Fight the Power!

[Francois K. Gregoire]

I haven't accused anyone of criminal activity. Again, grant money flowing to entities with direct connections to people who sit on any of the boards is a bit much.

But let's put it all out there. I’ll issue a challenge: Post links to the money grants TAF/ASC/ASB/AQB awarded in the prior 36 months. It all should be public records but I can't find them. If none went to entities with direct connections to the boards I will formally apologize, donate $500 to a charity of your choice, and my last post ever on the forum will be the apology with the receipt attached. And I will do that because this industry has enough disinformation floating around, it doesn’t need any more from me.

Here is information on the 2024 ASC grant to The Appraisal Foundation. You will find it on page 11 of the 2024 ASC Annual Report to Congress.
View attachment 105270

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

Here is information on the 2024 ASC grant to The Appraisal Foundation. You will find it on page 11 of the 2024 ASC Annual Report to Congress.
View attachment 105270

Here is the link to the ASC Report to Congress

https://www.ASC.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/Annual Report 2024.pdf

 

[TC]

When I sold advertising for a regional magazine, we had a sales director who was in charge of sales for the magazine, 3 newspapers and several other publications the company owned. My immediate boss who had a masters in journalism loved to say “Can you believe that guy only went to college for one semester and quit?” This sales director was a notoriously bad speller, but, when speaking you would assume he had a Phd, he was gifted and also one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known. One day in a huge sales meeting with sales reps from all the publications, a snippity, junior league type who was a recent hire brought up some typos in a memo he had given us all that morning. He quickly said “I apologize, I’m a horrible speller and my secretary is off and she usually fixes my errors, by the way, what happened with the Wilson account?” (a large advertiser that canceled the first week she got the account.) The reaction was priceless. *LOL* I hope TC sees this one.

‐---------------------------------------------------------
Why spelling isn't tied to intelligence:
Different Skill Sets: Spelling relies on orthographic memory and rule application, while intelligence involves broad cognitive functions like reasoning, learning, and complex problem-solving

 

[Non Sequitur]

Here is the link to the ASC Report to Congress

https://www.ASC.gov/sites/default/files/2025-06/Annual Report 2024.pdf

Thanks for the link, I’ll look it over this weekend.

And for entertainment purposes:

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

I haven't accused anyone of criminal activity. Again, grant money flowing to entities with direct connections to people who sit on any of the boards is a bit much.

But let's put it all out there. I’ll issue a challenge: Post links to the money grants TAF/ASC/ASB/AQB awarded in the prior 36 months. It all should be public records but I can't find them. If none went to entities with direct connections to the boards I will formally apologize, donate $500 to a charity of your choice, and my last post ever on the forum will be the apology with the receipt attached. And I will do that because this industry has enough disinformation floating around, it doesn’t need any more from me.

Here is the latest I have on the 2025 Appraisal Subcommittee Grant to The Appraisal Foundation. The Notice of Funding Availability was published in June 2025 (attached). The maximum amount of the grant is $300,000. The Foundation has taken the necessary actions to secure the grant, but (to my knowledge) it has not yet been awarded. The ASC meets tomorrow. Maybe it will be discussed then. The Grants Director is on the AGENDA.

Does this come close to answering your questions?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Maybe it is my lack of a 4-year degree, but I do not understand the response

Zoe practices sorcery, ergo is smarter than I. No one else knows what he is babbling about either.

Degree or not, ... sucking the life out of it.

The AMCs are a tick upon the dog of appraising.

How about the rule on how many trainees a sup. Appraiser can have?

Can you show any proof that regulating the mentor has "improved" the profession?

Perhaps it’s a longer time training under a supervisor?

That will only discourage everyone wanting to enter the profession from doing so.

This profession has become a cesspool

from day one the powers that be have been building a diving board over that cesspool

I can't imagine why young people with a college degree would want to be an appraiser.

Well Johnny, we have a winner...
The bottom line is that This profession does not pay well enough to attract highly qualified and trained people. There is no Appraisal degree and if a school started one there wouldn't be enough students to justify a program.

You can add all the bells and whistles you want - Degrees (why not a masters as a minimum); you can dictate classes (something that combines construction engineering, statistics, computer science, and logic perhaps); you can require mentors to take 100 hours of classes, make it life in prison if a trainee makes a mistake when under your tutorage; require 10,000 experience hours documented down to the minute; and whatcha gonna get? Nothing and no one will take this S***hole job. You can make more repairing stadium seats at the race track.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Spelling relies on orthographic memory

Grammar and skills in writing are not merely learned experiences, rather they are created by repetitive actions. In other words, you learn to write well by writing often. Anyone 4 years out of college knows that when they try to create a report for the first time. English was one of my strongest classes in high school and college. But out in the real world of report writing 15 years later, I couldn't spell kat. I had to remember how to spell words I once knew, like maintenance. I had to recall the difference in to, too, two and their and there. On and on. Easy to forget.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Many old appraisers in California were and are alcoholics and pot smokers because a one or two man operation has no supervision and lots of free time to enjoy bad habits.

Every part of the real estate and finance industry of self employed has substance abuse or alchohol involved at higher levels than folk's who have real day jobs where their being watched or tested. The same with extramarital affairs as loose schedule's and free time is challenging for many people. Not everyone but it's always been a problem for many people.

Probably true but during my entire 7 years in a Steel Mill and 20 years in the Hospitality industry, I dont remember ever meeting even one sober person.

 

[DTB]

Look What They've Done to My JOB, Ma.

Replace song with job and it all becomes clear.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I dont remember ever meeting even one sober person.

Some jobs will drive you to drink. I remember seeing an engineer I worked for happy only once. He'd get so angry he'd break a pencil he was holding while talking to his boss. When was he happy? He invited our team to his house one Friday. There he announced that he had given his 2 weeks' notice and was taking a job in another town. Well it was true, we were working for an insufferable prick. OTOH that boss was a WWII vet who had stormed ashore on D-Day. PTSS. Almost certainly.

Another engineer I worked with in the oil patch got a bit deep in the sauce one night and talked about island hopping in WWII... Shooting Japanese sniping from treetops and cheering when their bodies hit the ground. And how he was glad he missed the capture detail where men were told to take captives 4 miles to the prison camp but be back in 10 minutes. A few minutes later a few shots and they came back. He never got used to shooting prisoners even if they would have done the same.

In the oil patch a few engineers drank but on a rig roughnecks who drink usually die by accident. After work...well, that was a different story.