Bank Of America Is Raising Its Minimum Wage For Employees To $20 An Hour

[Randolph Kinney]

Why would any appraiser right now invest in more education, time and money on a service business that is paying less and less ..

Why do you think they dropped the four your educational requirement for CR's?

Confidence in higher education in the United States has dropped significantly since 2015, according to polling company Gallup, which notes that it's the worst-performing institution they measure.

The crisis in confidence coincides with a similar decline in the public's view that higher education is affordable and available to those who need it, according to the report - suggesting that affordability and access are linked to the faith people have in the institution of higher learning.

The waning confidence in higher education isn't limited to the general public either; academics have begun to lose faith as well.

What do college and university trustees point to as the top issues causing the drop in public confidence? Negative media reports about student debt (72%) and news reports on the cost of tuition (64%). To that end, more than half of trustees (58%) say their top concern about the future of higher education is the cost.

The fact that graduates of colleges are not landing high paying jobs also has to do with the perception that a college degree is not worth the money it costs.
The supply of appraisers coming into the business has dropped. What they are doing now is dumbing down the appraisal business with alternative appraisal products with people that don't have the skills of a licensed appraiser.

Do you really need a four degree and math skills to produce a hybrid appraisal?

 

[Carnivore]

Well actually you could use R/earth which is free and run it on your Excel comp downloads. That is what I did 2003-2008. My methods are more advanced now and require more work - another story.

If I wrote a step-by-step article about using R/earth, most could probably deal with it. But yes it would take more time, and you have some learning to do and I probably underestimate the learning effort because of my background in math. ....

What I do, I certainly use for my own appraisals. And, it may never go beyond that. But, who knows how far that will go ...

Thank You for your comment. I don't know how old you are but I can say that if I was You, i would jump out there and create a AMC that specialized in one area across the nation. This is a gamble but may be worth the risk because of a popular trend ...what I am about to say is a game changer.

Green Earth AMC - or something like that....Imagine for a moment that you created an AMC that specialized in appraising Residential/Commercial property improvements that are Green Earth. across the nation. Imagine all of the Appraisers on your list were Highly Qualified in that specialty! This sounds far fetched and almost silly, but I have been watching Shark tank lately and i am seeing a trend in Branding that includes Green Earth Aspect. Another thing I have learned from the Show Shark Tank that's to those investors its all about Scale. That's where the money is and it is the way of the future of Appraising. Then Imagine included in your Quiver was the attitude that you also would take on regular appraisal work, in other words you won't turn it down, but you wont necessarily be cheap, but because of scaling creates volume.

So i have an Idea to capitalize on your Skill Set. I will share that with you privately. Whats cool about this is USPAP is our friend. The foundation has opened that door really wide and its time for Appraisers to Exploit that open door.

 

[Carnivore]

Confidence in higher education in the United States has dropped significantly since 2015, according to polling company Gallup, which notes that it's the worst-performing institution they measure.

The crisis in confidence coincides with a similar decline in the public's view that higher education is affordable and available to those who need it, according to the report - suggesting that affordability and access are linked to the faith people have in the institution of higher learning.

The waning confidence in higher education isn't limited to the general public either; academics have begun to lose faith as well.

What do college and university trustees point to as the top issues causing the drop in public confidence? Negative media reports about student debt (72%) and news reports on the cost of tuition (64%). To that end, more than half of trustees (58%) say their top concern about the future of higher education is the cost.

The fact that graduates of colleges are not landing high paying jobs also has to do with the perception that a college degree is not worth the money it costs.
The supply of appraisers coming into the business has dropped. What they are doing now is dumbing down the appraisal business with alternative appraisal products with people that don't have the skills of a licensed appraiser.

Do you really need a four degree and math skills to produce a hybrid appraisal?

Nope, but you could effectively utilize certain portions/courses of an advanced degree. I have stated in the Past that a CR would be better off getting an Associates Degree in Business and advanced classes on Techniques and methods that can be used in the Appraisal Process.

Thats why I laughed out loud in my home office when I read the part of Educational requirements for licensing included ANY BA degree. I mockingly stated a BA in Underwater Basket Weaving from the University of Liberal Heads Exploding was acceptable. You if I recall correctly put a link up for the Bachelor Degree in Puppetry! You can't get any more absurd than that... Its why I concluded that the TAF was trying to Micro Manage the Herd!

