dissolve The Appraisal Foundation (TAF). They effectively achieved the congressional objective mandated in ’89 long ago. Everything since has been the administrative...
What could lure these successful 'professionals' from their chosen careers? Fellow appraisers, I just received an advertisement for a company that wants to pay ‘me’ $50.00 an hour to do desktop appraisals. Actually, probably not me, because they prefer a degree. Now, my routine hourly rate for complex appraisal assignments is $150 ($500 for EW and something variable in between for pretty much everything else). So they are asking me to take a cut of 2/3… assuming I could meet their degree requirement “preference”. It got me thinking. I cannot always command my hourly rate for 8 hours a day,...
Sometimes the only substitute for experience, …is more experience. Dear Mr. Traynor: The American Guild of Appraisers has long been on record in opposition to the original requirement for a college degree to become any level of real estate appraiser. This was never a requirement of Congress at all, but rather one developed by the AQB over time. While we are pleased AQB has abandoned the college degree at the licensed and residential certification levels, we are disappointed to see it is still being proposed at the general certified level. We repeat for the record; there is nothing involved in...
Computers eliminating “boots on the ground” residential appraisers. An historian once quipped, “I cannot predict the future, but give me six months and I’ll tell you why it was inevitable.” Residential appraisers who work in the mortgage arena began to experience the sea change when UAD arrived amongst much fanfare in September of 2011. Years of portals, hard-stops, and overrides have settled into an uneasy routine. We’ve already seen changes to closing docs as a result of TRID (TILA RESPA Integrated Disclosures). That adventure began in November 2013. Washington DC, never content to maintain any level of consistency has already...
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...
