Perils of Pauline!

[Don Clark]

With some rare and notable exceptions this forum has turned into a board bashing forum. I thought this forum was to talk about how to improve the profession, and positive steps taken to do so, All I hear reminds me of the old Movies I watched as a kid. How the evil man was foreclosing on the mortgage and poor Pauline and her kids were going to be kicked off their land. Come on folks. Surely there is something to talk about except how "Appraiser Good Guy" is being screwed by the NCAB, or whatever board where ever in the country. How about some reporting on what YOU have done to make things better :?:

What have YOU done in contacting your political representatives and asking for some action :?: What have YOU done that has or is going to change the system :?:

We could take a few of the very lengthy post on this forum and create a day time soap opera :roll:

Maybe we should rename this particular forum the "They did me wrong" forum.

Please, what have any of you done, in a positive or political way, to change the system :?:

I am sitting here and visualizing a black cloud over many heads. How do you get through the day like that :?:

Come on! Surely there is one person with something positive to say, like the new laws in North Carolina to help an appraiser get paid, or in Virginia where the composition of the board was changed to add more appraisers to the board. How about some of those comments for a change. And, yes, I know, there has been a lot of injustice at the hands of several boards. We have experienced some of that in Virginia in the early days until appraisers started hiring lawyers to represent them. Yes, there is plenty of bad things that happen to good people. But please, there must be some positive stuff too.

What have YOU done to make it better for everyone :?:

How about some of those comments. Otherwise, you might as well contact Hollywood about a new soap opera. The script has already been written here.

Don

 

[Wally Jones]

Guilty as charged.

Thanks for the slap, Don. I admit that in posting my little whines about being done wrong, I rationalized that I would find a way to "get back" at the perpetrators. My other lame excuse is I'm relatively new to the profession and I'm still struggling to find out how to fight injustice without a cape and a trusty sidekick.

Well, it's working a little, actually. Through this forum I have discovered there may be some power in the printed word. I've written local, state and national legislators on the situation in my county and concerning the plight of other appraisers around the nation. I'm considering joining a national organization in the hope of combining my voice with others concerned about making appraising a true profession rather than a joke to be snickered at by loan officers, some real estate agents and the staunch good 'ole boys who don't need no stinking guv'mint to tell them how to do their job.

I'll do my best to reduce my whining and increase my action.

Thanks to all for putting up with me so far.

Wally Jones

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Don:

I am with you. Today's good news is this. About 3 months ago I posted that I had the worst case of lender pressure in my history of business. I contacted Bill Garber at AI and he gave me a contact name at the RTC and FDIC. I wrote a letter telling the story and never heard back from them. Last Friday I was contacted by two investigators who expressed they take these type allegations very seriously. They put me on the speaker phone and I told them what happened and after they were finished, they said thank you and what I have told them warrants further investigation. We said goodby and their speaker phone was still on, right before they hung up, I heard one investigator say to the other that "it sounds like a total audit is warranted". The other replied "sure does". So it sounds as if these guys are responsive.

Steve Vertin

 

[Don Clark]

8)

Wally & Stephen:

Great post.

Wally, after many, many years, and at 65 years old I recently joined the NAIFA for the reasons you noted. I also belong to my states Association of Realtors appraisal section. I am on the BOD for the Virginia Association of Realtors Appraisal Section, and i am joining an Association in North Carolina where I also do business.

Stephen:

Great, great post.

Don

 

[David C. Johnson]

<span style='color:darkblue'>Don,

Good point. We are often not very good at mentioning the victories in efforts to make improvements. Here is a small one (but only of marginal significance to appraisers) I sure never would have thought to mention without this post of yours.

Remember the lady, Carla Virga, who had a serious problems with Terminix as well as several state regulatory agencies in California including their appraisal board?

I was contacted by a journalist recently regarding problems in the pest control industry as he had read a comment from me I wrote on Carla's website while signing her site's "Visitor List." I spoke with him for a while on the phone.

I just sent an email to Carla to see if an article was ever published and will post here what I learn from her. If she is unaware of the article, I will then email the writer. The following is the correspondence. Note that his original email was to BoardWatchOrg, which is another address of mine and is apparently the one I provided on her site. I then forwarded it to my main email address, appraisco@aol.com. I am sure the journalist would not mind the reprinting of his email's text.

By the way, this thread was cut short by the move to the new board. My guess is that if the thread had continued, we would have made a believer out of Damon Pedersen who posted back to Carla's posts on the forum. I am suspicious that he had not carefully read her entire site before commenting in the thread. Part of the story is sometimes "worse" than none of the story.

Thanks, Don.

Good idea for the thread. I can think of a few more-appraiser-related victories recently, but will not go into detail now. Overall, we are all making a positive contribution on this forum just by becoming aware of the issues. The media and others have been tuning in from time to time, and that is very important from several standpoints.

Regards,

David C. Johnson, Raleigh
_____________

Subj: Pest Control
Date: 4/24/02 6:36:41 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: BoardWatchOrg
To: rmalkin@hearst.com
BCC: Appraisco

In a message dated 4/22/02 4:12:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rmalkin@hearst.com writes:

<< My name is Ryan Malkin and I am a reporter for SmartMoney magazine (The Wall
Street Journal Magazine of Personal Finance). I am currently researching a story
on the pest control industry and came across your comment on the consumer
syix.com website. I am very interested in speaking to you about your experience
with pest control professionals (or your clients). Please reply with your
telephone number and a good time to call or feel free to give me a call anytime
at 212-830-9275.

Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,
Ryan Malkin
___________________

-- TELEPHONE CONVERSATION --
___________________

Subj: Pest Control Forum Link...
Date: 4/24/02
To: rmalkin@hearst.com
BCC: appraisco@aol.com

Ryan:

Sorry, I should have mentioned that the relevant post series are found on
the "Old Board" (which may be hard to find / link to).

In fact, this thread was interrupted by the site owner doing a MAJOR
renovation and change to the forum format. That is when this and
several other threads "terminated."

Stick in the following URL:

http://appraisersforum.com/bbs/index.cgi?read=29463

It was good to speak with you. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Regards,

David C. Johnson
919-834-8080</span>

 

[David C. Johnson]

<span style='color:darkblue'>UPDATE: Carla Virga indicates "[t]he article is scheduled for August. "

dcj</span>