American Appraiser Returning Home - Where is there volume?

[lmketch]

Hi everyone,

I'm an American who has spent the past 14 years living and working as a residential appraiser in Canada. I hold the CRA designation through the Appraisal Institute of Canada, with experience focused on residential 1–4 unit properties, including standard residential and a fair amount of rural and non-standard work — outbuildings, properties without close comparables.

I'm planning my return to the US and want to get licensed and working here. I'm not locked into a particular state, which is actually the question I'm hoping the forum can help me answer.

I've done some research on where appraiser supply is thinnest — North Dakota, South Dakota, rural South Carolina, parts of Oregon and Idaho keep coming up. But data only tells part of the story. What I'd really like to hear from practitioners on the ground is:

Where are you actually turning work away, or seeing turnaround times stretch out?

Are there markets where lenders are regularly struggling to find coverage, not just complaining about AMC fees?


I'm not interested in dropping into a saturated metro market. My experience is in rural and semi-rural residential work, and that's where I'd want to build a practice. Happy to cover territory.

Appreciate any insights — this forum has been one of the best resources I've found for getting past the headline numbers and into what's actually happening on the ground.

Thanks in advance.

LK

 

[Alsie35]

There is something you may not be fully aware of up in the Frozen North. It's sort of a Good News/Bad News scenario.

The Good news: Half of the experienced appraisers nationwide will retire as of Nov 2. That's a STAGGERING % due to the average age of US appraisers being around 55 - my guess is 40% of the total number of appraisers will quit. Could be more, could be less.

The Bad News: The UAD 3.6 is being implemented by Fannie/Freddie for ALL GSE loans on Nov 2. What is the UAD 3.6? Well, it's NOT a "Form" (so they tell us) ... it's sort of an ... an ...



Think: Fees pretty much unchanged, every single appraisal taking 3X more time to inspect and type, and mindless drop-down checkboxes reaching (almost) to infinity because ... it's a "DYNAMIC FORM" you see, that took the bureaucrats 8 YEARS to "design", created by people who wouldn't know how to appraise their own Arse-Whole ...

So you're kind of volunteering to "Jump Into the Whirring Blades" of the UAD 3.6 "Blender" here. Because your type of (already) super-difficult rural properties to appraise are about to become ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more DIFFICULT.

Think I'm exaggerating? Spend some time reading all of the threads dealing with the UAD 3.6 Abomination that have posted on the AF over the past year.

You're not gonna like my advice, but here goes: Find another way to make a living. Or choose to become a mind-numbed "Monkey Working for 3.6 Abomination Peanuts"

The Nov 2 "Independent Appraiser Extinction Event" doesn't leave you much other choice. The profitable days of this model are over....

 

[J Grant]

There is something you may not be fully aware of up in the Frozen North. It's sort of a Good News/Bad News scenario.

The Good news: Half of the experienced appraisers nationwide will retire as of Nov 2. That's a STAGGERING % due to the average age of US appraisers being around 55 - my guess is 40% of the total numbers. Could be more, could be less.

The Bad News: The UAD 3.6 is being implemented by Fannie/Freddie for ALL GSE loans on Nov 2. What is the UAD 3.6? Well, it's NOT a "Form" (so they tell us) ... it's sort of an ... an ...

View attachment 111233

Think: Fees pretty much unchanged, every single appraisal taking 3X more time to inspect and type, and mindless drop-down checkboxes reaching (almost) to infinity because ... it's a "DYNAMIC FORM" you see, that took the bureaucrats 8 YEARS to "design", done by people who wouldn't know how to appraiser their own Arse-Whole ...

So you're kind of volunteering to "Jump Into the Whirring Blades" of the UAD 3.6 "Blender" here. Because your type of (already) super-difficult rural properties to appraise are about to become ORDES OF MAGNITUDE more DIFFICULT.

Think I'm exaggerating? Spend some time reading all of the threads dealing with the UAD 3.6 Abomination that have posted on the AF over the past year.

You're not gonna like my advice, but here goes: Find another way to make a living. Or choose to become a mind-numbed "Monkey Working for 3.6 Abomination Peanuts"

You can not promise that 40% will retire just from your poll here. Most estimate around 20% might retire or not accept work due to 3.6. That is not enough to matter much since WAIVERS have replaced around 30% of appraisal volume.

