Evaluations

[Dale Floyd]

Full disclosure - I haven't personally completed an evaluation in our office in a minute. Others do those now, and they are better than I was without a doubt. But my beliefs have already been argued successfully in Tennessee, our law pertaining to the matter is well written, and it has survived the passage of time without any fluff that I'm aware of.

 

[Zoe]

Full disclosure - I haven't personally completed an evaluation in our office in a minute. Others do those now, and they are better than I was without a doubt. But my beliefs have already been argued successfully in Tennessee, our law pertaining to the matter is well written, and it has survived the passage of time without any fluff that I'm aware of.

I still say many licensed real estate agents that were also licensed real estate appraisers lobbied for that also. They held dual licenses.

Easier to lobby State govt than Federal govt.

 

[glenn walker]

Kinda like going to Jiffy Lube and the guy signs as a MD as the lube jobs just a side gig....lol

 

[George Hatch]

What it is is based on the applicable law and the definitions therein, and those vary by state. In my state, an evaluation must state prominently that it is not an appraisal, but it is not the label that determines what it is.

This is an important idea which, once considered, provides all the clarity it takes to resolve this controversy.

USPAP is about the appraiser's conduct when acting in that role. It is the actions of the individual and the expectation of the users for those actions which are meaningful. Not the various labels in use in various references for these actions.

Not even the appraisal profession owns the entirety of the term "appraisal". That term has different meanings in different references and contexts. It means one thing in our professional standards and something different when cited in various areas of the law, rule and regulation.

For example, there's the USPAP definition of appraisal refers specifically to the appraiser's process of developing an opinion of value:

USPAP uses a separate reference for "Report", that reference also being very generic in scope.


-------------
And then there's the definition of "appraisal" as found in (for example) Florida's statutes for their licensees. That reference includes more elements than just the "development" side of the opinions and conclusion, apparently to also include the reporting elements:



----------------
North Carolina's definition varies from the definition used in Florida because it more closely parallels the USPAP delineation between development and reporting:


--------------
California has a definition for appraisal that's also similar to the USPAP definition but (unlike USPAP) they have no explicit definition of "Appraisal Report" or "Report".

 

[George Hatch]

The point being that these various areas of law and regulation at these various levels of jurisdiction include their own definitions for certain terms being used in those regs and they don't tend to be exactly the same as USPAP or the same as each other. Here's the one from the Federal Code of Regulations


----------------
The point being that a valuation service can fit the definition of an appraisal in USPAP when being used in generic reference to the actions of the individual but not fit the definition of appraisal within the context of that term's use in the FCR or in many of the states' rules and regs. That's how an "Evaluation" service can fit the definition of "Appraisal" in USPAP but not fit the definition of "Appraisal" in the Federal Code of Regulations or in many of the states. Moreover, in the event of an actual conflict between the requirements of USPAP and applicable law, rule or regulation, the requirements in the law ALWAYS prevail because USPAP isn't the law.

Both for USPAP and the various areas of law, the application of the definition is dependent upon its usage in those references, not across all possible uses of the term. Likewise, you can't substitute one reference for another when working in that other set of statutes. The only term that applies to how Florida regulates their licensees is the reference in their own rules/regs. Can't use Florida's definition when arguing North Carolina's Rules/Regs - you gotta stick with the definitions which are included in the rules/regs being used.

---------------
And the example isn't just limited to the term "appraisal". "Appraiser" has a broader meaning in USPAP than in all or almost all of the various references in the banking and appraiser regulation structures. They usually are referring only to state licensees operating within their state, and not to everyone else who might be acting in the role under various circumstances including out of state.

 

[George Hatch]

And lastly, the distinctions between how USPAP is structured and what those requirements are vs the more specific applications of these terms further demonstrates the point that USPAP is not the law, and The Appraisal Foundation does not unilaterally dictate terms to any of these various legislative bodies let alone all of them. It becomes an error in fact to assert otherwise.