Mar 26, 2017
The AQB is out with its 3rd exposure draft. It is looking
more and more like the four year college degree is going to go
away, but what is going to replace it? Can an appraiser
really get certified without a mentor? We have Isaac Peck
from WorkingRE here to talk about it. His article on the
subject can be found here:
http://www.workingre.com/aqb-digs-in-college-degree-experience-requirements-to-change/
To let your voice be heard, send your thoughts to:
Email: aqbcomments@appraisalfoundation.org
or mail to: Appraiser Qualifications Board, The Appraisal
Foundation, 1155 15th Street, NW, Suite 1111, Washington, DC 20005
before May 12.
A degree in P.E. or Art History does not make one a more competent appraiser. There are very few college degrees that are directly relatable to the appraisal profession. We all know excellent, ethical, productive appraisers who do not have degrees. (I have a General Certification with 34 years as an appraiser. When I started, all you needed was a Real Estate Salesman License). From a practical standpoint, you need what most careers need - specific training and specialized education. I don't care what you want to label it - job, career, industry or profession. They are all the same except in the mind of the beholder. Can anyone truthfully say that a college degree makes it more likely that you are honest, or a critical thinker, or even a well-rounded individual? Appraisal education is worth 10X any college class in French or South American history to provide rational, supportable, and credible valuation services. The ability to punish and weed out bad appraisers is greater than ever. Oversight and review of appraisals is greater than ever. Our profession is primarily one of ethics and special training - no more, no less.
This all sounds like the training manual for the next wave of form fillers. When requirements got tougher, appraisals got better. Now this can all just get thrown away and our vocation can go back to being the easiest target when the fraud hits the fan the next time around... imagine that everybody is sitting in front of Congress like last time but the banks have their $5k hour lawyers and all of their documentation and all that we have is a 150 hour class that is now in lieu of 2500 hours with a bunch of people who would rather nit pick each other than get along.
It sounds like these requirements are being pushed by people around the vocation more than people in it. More appraisers means more supply and cheaper forms filled out for the banks. More insurance policies for insurers or software subscriptions for the software companies. I don't understand how this helps the current group of appraisers at all.
If fees start to go down in three or four years, after this all has time to settle out, then look right here for the place where it started. If blame gets put on the appraisal vocation after the next round of banks getting greed, then look right here for where it started.
Anybody who calls this an industry or profession is dead wrong. There are professionals who do appraisals, but when not everybody is a professional, then it is not a profession.