That's the way this country is now! Its all about the Sheep Skin hanging on your wall. Symbolism over Substance.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

You if I recall correctly put a link up for the Bachelor Degree in Puppetry! You can't get any more absurd than that... Its why I concluded that the TAF was trying to Micro Manage the Herd!

Fashion Design
Psychology
Liberal Arts
Feminist Theory
Sociology
Human Services
etc

The list goes on.

 

[ucbruin]

I bet less than 1% of the AF members who have a bachelors degree or higher started out as appraisers....
The exceptions would be legacy families....

 

[glenn walker]

I bet less than 1% of the AF members who have a bachelors degree or higher started out as appraisers....
The exceptions would be legacy families....

1% may be too high a number- Today who would spend 4-6 years in College to measure houses-take photos and hope someone sends them an-order. When I entered the industry many were old retired white guys and only a few women and most had no degrees and the ones that did have degrees obtained them in there youth for other reasons. Frankly many were real losers and did not do good work degree or no degree it wasn't rocket science It was the days of easy money-very few reviews or over-site and many made more money doing three comp reports than their highly educated friends who were engineers or doctors. Of course fast easy money tends to inflate the egos and calling your self the Chief Appraiser when someone questioned your work usually did the trick or simply educating them on why you were the expert.

In those days you were either staff or fee but most of us had offices and would hang our degrees and certificates on the wall behind our desks so when clients came in we looked like the real deal.The MAI's wall looked like a bulletin board and they were often unorganized and had papers laying everywhere which made them look super busy when in reality many only did one report a week and the rest of the week was spent taking long three martini lunches and discussing highly complex issues with the newbies about cap-rates-rent multipliers and external-internal and functional obsolesce. When us residential guys asked a question we normally were ignored or told to stick to the cheat sheet the Made As Is guys developed for us. The loose canons left staff and became self employed fee appraisers because they could dress like beach bums often showing up in shorts-flip-flops-sunglasses and even bring their 100 LBS dog with them and they wanted no part of ever getting back a job as a Staff Appraiser at some stodgy bank or S & L.

Anyway I am ranting and all I really wanted to say is imagine any other Profession where a person gets employed as an-Engineer but his degree is in Native American Studies or an-Architect who applies for a job and states his major in College was in Sociology. When people ask me I tell them the truth and my B.A.was Sociology and my Graduate Certificate was obtained by joining a Secret Society often called USPAP which is only discussed between other members because in order to be compliant we pay nine old guys $99 bucks every 24-months for a secret handbook which is sent by encrypted E-mail in a locked PDF which can only be used after your master card or visa cleared their bank. Luckily they require us to take 7-hours continuing education every 24 months which is real nice because if they didn't the State Board would say our education requirements were not fulfilled and our licenses is stamped Expired in Big Bold Red-Letters and we are prohibited from ever doing another appraisal again. As far as Bank America they have very few full time jobs except in corporate or management. The tellers work 20 to 30 hour weeks and not 40 hours. Also B of A has trimmed the amount of tellers by as much as 50% to 60% in some branches. Anyway If I was in A low cost state that may be good money but out here $20 an-hour won't rent you a 2 bedroom condo.

 

[RCA]

Thank You for your comment. I don't know how old you are but I can say that if I was You, i would jump out there and create a AMC that specialized in one area across the nation. This is a gamble but may be worth the risk because of a popular trend ...what I am about to say is a game changer.

Green Earth AMC - or something like that....Imagine for a moment that you created an AMC that specialized in appraising Residential/Commercial property improvements that are Green Earth. across the nation. Imagine all of the Appraisers on your list were Highly Qualified in that specialty! This sounds far fetched and almost silly, but I have been watching Shark tank lately and i am seeing a trend in Branding that includes Green Earth Aspect. Another thing I have learned from the Show Shark Tank that's to those investors its all about Scale. That's where the money is and it is the way of the future of Appraising. Then Imagine included in your Quiver was the attitude that you also would take on regular appraisal work, in other words you won't turn it down, but you wont necessarily be cheap, but because of scaling creates volume.

So i have an Idea to capitalize on your Skill Set. I will share that with you privately. Whats cool about this is USPAP is our friend. The foundation has opened that door really wide and its time for Appraisers to Exploit that open door.

