Ok. Now somewhat rested and in between researching my appointments for today, let’s get into Day 3 CE from Val Expo:
The day started off with Paula Konikoff from the Appraisal Institute plugging their community of appraisers and the benefits of being a part. Even though she called it out as an “infomercial”, it was great to hear, as my last few years have just been head down training or working towards my Certified Residential license, and I’ve not had the bandwidth to join any appraisal organization. A great point from the prior day that ties in, is that designation and proof you are part of a knowledge community is helpful in proving you are an expert if you are trying to be an expert witness.
The next panel was AI Pros and Cons, where it seemed that most everyone on stage was completely bought into the AI hype machine, though I appreciated Jeff Bradford’s conservative approach to utilizing AI (he knows his stuff and made good points bout how deep learning models are more reliable than generative AI). No talk of how appraisers can specifically utilize the technology, just that we should mess around with it and see what works for us.
I will be honest about the pre lunch session on Scope of Work/ How to Reduce Revision Requests, I was trying to keep my attention, but it was a bit so/so. Most of the revision requests I get are the reader not finding the place I’ve already talked about something, so with 3.6 having commentary right next to the work, I kinda checked out because the advice they were giving was pretty straightforward if you are a competent appraiser. With 3.6 having a place in the grid section where you can put comps you considered but did not use (plus a space for commentary why), that should also reduce revision requests around comps, so again, I just checked out cause I was hungry, haha
Post lunch session was How AI Agents are Replacing Manual Labor in Mortgage Ops. Did not seem geared towards appraisers at first and perhaps more of the others represented in the crowd, but a run through of possibilities of use of AI in the mortgage process. I did ask a question of if AI is good enough to automate the “front office” duties, and one of the speakers said yes, and that it could even handle quoting appraisals and handling customer service needs. Now, he did not mention any specifics, as it seems most of those directly tied to AI are full in on the kool-aid and just want you to use their solution (as the person answering was from the organization that sponsored the stage, Alpha7x). All around Ok, but nothing substantial I got from it other than being asked to jump on the hype train
The session on Manufactured homes was great, and pretty straightforward. Why anyone would be afraid of doing manufactured work is crazy to me, and enjoyed that they showed what it will kind of look like in the new report structure, if I am remembering correctly. Great discussion of depreciation of Manuf homes even before they are set, as the transport of it does introduce wear and tear on the house, doubly so if it gets moved again.
Last session of worth was about supporting adjustments, which did include a link to Freddie’s Market Conditions Analysis Industry Resources pdf, which they just released last month. It gives links to tools for adjustments, as well as a list of Home Price Indexes for whatever data needs that satisfies for you. Again, straightforward. Show your work and don’t just rely on the math to tell the story of the data.
I did not care for the final panel “Navigating a Strong Future for Appraisers in an AI world”, as it felt like another reiteration of “use AI, it we won’t tell you how to apply it specifically” from a guy who benefits from more investment into AI in this space.
Didn’t help that most of us were chomping at the bit to get home either. The other days were more helpful in “navigating a strong future” as it actually helped me diversify my book of business or clued me into different avenues to sell my services; This was just window dressing that did not meaningfully talk about a strong future for appraisers and does not push back against the possibility that AI might not be the silver bullet everyone thinks it is.
Overall, interesting set of panels this year, and interested to see what the big topics will become this next year!
