Appraisers Leaving en Mass ?

[endurance rider]

Appraisers Leaving en Mass

I have been licensed in Washington since 1999 and will renew in 2010, however, I have done one appraisal this month and as the main support for my family, I will have to do something else or find other types of clients. I've already been contacting estate and divorce attorneys but have received minimal interest. My one remaining client does in house HELOC's. I am self-employed and am the only employee, my clients had been weeded through over the years, cutting out non-paying, high pressure lenders and had developed good relationships based on high quality appraisals and good turn times. They in turn paid their bills in a timely manner and didn't expect me to be unethical. I have signed on to one AMC, (AppraisalLoft) was offered 2 appraisals since May 1st. One was in another county that I am not familiar with, so turned it down. The second was in my town, but they wanted 40% of the fee and I also turned that one down. My state licensing agency has informed me that due the lower numbers of appraisers that are renewing, the Washington State licensing fees will be raised in 2010. I will be taking the classes to upgrade my license to certified, but not really all that optomistic that I can continue in this line of work and support a family of 4!

heidi

 

[Workbox]

Hello Heidi, welcome to the board, many understand and many have made some drastic changes also, but it is not only this business, but also many, many more that are also in the same predicament. But as for appraising, The way I see it, It's one bone and 10-20 dogs. Best wishes. Cheers.

 

[jnordquist]

I have 26 years to go, I plan on doing this for the next 26. years. The AVM is what worries me most.

JN

 

[xray1966]

Taken from the NH Real Estate Appraisal Board website
Appraisal Fees​

Regretfully, the Appraiser Board has been forced to acknowledge that we must increase fees for the first time since the Board was formed in 1990. The economic reality is that we are required by statute to raise 125% of our costs. Anyone who has visited our office in Concord knows that we operate under frugal circumstances. However, the number of appraisers is going down. Cyndi Hibbard, our Director, reports that 18 - 20% of appraisers up for renewal on December 31, 2008 failed to renew.
Therefore, please prepare yourself for changes. At this point it is most likely that fees will be increased accordingly:
Letters of Good Standing would increase from $10 to $25
Application Fees for new licenses, certificates and reciprocal licenses and certificates would increase from $100 to $150
A two year license would increase from $300 to $400

 

[Karl]

Taken from the NH Real Estate Appraisal Board website
Appraisal Fees​

Regretfully, the Appraiser Board has been forced to acknowledge that we must increase fees for the first time since the Board was formed in 1990. The economic reality is that we are required by statute to raise 125% of our costs. Anyone who has visited our office in Concord knows that we operate under frugal circumstances. However, the number of appraisers is going down. Cyndi Hibbard, our Director, reports that 18 - 20% of appraisers up for renewal on December 31, 2008 failed to renew.
Therefore, please prepare yourself for changes. At this point it is most likely that fees will be increased accordingly:
Letters of Good Standing would increase from $10 to $25
Application Fees for new licenses, certificates and reciprocal licenses and certificates would increase from $100 to $150
A two year license would increase from $300 to $400

I don't see any problem!! All you gatta do is reduce your fees & then you'll have more work !!! Which unfortunately many on here believe is MORE income!!

 

[Couch Potato]

Another thing to consider is the average age of the appraiser is +-50 years of age.

That's 15 more years of work!! That's a long time.

Now think how much and how fast AVM's has changed and progressed in the past seven years.

In 15 years, AVM's will have 80%+ of the market share for valuations. I have no inside info, but just from observing how data is being shared, the availability of data, the technology we have, and WHO OWNS AND HAS THE MONEY (BANKS, THE EAGLE) TO GET THINGS CHANGED, it's no hard to fathom.

AVM companies have no love for appraisers, and we are only in their way.

15? More like 25 more years of work as a low estimate. Few appraisers retire, they die with orders on the desk. A shortage of residential appraisers is not very likely anytime soon.

