Retiring From Appraisal: Tail-End Coverage+

[RCA]

So what's the cost to keep the SRA over two years? No AI CE required if you are in "retired status"?

You are right. But for the AI, the period is 5 years -- and they are a bit lenient on the time it seems. Going to conferences almost gives you enough points although you have to take a few of the usual core courses (online). It's not much. And I occasionally like to go to conferences anyway, - if they are not more than $200.

 

[RCA]

I don’t think anyone’s arguing that in today’s appraisal profession client relationships really don’t exist. Some of us are lucky to have long-term clients that have stuck with us and haven’t sold out to one of the handful of massive appraisal management companies that control the market. Some of us still have a couple local professionals who have tried to keep that personal relationship in real estate alive. Similar to what every appraisal client relationship was 25 years ago. Those are really the only clients that are worth a damn of these days.

Folks that ran successful appraisal companies, 20 and 30 years ago, would most likely be out of business today. This used to be something that if you did a good job, worked hard, and had a little bit of business sense, and understood customer service, you could make a good living in. You could actually raise a family working in this profession, imagine that.

Sad to say, but none of those things matter when you’re working for class , clear capital solidify, etc.

Phil Crawford was right years ago when he started talking about they don’t want professionals, they want this to be a $25 an hour analyst job. That’s not really a conspiracy theory, that’s exactly what the large firms are advertising. I saw something yesterday where they put out a post asking why appraisers are only licensed in one state? You should be doing appraisals all over the country for them.

I remember this add by Russ Freeman from around 2001, that was bragging about how his residential appraisers could make something like $150K per year ( I don't remember exactly ). Well probably they could, if they were the so-called "skippies." - Russ once told me he made $600k+ the previous year and I do believe him, as he had a nice BMW SUV at the time. I worked for him for less than one year, as well as for an MAI in my area off and on. As soon as I got my license, I started working on my own, because I didn't agree with his $25/sf methods - I wanted to use MARS and more advanced methods and so on. Russ was smart for an appraiser. He had been Chief Appraiser back in the 80's for some well known bank up in Sonoma. He knew vast areas of Northern California very well, although when he hired me - he was working out of Carlsbad. He had a number of appraisers working for him throughout the state.

The Board once called me about him and asked what I thought about him. - I said I didn't have a very good impression of the other appraisers he hired and that I had bumped into or worked with, but that he did a very good knowledge of the subject-matter and seemed to have memorized Fannie Mae guidelines and other regs and could rattle them off on the spot. He was brazen. He was his own attorney. - And he was bound to run into problems with the Board. He finally lost his license for not giving credit to trainees, as I recall. Honestly I did have a bit of difficulty getting copies of signed appraisals from him when I went to apply for my license. But he seemed to be a bit afraid of not eventually giving in to my requests. He stalled as long as he could, and I wound up working for him 3 months longer than I should have. Yea, it took a bit of prodding. Anyway, he sent me all over Northern California - as far as Nevada County, Mendocino, and 15 other counties. It was a good experience, if a lot of driving. I lost money working for him, of course. On my own, it was much better, as I didn't have to worry about a split.

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The overall management of lending is sloppy, that is why it is a problem for appraisers. If they tighten up the entire system of efficiently providing homes to hard-working Americans, centralizing responsibility for the entire lifecycle of homeowners buying, maintaining and liquidating homes, from beginning to end, under one roof, for profit, then I imagine that residential appraisal will start to look different.

 

[gregb]

And I occasionally like to go to conferences anyway

Is this above budget?

https://norcal-AI.org/event/2024-monterey-bay-appraisal-seminar-mbas/

https://norcal-AI.org/event/2024-monterey-bay-appraisal-seminar-mbas/

 

[Non Sequitur]

I can retain my AI SRA Designation as a "Retired Member" at a reduced fee of about $636/year.

Save your money or send it to a non-profit that has open meetings. And don't worry about them coming after you for using the letters you earned, just stop paying dues and join the ranks of thousands that they have lost track of but still count.

Enjoy your retirement.

