New USPAP Q&As published March 6, 2025

[Joe Flacco]

So, you did a search and found a outdated, 10-year old document to reference without finding the current document....congratulations on a job well done!

You state that "qualitative comparisons and qualitative adjustments are the same thing" and then have the audacity to claim that I am making myself look foolish, lol.

Just stop. You absolutely are making yourself look foolish. How can a chief appraiser have no understanding that qualitative adjustment is a recognized and necessary method of adjustment? It is quite embarrassing for you.

You should brush up on your skills and expand your thinking by doing an appraisal here and there so you can see how stupid it is to think that all differences should be quantified.

 

[glenn walker]

Yes, they are known as coefficients. However, it is questionable whether they make sense or can even be utilized in the sales grid, which is one reason I believe they keep it private.

They keep it private because the loan officers were trying to game the systems and many are young techie type guys who if they break the code it would be a mess. They constantly are tweaking it and it's never going to be shared.

 

[CGinMN]

A joint effort by the GSEs, FHA, and VA could solve residential appraisal quality in less than 5 years with 5 employees if they wanted to. This is a program that would cost maximum $1m per year, which they could easily collect small fees from mortgage lenders. But for some reason they dont want to do it, probably because it will require expelling the skippies who they rely upon to keep the mortgage market liquid. They should just do it and quit complaining.

 

[Surf Cat]

Our Tech Engineer and his Flux Comparator

 

[Joe Flacco]

A joint effort by the GSEs, FHA, and VA could solve residential appraisal quality in less than 5 years with 5 employees if they wanted to. This is a program that would cost maximum $1m per year, which they could easily collect small fees from mortgage lenders. But for some reason they dont want to do it, probably because it will require expelling the skippies who they rely upon to keep the mortgage market liquid. They should just do it and quit complaining.

Explain

 

[CGinMN]

I’m at 4 percent. I’ll be back later.

 

[timd354]

Just stop. You absolutely are making yourself look foolish. How can a chief appraiser have no understanding that qualitative adjustment is a recognized and necessary method of adjustment? It is quite embarrassing for you.

You should brush up on your skills and expand your thinking by doing an appraisal here and there so you can see how stupid it is to think that all differences should be quantified.

I have given you numerous sources that are generally accepted within the appraisal profession that support my position, including the actual definition of the term "adjustments" pasted directly form The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal (7th ed.)and all that you can offer is 1 outdated reference from a 10-year old document that has been subsequently updated to support my position, and you claim that I look foolish? Okey-dokey, then please educate me by showing me an actual example of a qualitative adjustment made to a comparable sale...you surely must have one that you can easily pull out of one of your (undoubtedly outstanding) appraisal reports.

 

[RCA]

The Appraisal Foundation just release new USPAP Q&A's, which can be accessed here: https://appraisalfoundation.sharefile.com/share/view/s204bf3489b924724ac26de89653ded87

The first new Q&A makes it clear that basing adjsutments on nothing more than an appraiser's experience is not sufficient to meet USPAP requirements for credible assignment results:

2025-01: Using Experience as Support for Adjustments
Question: If an appraiser is competent to perform a specific assignment, and has
extensive experience in that type of assignment, can they support an adjustment
for a property's proximity to a park solely based on that experience?

Answer:
No, experience cannot be a recognized method or technique or a substitute for
relevant evidence and logic. Adjustments are a type of assignment result and
must meet USPAP’s requirements for credible assignment results.

These Q&A are so trivial, they have to be regarded as a waste of time and money.

And I won't waste my time on them. Anyone on this forum who argues against them is showing their high level of incompetence.

That being said, the last thing that can EVER be said is that USPAP breaks new ground in appraisal. It doesn't, nor has it ever - certainly not to any significant extent. All it can do is correct some evident past errors.

It is a bible for idiots.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I have given you numerous sources that are generally accepted within the appraisal profession that support my position, including the actual definition of the term "adjustments" pasted directly form The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal (7th ed.)and all that you can offer is 1 outdated reference from a 10-year old document that has been subsequently updated to support my position, and you claim that I look foolish? Okey-dokey, then please educate me by showing me an actual example of a qualitative adjustment made to a comparable sale...you surely must have one that you can easily pull out of one of your (undoubtedly outstanding) appraisal reports.

Happy to provide examples of my reports as soon as you provide one of your old appraisal reports showing quantified adjustments for all differences. I have already shown how I handle adjustments in this thread. If you can't, then you should stop waving your finger at appraisers and saying we are doing it wrong.

Let me know when you are ready.

 

[timd354]

Happy to provide examples of my reports as soon as you provide one of your old appraisal reports showing quantified adjustments for all differences. I have already shown how I handle adjustments in this thread. If you can't, then you should stop waving your finger at appraisers and saying we are doing it wrong.

Let me know when you are ready.

What is the point of me posting a sales comparison grid with adjustments from some old appraisal report? Are you are arguing that the dollar adjustments to the comparable sale price in a typical sales are not quantitative adjustments or are you arguing that not all adjustments in a sales comparison grid are adequately supported? zIf you are arguing that the adjustments are not quantitative, that is just silly, if you arguing that not all adjustments in the sales comparison grid of a typical GSE appraisal are adequately supported (possibly including some of the adjustments I included in my own reports early in my career), I don't disagree, however that does not change the fact that the adjustments are quantitative in nature.

On the other hand, the reason I asked for an example of a qualitative adjustment from one of your (or anyone else's appraisal report) is that I truly don't know what a qualitative adjustment looks like since I don't believe that any such things exists. Since you claim that qualitative adjustments exist, I would very much appreciate you showing one to me so I can see it for myself.