I don't believe in AMCs. A good appraiser should be able to work independently. --- Now, I think appraisers can network and pay each other for their services or split fees according to how much work they each do. I think an appraiser who specializes in modeling could probably make arrangements with other appraisers to provide that specialized service and back-up in case they go into court, and need someone capable of supporting advanced statistical methods. I actually believe sticking a number of guys fixed in one company is inefficient. A more lateral network could work much better. Where an appraiser can reach out to another appraiser if he needs to splice off part of a job for one reason or another. --- If I don't need you --- I don't want you!!

For that to work, appraisers need engagement letters between themselves, with certain agreements. But in such cases, each is going to want to be sure the other is sufficiently competent to handle their side of the work. I wouldn't provide statistical models for adjustments to an appraiser doing the inspection side and writing the final report, unless he could provide me with a floorplan that is ANSI standard and shows all rooms and walls (my standard for inspections), in addition to the photos - as in such a case, I would insist on being the one to have the final say in ranking the home based on the residuals --- unless of course I trusted the other appraiser to do that correctly ... but then that would be in the engagement letter. If we are in different states, the most likely I wouldn't take on that responsibility, --- but I would have to trust the other appraiser to use good judgement. And, as a sidenote, that opens up the question as to whether an appraiser can build a value model for a state he is not licensed in, in support of an appraiser who is licensed in that state and is going to sign the report - just giving him credit for help. The answer to that probably indicates that we need appraisers good at statistics scattered throughout the states and metro areas.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The group of “Starving Jobless Homeless” people huddled outdoors next to a “Fully Robotic Coffeeshop” is jarring.The coffee shop, CafeX, features “Coffee from the best local roasters crafted with precision using recipes designed by top baristas.” It’s an image of the coming techno-dystopia in which robots take our jobs and leave everyone who isn’t a capital-owning plutocrat to starve in the streets, no?

No. There are other things at play here. One reply to the tweet tagged John Stossel and diagnosed the problem immediately: the minimum wage in San Francisco is $15 per hour. That is a wage at which, apparently, the people in the picture cannot be profitably employed and which induces firms to look harder for ways to do with capital what was formerly profitable to do with labor.

Again, firms will choose the lowest-cost way to produce a good in the interest of maximizing profits. When we use legislation like minimum wages and workplace safety rules and other things to increase the price of labor relative to what would obtain in the free market, we nudge firms toward replacing people with machines — as CafeX does, replacing human baristas with mechanical ones.

 

[Carnivore]

No. There are other things at play here. One reply to the tweet tagged John Stossel and diagnosed the problem immediately: the minimum wage in San Francisco is $15 per hour. That is a wage at which, apparently, the people in the picture cannot be profitably employed and which induces firms to look harder for ways to do with capital what was formerly profitable to do with labor.

Again, firms will choose the lowest-cost way to produce a good in the interest of maximizing profits. When we use legislation like minimum wages and workplace safety rules and other things to increase the price of labor relative to what would obtain in the free market, we nudge firms toward replacing people with machines — as CafeX does, replacing human baristas with mechanical ones.

Then on the other hand we have the anomaly of Starbucks..Which is flourishing with Barista's who are paid above minimum wage. Me personally don't patronize Starbucks anymore, because I am not putting up with a pimple face kid looking down his nose at me, incredulously because I said "one medium coffee with cream please"

 

[DTB]

Fashion Design
Psychology
Liberal Arts
Feminist Theory
Sociology
Human Services
etc

The list goes on.

People buy a lot of stupid things, no sympathy here.

My son was in DECA (biz club) in High School and learned how to analyze opportunity. He was offered a free ride to play hockey at a lesser university in the greater area. He considered it but said "Dad, I think a business degree from DePaul University will offer more opportunities for me when I graduate". Couldn't have been prouder of him even though that cost me $150K.

He then selected a major only offered, at the time, at 3 universities. Category Management. We talked to the chairperson and he laid out a career path that has been spot on. Start @XXK, after 3 years XXxK, the you can write your ticket XXXk and all has played out as such.

Part of these students with worthless degrees stems from poor parental guidance and lack of work ethic of some students. What might these debt laden young folks lives be if they actually believed in themselves and took a loan out on THEMSELVES and started a business?

That would be an avenue that I would explore if I had a child without a laser focused degree and career path.

Pick a school with strong alumni connections, good reputation and a marketable major that fits the student. Then work your azz off, I didn't see any Depaul biz students wearing pajamas to classes.