 

[George Hatch]

Bert, just do what you want to do. You have nothing to justify and nobody to justify it to.

 

[Dale Floyd]

I agree with George. One of the great things about living in "aMerica" is to be able to decide without asking blog participants about our futures.

BTW Bert - As you may recall, I sought your permission to use the "With Respect to Low Cost Appraisals" article you penned in a newsletter several months ago. Really appreciate you allowing us to use it.

 

[djd09]

being AI is like being on epstiens client list....membership has it's privileges

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Due to low fees and lack of GSE orders from AMCs, no interest to spend time pounding the pavement for other types of appraisal business and a need to adjust to lower income levels, I decided to let my appraisers' license expire last month.

I also declared retirement to my insurance provider LIA. As a result, I get unlimited Tail-End coverage for past appraisals (since I am over 65 and have had insurance with them for 5+ years. I figure the license + insurance was costing me $2,000/year, so that is good money saved for better things like a more advanced computer in another 2-3 years.

I will still retain my California Real Estate Brokers License, which gives me access to broker feeds and real estate listing data for basically the entire state of California.

I can retain my AI SRA Designation as a "Retired Member" at a reduced fee of about $636/year.

So, I can focus (as I have been since 2022) on research, analysis, writing articles, and developing valuation programs for the future.

In particular, I will write technical articles on advanced valuation for my new Journal "Valuation Engineering." Some of which may be interesting to forum members. Not the kind of crap you find in "The Appraisal Journal" - but very down-to-earth specific techniques and analysis - that will get into computer programming, partial differential equations, non-parametric statistics, AI, graphing, cluster analysis, GIS (QGIS), and so on - without limit. In fact, I'd just love to some Group Theory and Prolog - very old favorite topics.

Programs will be published to GitHub and probably Zenodo. Most, I presume, will be Open Source with a GPL-3 license.

And I can work without pressure, when I see fit, as much or as little as I want.

Your advice/perspective is always appreciated, although the potential readership of your new publications woud be increased exponentially if the academic "level" was taken down a few degrees, for dummies like me curious about quantitative analysis...but absent the baseline knowledge needed to interpret/apply the principles. [Just my personal lowbrow opinion.]

 

[Fernando]

Just curious why you’d retire your license but keep your SRA annual $636 dues. I think I’d do just the opposite, and stop paying SRA dues before I’d stop paying for my license.

Also, MLS fees can add up over $2,000/year if you plan to use your Broker license.

 

[Fernando]

guess I was confused by your first paragraph that said due to low fees and lack of GSE orders from AMCs, I’m retiring.

I understand that position, it’s a difficult one that we were all put into by the unethical players at the top. You even had one of them congratulate you on a retirement decision that his employers policies led you to make. Notice they don’t say- please reconsider, the GSEs want the best, most experienced appraisers out there in this profession.

If you have millions stocked away and you’re retiring on your terms, then congrats. If I had a $5M nest egg I might do the same right now too. I’d Leave this 3rd rate profession behind too.

Part of the reason I decided to get into this career was when im 65, 70, 75, I can work as much or as little as I want. It’s a way to still make 2k, $5k, or 15k a month depending on what we want to do.

I don’t agree with all of your viewpoints on this board, but I have no doubt you are a true professional when it comes to appraising. You should be the type this profession wants to keep around as long as you want to be here. And you shouldn’t have to work in a system that was manipulated to the point where the cheapest bunch of **** that can get thrown on a form wins the $275 order.

Would be nice to hear a story from an appraiser in their 70s who decides to retire that passes his 30 year long bank clients to another appraiser they know and trust.

But I do wish you well. Sincerely do. Just always makes me upset when good people leave this profession due to the state it’s in.

The profit margin was much better decades ago. With feels not keeping up with inflation and more demands required by Fannie and longer future forms, old geezards like me find it less and less motivated to take "low fee" orders.
Our business is cyclical depending on refi booms and we're in a downturn and many appraisers will let go of their license.
During Trump's first term, appraisal business wasn't that good. This year doesn't look good either.