Call to Action
Three bills introduced concerning our profession…
Fellow Appraisers,
The 2018 Virginia General Assembly has begun and there are three bills that have been introduced concerning our profession. VaCAP is not behind any of these bills and we honestly do not know how they came about. We were truly blind-sided by them.
We ask that you contact your representatives and offer your support, opposition and suggestions. It is also a good idea to contact the committee members that will be discussing and voting on each of these bills. We will continue to follow the bills and alert you when they appear on the committee dockets.
You can locate your representatives here.
HB 1506 – This bill was introduced by Delegate Richard Bell. The bill changes the definition of appraisal management company and removes the independent contractor language. This bill will be discussed and voted on by the General Laws Committee. To contact members, click here.
See HBÂ 1506 here.
HB 1453 – This bill was introduced by Delegate Lee Ware. The bill changes the definition of evaluation. This bill will be discussed and voted on by the General Laws Committee. To contact members, click here.
See HB 1453 here.
SB 655 – This bill was introduced by Senator Jeremy McPike. This bill requires the AMC to disclose the fee charged to the consumer and caps their fee at 20%.
It should be pointed out that Virginia Statute currently requires the AMC to be paid by the lender, which we all know is not happening. As a suggestion to pass along to your representative, remove the portion of the bill that caps the AMC fee and replace it with a requirement the AMC hold consumer funds for appraisal services in an escrow account. This bill will be discussed and voted on by the General Laws and Technology Committee. To find members, click here.
See SB 655 here.
As we are notified when these bills will be on the docket of the committees, we will pass along this information and request all appraisers attend and voice your opinions and suggestions at the committee meetings.
Thank you for supporting VaCAP!
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I’m sure the Appraisal Institute will fully support ANY bill REVAA introduces and the hell with the residential appraiser.
Not sure why our government has a need to change the definition of “evaluation”. There is evaluation and valuation, but with this change it appears to make these words the same…. Am I reading this right?
David, first there was Opinion of Market Value in a Real Estate APPRAISAL; then there was an ESTIMATE of Market Value in an appraisal or Evaluation. Now we are back to developing credibly supported opinions of value as “valuators.
“TAF is probably unaware of it, but I’m certified as a Real Estate Appraiser – not as a business valuator which is where the valuator terminology came from.
In any case, this particular change is to ‘bless’ evaluations as credible appraisal ‘types’ even though most are pretty poorly stated restricted reports.
Think of it as creating rules that will be as clear as mud so that even though you and I can technically do them (assuming we comply with USPAP SR1 and SR2) and Preamble, etc.; lenders will still have ease and convenience in designing their own inherently non compliant forms, setting ultra low fees, claiming the forms are USPAP compliant and leaving the burden for compliance ambiguously buried in the small print.
This is just another non public ‘advantage’ of having behind the scenes state regulators lobbying through AARO; or other special interests modifying our operating rules on a state by state basis.
I’m still waiting for verbiage that says in effect “USPAP shall be applied in all federally regulated transactions at all times unless you reside in a state with a vowel in its name; OR it is a cloudy day at the time of inspection, and the appraiser is not wearing shoes with leather soles; or where it is inconvenient for the lender and loan officers involved in which case no meaningful standards need be followed.”
“The primary objective the AQB is to promote and maintain public trust in the appraisal profession”. So I guess all these changes will put the AQB out of business since every other organization is doing its best to reduce the public trust and make it easier and cheaper for lenders to make loans and pass the risk and liability off to an investor or the tax payers all while they are charging every fee they can to make money doing it. When did we fall into the Twilight Zone???
They certainly SHOULD go out of business-or at least get out of anything having to do with American Real Estate Appraisal. Is there ANYTHING that they have done positively isay the past 15 years that actually promoted or preserved public trust? Even IVS is a farce!
They have joined the special interests. Think about it. Why else redefine “Evaluation”? Some states and IA all say evaluations aren’t appraisals. If that’s the case, then even the term is outside TAFs mandate.
Interesting that CoreLogic had their employee appointed to Board of Trustees last time around by Sponsors Committee.