Do you enjoy being an appraiser?

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Auction purchase

If the neighbor is annoying, I say the aubject SFR is being converted into a halfway house for recently released child molesters, pending response from the community!

 

[Flakey]

40 years last month. I still enjoy my work. Beats the crap out of sitting home or working 9-5 on the clock. I must be perverse, but I like the difficult ones as much as the easy. Been at it long enough that I am comfortable with my skills and know my limitations. Also, I'm at the point where I'm not desperate for work. Slow times, I play with my toys. Busy times, I'm chunking acorns in that tree hole.

 

[meatsandbounds]

Dude, you don't know what working in the heat is.....it was 118 degrees in PHX area today. Other than that, I love being an appraiser. I have diversified out of the AMC / GSE residential loan arena (unless they pay really well) and love working here in the winters @ 65 degrees. And I have diversified in areas where AI & value modeling can't be applied. It's only a rat race if you let it be.

Glad to see another PHX area appraiser who gets it, haha

The summers are the killer, and why I try and make sure I’m in office by 12 or earlier if appointments allow

 

[George Hatch]

Enjoy being an appraiser?
Compared to what alternative to which we might have access?

 

[Essexfenwick]

It's an easy job. It's amazing it lasted so long. It's not enjoyable to watch it on its deathbed. I'm very grateful I found it in 1985. Real estate in general raised and educated my kids made me financially secure and was a little risky but an easy amount of effort with no mental anguish.
There is no doubt where appraisal is going. The lending area will only need data collectors residential and commercial very soon. Appraisers could do that. It will be way lower cost though. On the new forms they may even ignore the valuation section and do their valuation from the beginning. Appraisal is tailor made for AI and just exactly the type of function it wants to gobble up in its infantry.
There are numerous other areas of real estate that can still get an individual rich ... Not as easy as appraisal was but there are many areas still resistant to AI.
.

 

[Elliott]

I enjoyed being a buggy whip builder. It was a challenging career choice. I'd always liked finance and the degree in economics was a good fit. I got to know every road in the county and liked getting out of the home office every few days. The advent of computers required buying a new one every few years. Keeping ahead of the competition by improving productivity improved income. I was fortunate to be in a small market and kept my fees higher. The 'freedom' of the job can't be beat.

Dealing with assignment ordering was an interesting part of the business and ran the gamut from local and personal, to mortgage brokers, national brokers, and national lenders. Balancing assignment volume, fee, turn times and having a life when there was a refinance boom was what 'being is business' is all about. The money was good most years. Slow times were for road trips and adventures. The current doldrum is unsustainable.

Getting designations was a worthwhile challenge and also frustrating as 'their worth' declined over the years. Federal licensing, TAF, GSEs, AMCs and AI have all conspired to pigeon hole the 'profession' and ruin the fee structure. I've spent way too much time having to defend reports to deaf regulators who don't know or understand my market and who are really just lazy, incompetent bureacrats. They typically don't know the difference between a 4-lane highway and a vacated street.

Baseball has been very good to me. But I wouldn't recommend it to anyone today given the over regulation and lack of future demand for appraisals.

 

[JTip]

Being an 'appraiser' doesn't pigeon hole you into purchases, refinances and getting robbed by an AMC.

There are many government positions that require appraiser certification, both at the state and federal level, many with hybrid options.

90% of appraisers want the 'easy' job, getting a $500 order, inspecting at noon in shorts and flip flops and playing the back 9 after working two hours.

9% work 40 hours a week and enjoy pensions, full benefits and piece of mind that you will be paid without question.

1% do BOTH

 

[Joe Flacco]

I enjoy it.

 

[George Hatch]

Being an 'appraiser' doesn't pigeon hole you into purchases, refinances and getting robbed by an AMC.

There are many government positions that require appraiser certification, both at the state and federal level, many with hybrid options.

90% of appraisers want the 'easy' job, getting a $500 order, inspecting at noon in shorts and flip flops and playing the back 9 after working two hours.

9% work 40 hours a week and enjoy pensions, full benefits and piece of mind that you will be paid without question.

1% do BOTH

I enjoyed the job when I appraised houses on a split fee
I enjoyed the job when I worked on staff for a fraction of the fee
I enjoyed the job when I went solo

IMO the work is the work. The terms of engagement/employment are what's different.

 

[Surf Cat]

Appraisal is tailor made for AI and just exactly the type of function it wants to gobble up in its infantry.

True statement to be sure.

The problem is, AI is looking at the numbers in collateral underwriter. Collateral underwriter is made up of tens of thousands of appraisals. How many of those appraisals were pull from the air adjustments in price per square foot, condition, location, Etc.?

Can AI in combination with collateral underwriter and Freddie's Home Value Explorer (HVE) determine the future evaluation of real estate based on the previous 10-year history with (some, not all) "suspect" adjustment numbers along with just photos from a PDC? With no appraisal intervention whatsoever?
This is where the rubber meets the road.

I do like the investigative analysis to form an opinion of value. Agree with others above that state it used to be fun prior to the hvcc and heavy AMC involvement.