No College Degree for Cert Generals or Residential Appraisers

[J Grant]

AI Overview


Yes,
West Point (United States Military Academy) extensively teaches humanities as a core component of its curriculum to prepare officers for complex, human-centric warfare. While known for STEM, the academy requires courses in literature, philosophy, history, and foreign languages. These subjects build critical thinking and cultural awareness, supporting a "humanities center" dedicated to studying the human dimension of conflict.
Key details regarding humanities at West Point:

• Core Curriculum: All cadets take foundational humanities courses, including composition, literature, and foreign languages.
• Departments: The Department of English & World Languages offers majors in English,8 different languages, and foreign area studies.
• Purpose: Humanities are used to teach the "human dimension" of war, ensuring leaders can operate in complex environments and understand different cultures.
• Range of Subjects: The academic program includes history, philosophy, and legal studies, in addition to technical fields.

While West Point graduates receive a Bachelor of Science degree, the curriculum is heavily grounded in a liberal arts foundation that incorporates these critical humanity disciplines.

 

[Mark K]

I'm saying that no questions that are being asked here have ever been the result of someone's academic education. They are invariably appraisal-related. I don't think that's an unfair observation for me to make.

Since you phrase it that way...I agree completely.

 

[George Hatch]

Apologies for not phrasing it that way to begin with. My bad.

 

[J Grant]

The profiteer interests with the clout and funds to influence regulatory bodies have reverse-engineered the residential side to reach the lowest common denominator. Instead of correcting the low fees on the AMC side, which repels the best and brightest, they keep lowering the education requirements, both in academic credits and now in appraisal experience qualicaions, in order to attract enough warm bodies with a license for the AMC/ lender alliances (for those lenders who use or own an AMC) to benefit.

 

[George Hatch]

AI Overview


Yes,
West Point (United States Military Academy) extensively teaches humanities as a core component of its curriculum to prepare officers for complex, human-centric warfare. While known for STEM, the academy requires courses in literature, philosophy, history, and foreign languages. These subjects build critical thinking and cultural awareness, supporting a "humanities center" dedicated to studying the human dimension of conflict.
Key details regarding humanities at West Point:

• Core Curriculum: All cadets take foundational humanities courses, including composition, literature, and foreign languages.
• Departments: The Department of English & World Languages offers majors in English,8 different languages, and foreign area studies.
• Purpose: Humanities are used to teach the "human dimension" of war, ensuring leaders can operate in complex environments and understand different cultures.
• Range of Subjects: The academic program includes history, philosophy, and legal studies, in addition to technical fields.

While West Point graduates receive a Bachelor of Science degree, the curriculum is heavily grounded in a liberal arts foundation that incorporates these critical humanity disciplines.

Leadership at any level is in large part, people-oriented.

 

[George Hatch]

The profiteer interests with the clout and funds to influence regulatory bodies have reverse-engineered the residential side to reach the lowest common denominator. Instead of correcting the low fees on the AMC side, which repels the best and brightest, they keep lowering the education requirement, both in academic credits and now in appraisal experience, to attract enough warm bodies with a license for the AMC/ lender alliances (for those lenders who use or own an AMC) to benefit.

Nobody is keeping the best/brightest out, or forcing them out. People leave when the ROI is inadequate.

The real issue here is that most mortgage lending clients won't pay SRAs more than the newest CR. They don't pay the have-college appraisers more than the have-nots. They are demonstrating IRL how little they value the higher demonstrated qualifications. Which is to say, they don't value the higher qualifications at all. That outcome is directly attributable to the users' priorities, not to the regulatory process.

If - as a group - these lenders valued the SRA more then the SRAs would run the table and everyone would have the incentive to work toward that designation. The AI membership rolls would flourish. Instead, we have (some) SRAs who have busted their tail to earn the designation and paid the annual dues who ended up dropping their designations because of the inadequate ROI. That isn't the fault of the Appraisal Institute for not establishing and promulgating even an higher level of qualifications, but in the market where price matters to the buyers and users of those appraisals.

Fair and just ain't got nothing to do with that.

 

[TerryRohrer]

I don't know about you but I never attribute the failure of those appraisals to a lack of appraiser competency or training or education. I attribute it to people not working to their demonstrated competency, for whatever reason.

I agree. I would be happy if they ended the pretense of "educating" the lazy and crooked and simply enforced the rules currently on the books. But that is never under discussion by the powers that be. The goal is to have paper in place that shouts, "Look, we are doing "something". Never mind that what they are doing is completely ineffective.

 

[George Hatch]

Most enforcement of any standard is by the individual choosing to do so. Proactively. Every day. We want to consider ourselves to be a legitimate member of the group and this is what it takes to fairly claim that status.

Reactive enforcement by the govt or the organization or whatever group we're talking about is going to be the least common, least timely and least cost-efficient mode of enforcement. But you're right - if the AI or any other group was ruthless with their own members and cut their donkeys loose it would send a message to the others to tighten up or get out. Possibly to the point of the AI (for example) running the table and everyone else scrambling to join.

As an aside, I never talked with any appraiser - including our donkeys - who didn't think their work was just as good as anyone else's. When it comes to people taking shortcuts they invariably think that everyone else does the same and anyone who says differently is just lying.

 

[J Grant]

Nobody is keeping the best/brightest out, or forcing them out. People leave when the ROI is inadequate.

The real issue here is that most mortgage lending clients won't pay SRAs more than the newest CR. They don't pay the have-college appraisers more than the have-nots. They are demonstrating IRL how little they value the higher demonstrated qualifications. Which is to say, they don't value the higher qualifications at all. That outcome is directly attributable to the users' priorities, not to the regulatory process.

If - as a group - these lenders valued the SRA more then the SRAs would run the table and everyone would have the incentive to work toward that designation. The AI membership rolls would flourish. Instead, we have (some) SRAs who have busted their tail to earn the designation and paid the annual dues who ended up dropping their designations because of the inadequate ROI. That isn't the fault of the Appraisal Institute in the establishment and promulgation of the higher level of qualifications, but in the market where price matters to the buyers and users of those appraisals.

Fair and just ain't got nothing to do with that.

This was the point I was making; stakeholders see that people are not entering the field for good reason on the res side, the proof is the anemic trickle applying for or graduation PAREA.

It is common sense that the best and the brightest, and the solid middle of decent, quality people, won't train for a field with the terribly low compensation and poor working conditions of the AMC's. The reality is that mortgage lending work remains the dominant p

Their choice was to correct the fees on the AMC side to attract and keep quality people on the res mortgage side, or keep lowering the entry /education and experience bar. They chose option two.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

somebody is accepting multifamilies in my area for $250

WOW... I did an update of a report I did in 2024 and only charged 50% of what I got then since it took we much less time and was a drive-by. $600, $1200 for the original report. They were very happy only paying $600. WTF?