Florida Audit

[Al Spivens]

I've received notice of an audit to verify experience. I send in my log and then they select the work to review.

I've never had to do this and am just a little bit intimidated by the process and dealing with the unknowns. I guess the word audit is scary and sounds like the IRS.

Is this a fair process or is someone trying hard to find something wrong? Is the review work done by appraisers? Do they look at 100% of work or 10% etc.?

If anyone has gone through this, what can I expect?
No reason to be - but nervous anyway.
Al

 

[Bill Rose]

What is your license level? Were you recently upgraded? Or is it just a random audit. As lax as the state agencies are toward enforcement, I'd think something must have triggered it.

 

[Timothy Wixted]

An appraiser in our office just recieved the same letter. He recently passed the state cert test. It's a random audit and if you don't have anything to worry about, then there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Al,

I'm assuming your log is for experience to upgrade your license level. The FREAB has been pushing very hard to have the experience logs audited more thoroughly. How many did they ask for? I had to send in some when I applied for my upgrade a few years ago. They asked for various ones randomly chosen from throughout my log, I sent them in and that was that. I don't know how detailed they will get regarding the reviews of those reports now, but do know they are cracking down pretty hard.

Let us know how it goes and good luck!

I think they are especially auditing logs for trainees that have/had supervisors with complaints and/or trained with supervisors that had a larger number of trainees and/or were located in distant counties.

 

[Ross (CO)]

A few years ago at one of our local apprsr. assoc. meetings the chairman of our state Board spoke to our gathering. He told of an aspiring appraiser who submitted their work log data, and the computations resulted in this individual meeting the hours quota at a rate of 25.5 hours per day from the first day they were licensed up to that date when they applied for the upgrade, and clearly showing all the varied reports for all the many addresses. This work accrual included Saturdays and Sundays and prompted their phone call and eventual visit to have this individual do some 'splainin' to the Board. Mathematics, sometimes, is oh so simple, and yet some fail to "do" the math, and .....

Your experience will probably work out very smoothly....chin up, now.

 

[Francois K. Gregoire]

Originally posted by Bill Rose@Sep 29 2004, 07:55 PM
What is your license level? Were you recently upgraded? Or is it just a random audit. As lax as the state agencies are toward enforcement, I'd think something must have triggered it.

Dear Sir:

Without knowledge of what is going on in Florida, it's not a good idea to suggest there is something sinister going on. Blanket assessments about the ability of state agencies to enforce appraiser certification laws are poorly supported when based soley on anecdotal evidence.

To answer Mr. Spivens' question, the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board is required to audit the experience claimed by a representative sample of applicants for State Certified Residential and State Certified General credentials. Although the FREAB has insisted on this audit for the past several years, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation has been accepting an affadavit in lieu of the audit. DBPR has seen the error of their ways and the audit process has commenced.

The Experience Requirements for State Certified Appraisers are specified in Chapter 61J1-6.001 - Experience Requiements. If you need a copy, use the link below and click on 6.001.

http://www4.myflorida.com/dbpr/re/freab_st...and_rules.shtml

All the Best

 

[Luzette Eaves]

I am in NY, but they ALWAYS ask for a sample, at least they did in 1994. I would't worry, as long as your log is on the up and up.

 

[Chris Colston]

I was audited one year, by Florida, for education credits. I just submitted the forms I received from the course providers and all was right with the world again.

The audits are supposed to be random and are used to verify that the work noted on the logs actually was completed by the appraiser seeking to upgrade their license level. Florida has become very aggressive in attempting to weed out fraudulent (I'm not saying any of yours is) attempts at upgrading license status. New regulations have been passed that states the Supervisor must now attest to the hours shown on the logs. They might also be auditing your supervisor.

 

[Dale Smalley]

Hide your Harry Potter books there comming to get ya. h34r:

 

[Chris Colston]

I just got this in a private e-mail...heads up folks, it won't just be Florida...

The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) announced last month and notified all states that states cannot accept experience-related affidavits from applicants for certification (that is, Certified Residential or Certified General classifications), nor for qualifying education for initial certification without verifying that the applicant’s claimed education courses are acceptable under AQB Criteria, and that the applicant has successfully completed the courses. A state must require experience documentation to support the appraiser’s qualification for the certified classification, not just the incremental amount of experience required to move from the non-certified to the Certified classification.

For example, if a state accepts an experience affidavit from an appraiser to support the appraiser’s initial hours to qualify for the Licensed classification, and subsequently, the same appraiser applies to upgrade to the Certified Residential classification, the state must require documentation to support the full experience hours required for the Certified Residential classification, not just the difference in hours between the two classifications.

For Continuing Education, states are now required to establish a means of validating affidavits submitted to show CE has been obtained in the aggregate. In other words, it may be the case (depending on your state's response to the ASC policy change) that you may continue to submit affidavits for CE credit. But the ASC will require the state to audit post-approval a statistically relevant number of affidavits to ensure the affidavits are true, that is, that you took the course as you stated in your affidavit.

If you’re audited, the audit will be completed within 60 days from the date your renewed credential is issued. The state will determine through independent investigation that you successfully completed the course(s) you say you did.