 

[James Micozzi]

There is something you may not be fully aware of up in the Frozen North. It's sort of a Good News/Bad News scenario.

The Good news: Half of the experienced appraisers nationwide will retire as of Nov 2. That's a STAGGERING % due to the average age of US appraisers being around 55 - my guess is 40% of the total number of appraisers will quit. Could be more, could be less.

The Bad News: The UAD 3.6 is being implemented by Fannie/Freddie for ALL GSE loans on Nov 2. What is the UAD 3.6? Well, it's NOT a "Form" (so they tell us) ... it's sort of an ... an ...

View attachment 111233

Think: Fees pretty much unchanged, every single appraisal taking 3X more time to inspect and type, and mindless drop-down checkboxes reaching (almost) to infinity because ... it's a "DYNAMIC FORM" you see, that took the bureaucrats 8 YEARS to "design", created by people who wouldn't know how to appraise their own Arse-Whole ...

So you're kind of volunteering to "Jump Into the Whirring Blades" of the UAD 3.6 "Blender" here. Because your type of (already) super-difficult rural properties to appraise are about to become ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more DIFFICULT.

Think I'm exaggerating? Spend some time reading all of the threads dealing with the UAD 3.6 Abomination that have posted on the AF over the past year.

You're not gonna like my advice, but here goes: Find another way to make a living. Or choose to become a mind-numbed "Monkey Working for 3.6 Abomination Peanuts"

The Nov 2 "Independent Appraiser Extinction Event" doesn't leave you much other choice. The profitable days of this model are over....

I am calling BS on your statement that 40-50% the active appraisers will be retiring on November 2. Show me the proof. Oh, yeah, you can't.

 

[J Grant]

Hi everyone,

I'm an American who has spent the past 14 years living and working as a residential appraiser in Canada. I hold the CRA designation through the Appraisal Institute of Canada, with experience focused on residential 1–4 unit properties, including standard residential and a fair amount of rural and non-standard work — outbuildings, properties without close comparables.

I'm planning my return to the US and want to get licensed and working here. I'm not locked into a particular state, which is actually the question I'm hoping the forum can help me answer.

I've done some research on where appraiser supply is thinnest — North Dakota, South Dakota, rural South Carolina, parts of Oregon and Idaho keep coming up. But data only tells part of the story. What I'd really like to hear from practitioners on the ground is:

Where are you actually turning work away, or seeing turnaround times stretch out?

Are there markets where lenders are regularly struggling to find coverage, not just complaining about AMC fees?


I'm not interested in dropping into a saturated metro market. My experience is in rural and semi-rural residential work, and that's where I'd want to build a practice. Happy to cover territory.

Appreciate any insights — this forum has been one of the best resources I've found for getting past the headline numbers and into what's actually happening on the ground.

Thanks in advance.

LK

My personal expeirence is that the far western region of Palm Beach County, Florida, is desperate for appraisal coverage (or was, several years ago). The towns of Belle Glade and Pahokee and South Bay and surrounding areas. I live in Palm Beach County, but that western area is too far for me to drive. Parts of it are very rural, and other parts of it are economically depressed. Almost no appraiser who lives in the populated areas of Palm Beach County will go there on an assignment. Have to drive through miles of sugar cane fields on a two-lane highway with huge trucks going past.

Imo, the area is ripe for a future growth explosion (lets hope it is RE and not data centers )

IDK if you work for AMC's..I dislike them, but they do do give out a lot of the appraisal work in America, so you might want to contact the largest ones and ask which geo areas they're light on coverage in. Best of luck.

 

[Alsie35]

*SIGH* Reading Comprehension has always been in short supply around here ....

 

[Fernando]

It's a good time for newbie to work after Nov 2 if UAD 3.6 is implemented.
Old appraisers like me will have less use of cloning from UAD 2.6 (from my database of thousands of appraisals) and have to start over like all appraisers will have to do.
Problem is whether appraiser fees will increase enough to compensate the additional suffering we will have to endure.