MPAT-The Mississippi Training Model

[Elliott]

I received an email from McKissock on the MS Practicum. Lots of stuff. As I understand it, it takes about 10-months, according to Melissa Bond. I'd like to see a summary of hours, costs, and # of appraisals. I guess a 60% pass rate is good enough.

 

[JeffSH]

I would love to teach appraisal classes. How can I do it?

Do I need the SRA? I have a math degree. I've completed much harder case studies. I hate jumping through hoops.

Sorry for my off-topic rant. But I want appraisers to have teachers that were better than mine. Maybe I'm not as good as I think, but I have to try it. My Cost approach professor was like 80 years old and didn't teach the class ANYTHING. I bet the fail rate for the exam was over 50%. Read the Marshall Swift Cost book would have been more helpful.

 

[John Hassler]

Props to Ms. Bond for her time and effort in exploring an alternative path to gain experience. I am far more impressed with her efforts that that of the AQB and PAREA.

Here are my observations:

1) The success of the program is heavily weighted on the skill of the Instructor (Mentor in the case of PAREA). I do not know Ms. Bond personally but I would make the reasonable conclusion that she is a highly competent appraiser being that she holds an SRA, works for a state board, and is on the ASB. With these skills, 60% (12 of 20?) of her students were able to become licensed (based on the OP's comment, someone correct me if I am wrong). PAREA has virtually no standards to be a Mentor. The standard is the same for that of a Supervisor which is to say one must hold a Certified credential that was in good standing for the last three years; this is well over 50% of all credential holders, nationally, and is a very low bar.

2) MPAT received a grant from the ASC. This makes it sound like it was just free money. In reality, this grant money is from the fees pais to the ASC by credential holders, including AMCs. Effectively this program is paid for by you and me. It is not free money. Without outside money, how many will sign up using their own when the success rate is 60% and your most likely source of earning will come from AMC work? (We're not taking about passing the BAR and making six figures in a few years.) Even worse, vendors offering PAREA will undoubtedly peddle the course based on some metric of success rate ("99% success rate", "take the course until you pass"). Financially, course providers will engage and then filter Mentors who are eager to keep their jobs and offer the highest pass rates.

3) A State run program like Mpat would likely have solid oversight as the head of the state regulatory agency would carry the burden of a failed program. Even better would be a co-op between the state regulator and a state school such as a junior college. With PAREA, there mostly likely be a misalignment between the aim of the PAREA course provider (profit) and what should be the goal of the PAREA program (appraisal competency). This in and of itself, is almost always the case for educators. But in this instance, the AQB have set virtually no firewalls in place, only that it, the AQB, will monitor PAREA providers via audits and respond to complaints by students. (To this end, I have commented and offered suggestions to the AQB without a cogent response.)

Overall: There is grossly insufficient information available to determine if MPAT or PAREA will succeed. Either could be a fantastic alternative to train new appraisers or a complete failure for the industry. Of the two, an MPAT appears to have far more possibility of success. Regretfully, the "trust us" approach taken by the AQB makes me worried for the future of the industry I've been in for 38 years.

 

[Alsie35]

First let me say that I could listen to a gal from Mississippi for hours if she was reading the phone book - absolutely love the drawl.

Listening to her got me thinking and recalling my training - done by the super-capable folks at the old World Savings Bank in-house appraisal school run by WSB Chief Appraiser Rick Langdon (who became Chief Appraiser at Wachovia and then Chief Appraiser at Wells Fargo when the original WSB was acquired and then re-acquired).

A lot of what we did was just what she talked about. We had formal classroom learning combined with trips out into the field. Once the coursework was over we were sent to work at field offices staffed with anywhere from 5-10 appraisers, where there would be several supervisor appraisers who were tasked not only with doing appraisals but specifically with mentoring the new appraisers. These were the "cream-of-the-crop" of the company appraisers and let me tell you, there was no way you could submit an appraisal that would not come back with a dozen revisions/suggestions. (Frustrating as heck at times for a newly-minted appraiser. But that kind of grunt work and re-work is absolutely necessary to - hopefully - master this craft in time).

It was well-organized, well-run, and for my money preferable to most one-on-one mentoring situations (for obvious force multiplier reasons).

Something like that old WSB program - but run or tightly regulated by individual State Boards - would in my view be the best way to go. Letting AMCs run rampant with PAREA education will, I fear, not be a pretty picture, competence-wise.

 

[George Hatch]

As far as I'm concerned this is QE instruction. This is the kind of instruction we should have been providing before these appraisers even took a licensing exam to become a trainee.

 

[John Hassler]

Letting AMCs run rampant with PAREA education will, I fear, not be a pretty picture, competence-wise.

And therein lies the issue. The AQB has been secretive and/or remiss in setting sufficient guardrails to protect against rouge actors. The only action the AQB could inflict on a rogue actor would be to rescind their approval as a PAREA provider. And that would be via an audit well after whatever transgressions took place. It is unlikely that a state would rescind a license once issued.
Several years ago I suggested to the AQB that they approve Mentors just as the approve USPAP Instructors. Then the AQB or even a state could take an action against the Mentor.
As it stands now, the states' hands are tied with regard to competency of an applicant who takes the PAREA path. The education, test, and now experience via PAREA are all approvals at the national level. The only ability for a state to deny such an application would be for criminal background issues.

 

[John Hassler]

As far as I'm concerned this is QE instruction. This is the kind of instruction we should have been providing before these appraisers even took a licensing exam to become a trainee.

Agreed. But the AQB has been very clear that PAREA is not education but rather experience.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

I don't see how its even close to enough. Its 10 months part time. All but two of the students had a full time job. I can't see how this can compare to 2+ years in the field full time. There are so many unknowns that you don't learn about until you run into it.

 

[sputnam]

I would love to teach appraisal classes. How can I do it?

Do I need the SRA? I have a math degree. I've completed much harder case studies. I hate jumping through hoops.

Sorry for my off-topic rant. But I want appraisers to have teachers that were better than mine. Maybe I'm not as good as I think, but I have to try it. My Cost approach professor was like 80 years old and didn't teach the class ANYTHING. I bet the fail rate for the exam was over 50%. Read the Marshall Swift Cost book would have been more helpful.

You will need to be approved to teach by your State.

 

[John Hassler]

You will need to be approved to teach by your State.

The course needs to be approved by the state not the Instructor. I'm not aware of a state that requires the Instructor be approved. To be a Mentor the reqirement is the same as that of a Supervisor, which is is not a high bar.
The exception to all of this is the teaching of USPAP where the Instructor must have been trained/approved by the AQB.