 

[Vetteman]

Taken from the NH Real Estate Appraisal Board website

Appraisal Fees​

Regretfully, the Appraiser Board has been forced to acknowledge that we must increase fees for the first time since the Board was formed in 1990. The economic reality is that we are required by statute to raise 125% of our costs. Anyone who has visited our office in Concord knows that we operate under frugal circumstances. However, the number of appraisers is going down. Cyndi Hibbard, our Director, reports that 18 - 20% of appraisers up for renewal on December 31, 2008 failed to renew.
Therefore, please prepare yourself for changes. At this point it is most likely that fees will be increased accordingly:
Letters of Good Standing would increase from $10 to $25
Application Fees for new licenses, certificates and reciprocal licenses and certificates would increase from $100 to $150
A two year license would increase from $300 to $400

If half the appraisers in Florida did not renew in 2010, I would be more than glad to pay double the normal renewal fee. Money well spent. Hell, if they would double the staff at FREAB and actually go after skippy, I would gladly pay double that. Time to clean out the hen house.

 

[valuequestor]

Colorado Numbers

I finally found the post I was looking for. This is information from Colorado Appraiser Mike Garrett. This is a 22.67% drop from 5/13/05 numbers.




Dramatic Drop in Number of Appraisers in Colorado
Someone asked about the total number of appraisers so I emailed my state board. They just got back to me with these numbers:

Here are the current numbers for appraisers as of September 1, 2009:

AR: 785
AL: 634
CR: 1453
CG: 1154

A total of 4,026

These were the numbers in May of 2005

May 13, 2005 report to Bd:

AR 1978
AL 1023
CR 1148
CG 1057

Total 5206

AR = Registered Appraiser (Trainee)
AL = Licensed Appraiser
CR = Certified Residential
CG = Certified General
__________________
An AQB Certified USPAP Instructor

 

[ElvisMiami]

Nothing like reading the Obituaries! Thanks for sharing. Now I feel good about our dying professional.

I guess we better "get busy living or get busy dying.

 

[DMZwerg]

I finally found the post I was looking for. This is information from Colorado Appraiser Mike Garrett. This is a 22.67% drop from 5/13/05 numbers.




Dramatic Drop in Number of Appraisers in Colorado
Someone asked about the total number of appraisers so I emailed my state board. They just got back to me with these numbers:

Here are the current numbers for appraisers as of September 1, 2009:

AR: 785
AL: 634
CR: 1453
CG: 1154

A total of 4,026

These were the numbers in May of 2005

May 13, 2005 report to Bd:

AR 1978
AL 1023
CR 1148
CG 1057

Total 5206

AR = Registered Appraiser (Trainee)
AL = Licensed Appraiser
CR = Certified Residential
CG = Certified General
__________________
An AQB Certified USPAP Instructor

OK, let the Mathematician at it ... again!

Delta AR = -1193
Delta AL = -389
Delta CR = +305
Delta CG = +97

Now then, as I stated before, the change is almost entirely fewer trainees entering the system. Trainees usually can't appraise on their own and probably have the highest fallout rates. Since many states do not even record trainees it is comparing apples to oranges to use them in any state to state comparison. Therefore what that huge loss number really tells us is that the rate of new blood coming into the profession is dropping like a stone into a well, which we already know. I knew of an appraiser a few years ago who had 2-3 trainees, not there are four certified appraisers and none of the four are even contemplating having ANY trainees at the present unless business would start increasing significantly. There is a huge "loss", but it is entirely in the number of trainees.

Let us look at the other numbers:
Licensed dropped by just under 400 and the other two increased by just over 400 combined. That means that the number of appraisers able to do work on their own actually INCREASED by 14 people and represents a SHIFT to higher levels of licensing (certification). The Delta CR is easily explained by the changes to FHA and other "writing on the wall" indicating that merely being an AL (using the terms above, I normally call it a LR) is no longer sufficient for most appraisers.

So, what is the bottom line? The numbers indicate a significant drop in the number of TRAINEES, something we are hearing from practically everyone anyway. It does not show a significant slide in the total number of Licensed or Certified appraisers like we are currently seeing in Illinois and elsewhere.

Hope that clears things up a bit