Appraisers' Free Forum

Hi, I am out here in Alton hanging out before class starts tomorrow. Just wondering if any of you all are going to be attending? It would be fun to meet up with some fellow forum addicts.

Sorry CL - late notice and a little out of my area - I think I'll stay here where the sun is shining and the temps are moderate - besides, I've got all the CE I need (plus excess) - have fun tomorrow.

Serena,

Post back about the quality of the courses.

TC

Corporate Lackey wrote:So far it is ranks up towards the top of the worst course I have ever taken.

I was afraid of that. All style, no substance, guess I'll pass on it and not even bother with getting a "review" designation.


TC

So far the course has focused almost exclusively on where appraisers screw up on the Cost Approach. Although I happen to like the CA, I do not think the crux of problems in the appraisals I see come from the CA or really directly tie back to it. Since the elimination of the CA requirement from Fannie, I hardly see them anymore as it is.

I only do the CA on new construction. Duh. I've never felt the CA proved much of anything, just helped the insurance agent. :)

TC

If you can't learn anything, TEACH!
If you can't do that, just relax and have a vacation...you deserve it!

The course was better the second day. The over reliance on the cost approach is erroneous though, because as reviewers we see it rarely, and if done, usually backed into.

The teacher meant well and the course was "okay" but was not worth the time and effort and money it took to attend. That said, if the 2-day offering comes to your local area (2-3 hour drive would be worth it) then it is worth attending, simply from the standpoint of seeing examples of inconsistencies that are pretty glaring.

I just finished writing my demonstration appraisal review and will be interested to see if I passed the course. Since my full time job is reviewing, and I write rather extensively, it wasn't difficult. But as the demonstration required this reliance on the cost approach, who knows, I may not pass (guess it depends if the graders are reading my negative comments here).

It is always good to take education offerings that are outside of your comfort zone, simply to open your eyes to new ideas, whether in the end you accept them or not. Also always good for me to get the hell out of Dodge for a few days!!!

Cheers all

I took that course the last 2 days and I thought it was better than any other review class I have ever taken. Beth (the instructor) acknowledged that, because it is a new course, there were some wrinkles in the material but she did a great job of ironing them out.

The interesting thing is that we have used that method of adjusting for GLA for years now and were always the recipient of jokes from our peers because of it :)

All in all, I think it is an excellent course and highly recommend it. Even if you have no desire to ever do a review it may make you rethink a few things about your own reports.

I too have used that method of double checking to see if my adjustments were reasonable (but only on GLA, not on the garage, basement, etc.) for years, but since 90% or more of the appraisals I see as a reviewer do not contain the cost approach, I still contend the over reliance is erroneous.

That said, Beth was in the class I took and it was likely the first course she taught on reviewing. I assume she did a good job, and as in most classes, presentation and communication with the participants goes a long way to making the course enjoyable or hellish.

I have taken other review courses, and this was about equal. Being a full time reviewer, I thought some of the examples where a little silly, because no one is going to get bent out of shape over a 2% variance in value difference between the appraisal and what can be abstracted from the cost approach (one of our course examples).

Glad you liked it. I think it was a good break from work.

So far the course has focused almost exclusively on where appraisers screw up on the Cost Approach.

I have been pointing out the the cost approach is a big screw up for years.

just helped the insurance agent. :)

and the lender. Cost is a good measure for what has to be insured.

Corporate Lackey wrote:So far it is ranks up towards the top of the worst course I have ever taken.

I'm pretty sure it would not even hold a candle to the course I took a couple of years ago on drug impacted properties. It was advertised as a "how to" for appraisers facing properties where illegal drugs have been manufactured. I expected some discussion of how to recognize the effects and how to adjust for these things in an appraisal.

Instead, it was two undercover cops from KC bragging about all the dirty deeds they have done and all the busts they have made. There was only a small amount of info about how to recognize drug impacted properties. Mostly it was a three-hour long advertisement for the war on drugs. What a joke.

We need to keep the war on drugs, all right. If all these guys were unemployed it would have a definite impact on the economy since they do not have any other apparent skills.

Steve Owen wrote:We need to keep the war on drugs, all right. If all these guys were unemployed it would have a definite impact on the economy since they do not have any other apparent skills.

The Matt Damon character in the move The Departed has a line - I'll never lose my job. If crime stops, I'll just start arresting innocent people.

Lackey,
I think it would be difficult to teach review. Other than, look for discreancies, what would you say? Conveying ideas about proportionality and relevance seem so situational, so mentoring-intense, that I would have trouble putting it in outline form for a syllabus.

I think it might be fun to teach actually and the best way would be through examples that the participants in class could work through (in a class I taught I used to use "what not to do" examples, much to everyone's amusement). That said, I haven't tried to put together a class on just reviewing, and I would also be hesitant to teach the unethical how to get around the system any more than they already know how to do.

The only thing I can say really is the common sense approach of qualitative analysis as a primary tool for reviewing. Obviously if a superior "appearing" comp sold for less than the appraisal's opinion of value, I would be looking for some verbiage as to why....