As a residential appraiser and designated member of the Appraisal Institute I feel ignored and not represented whatsoever by the AI. Does anyone else feel this way? Are my feelings unfounded? What are they doing with my dues to help me in a real way? A way that impacts my business for real?
Over the years, I have read pages of updates and things people have posted when one questions the residential membership and some of it is Washington mumbo jumbo blah, blah, blah that seems to have no real impact on an independent residential appraiser on the street each day and other stuff seems geared toward education, which one can still take being non-designated anyway.
The reality is that 90% of my work in Philly Metro is GSE. There is no real way around that and I think for most independent residential appraisers this is also the case. The volume is non-GSE work just is not there. So what is the AI doing to help us? Am I missing something? It is possible AI is in fact advocating and doing a lot for us independent residential appraisers and I am just not aware of it because I am engrossed on my two businesses I run each day, raising 3 kids, etc..
Am I the only designated member that feels this way? Is this an unfounded perception?
I am having a hard time getting past my perception that the AI did nothing to stem the stranglehold of the AMC business model on residential lending that rewards fast and cheap over experience and diligence. Not that they could stop it, but at least do or say something. And not just a one-time blurb in some publication no one reads anyway – I’m talking about a real initiative. Is this just my perception and not reality? Is the AI advocating for us residential people in terms of any of the other issues we are facing right now - racism - push for more appraisers to enter an already saturated profession, watering down of requirements, ...
I am still wrestling with the idea of resigning my designation after 10+/- years before paying my dues this year. It seems to just be resume filler at this point. I would probably drop down to be an affiliate member or something instead where I wouldn’t have to part with just over a grand each year. I am at the point in my life where many major expenses are in my near future and really have to account for each dollar spent and I am not sure I see the ROI here.
I spent so much time and effort getting the designation that I really want to be sure I am correctly informed before making a decision. I do not want to have any regrets. Maybe AI is in fact doing a lot for me behind the scenes and I just do not see it – I really don’t know. Everything I read from AI is either over my head as I am not political at all or simply has nothing to do with my residential practice.
When it comes to residential appraisal the AI has its head in the sand. It doesn't know s**** about residential and has a team of dummies to keep it that way.
In fact, I would say they can barely keep their head above the water when it comes to commercial.
If somebody like Trump were running the AI, although an erudite scholar version of Trump who knows math and data mining inside and out, it would be much different story.
The AI is an ancient institution based on people who make a living scratching each others back. You might say its whole purpose is to feed MAI appraisers who teach out-of-date courses based on faulty methodology.
I tell you the real problem, is that the methodology they teach for residential just doesn't work in so many cases. The smarter appraisers there know that, and have kind of given up on making any sense of the morass of problems in residential appraisal. They teach this standard methodology that floats simply because almost no one else is aware that it is s****.
So, they are disinterested in residential appraisal because it is a morass of problems they are better off keeping as much distance from as possible.
--- It won't do you any good at all to complain about this. It is what it is.
[OK. there are some good books from the AI, such as some of Harrington's texts that have good tips. But even Harrington can't progress beyond a certain point, as if stopped by a certain threshold of complexity in the logic and mathematics. But, relatively speaking, he is one of the best authors they have. And to be honest, maybe they know more than they write, but simply assume their audience is too limited in intelligence to push beyond a certain point. I don't know what I don't know. Yet, if that were the case, they could still manage to write a few lucid articles for the smarter appraisers. And, I don't see that. But, well one could argue, that they don't do that because they fear it would cause problems on various fronts. Well if the latter is the case, they are to blame for the situation. ]
