Appraisal Articles

Can you believe it?

It has been so busy that it reminds me of the refinance boom of 2003, despite me charging more...

Can you believe it?

On occasion I teach prelicensing appraisal classes and it seems to me that more people are hoping to become appraisers than ever before… I am not sure that it isn’t because the rules are changing in 2008, but I would hope that they want to become appraisers because the appraisal profession is becoming a more recognized and appreciated occupation.

Some appraisers would say that we should not keep teaching prelicensing to new appraisers, that the market is already flooded with trainees that no one can or will supervise. I say that without these new appraisers, our profession will have a huge gap in about 10 to 15 years. The average age of the appraiser right now is about 50. This is not a bad statistic, one would hope that experience and wisdom would be a good factor that went along age. However it is an aging statistic, in that 10-15 years from now, some of those people appraising may not want to do it anymore, having reached an age where retirement is a possibility.

And some would say that on the flip side we need better supervisors. And I could not agree more. I think that as an appraiser, I learned a tremendous amount about appraisal when I had to teach it to another person. And I am not talking about teaching, which has taken me to another level all together, but I am talking about supervising. I think supervising makes you a better appraiser.

It is like the mother with a child, when reprimanded, it is not enough for the mother to say “because I said so,” she often has to tell the child “why”. When you supervise, I find that you have to explain the “why” and learn the rules and USPAP to support your decisions and be able to explain it not only to your trainee, but sometimes underwriters…

So I will keep teaching, and I encourage some of you to become supervisors… If you have an interesting story or mishap you would like share, please send me an email.

Amanda Rivera