Union Time?

[George Hatch]

Put aside the politics and think in terms of practicality. What is and isn't possible.

The operative term for union activities is "collective". A union's primary adversary is not the employer with whom they are negotiating, but other workers who are operating outside of their collective and who undermine their bargaining position with the employer. The whole purpose of a picket line is to dissade/prevent other workers - including their own members - from crossing over and working for the employer on their own and for their individual interests.

We have no physical "workplace" to defend against our competing workers or to defend from our own members acting in their own interests on the individual level. We cannot form or defend any sort of picket line, nor do we have enough interaction with each other to wield the social pressure hammer.

Form a union if you want. See if you can get order some snazzy hats and tees with your union logo (bonus points for incorporating either a hammer or a sickle in your logo). But don't kid yourself into believing you can organize a group of workers whose primary personal attribute is their overt contempt for their clients, their professional orgs, authority figures of any type and especially each other.

 

[leasedfee]

6% commission rate

All of my non-real estate friends and acquaintances like and appreciate their broker. They sell it as a valuable service. I've explained FSBO on occasion and often there is a look of shock; sometimes horror. One buddy thought you had to have a broker.

 

[CindyR]

FYI we do have a union...

http://www.appraisersguild.org/

 

[djd09]

If we can get an office on 15th street near fannie new building, like revaa, maybe that could even the table.

Now if AF could get off 15th street, maybe that could even the table.

15th street seems like the place to be for valuation advocacy.

 

[timd354]

(bonus points for incorporating either a hammer or a sickle in your logo). .

that is an entertaining comment right there

 

[Meandering]

ffice and Professional Employees International Union was chartered in 1945 and with over 104,000 strong, we’re one of the larger unions of the AFL-CIO. OPEIU has local unions throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada and the District of Columbia. You are not alone when you join with OPEIU. Click here to find an OPEIU Local Union where you live.

OPEIU members work in many settings as varied as banking and credit unions, insurance, higher education, shipping, hospitals, nursing homes, medical clinics, social services, utilities, transportation, manufacturing, hotels, offices and more.

Professional organizations and guilds affiliated with the OPEIU are a diverse group which includes physicians, optometrists, pharmacists, chiropractors, appraisers, podiatrists, clinical social workers, biofeedback practitioners, acupuncturists, hypnotists and helicopter pilots. Affiliation with the OPEIU has given these groups more legislative clout and greater access to people who need their services.
http://opeiu.org/NeedAUnion/WhyaUnionwithOPEIU.aspx

.

 

[djd09]

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt.

A Vermont teachers union says its members have voted to strike as two-year contract negotiations stall.

The South Burlington Educations' Association voted Friday to go on strike Wednesday unless they can reach a two-year contract agreement with the South Burlington School Board.

The two sides mediated for hours Thursday night.

Southern Burlington teacher and union spokesman Noah Everitt blamed the school board for leaving the bargaining table and trying to impose terms of employment on the city's teachers.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article176336311.html#storylink=cpy

Here is the lesson one can learn from unions. Too bad appraisers cannot understand the cards they hold.

 

[Gobears81]

All of my non-real estate friends and acquaintances like and appreciate their broker. They sell it as a valuable service. I've explained FSBO on occasion and often there is a look of shock; sometimes horror. One buddy thought you had to have a broker.

After purchasing my current home FSBO (and finding that there is a very thin line between being agreeable and being a doormat), I absolutely see the value of brokers. But, there are brokers with different talent levels and I would recognize just a small percentage of the names of brokers in this town (not working in residential appraising might have something to do with that). That is not to say that all of the lesser-known brokers are devoid of talent, and brokerage firms have figured out ways to utilize some of these guys while maintaining the fixed commission rate, but a more dynamic price point would allow for the top guy to charge say 8%, while a junior broker might charge 3%. The top guy makes more for less work and the junior guy might get more business. It also reduces the oversupply of brokers due to the principle of excess profits breeding ruinous competition. I mention that principle given the level of work often involved by a broker, relative to the commission paid, on so many of these properties.
FWIW, the surprise at the lack of change in pay structures in the technology age also extends to auto sales. Design your own car specs on an internet portal and cut out the middleman seems like a natural progression. I doubt that this has not happened for purely market-based issues.

 

[Riick]

Unionizing appraisers, most of whom are independent business owners makes absolutely no sense. Unions are not for business owners, but are for employees, and most independent appraisers are business owners. What are they going to do, go on strike against themselves? As independent business owners, they could not collude on fees or set up a strike or boycott of any particular lender or AMC with out violating anti-trust laws.

I believe you're viewpoint on this issue is confused.
Independent appraisers are treated, for tax & other legal purposes,
as business owners. However, when they are operating in an
environment where there is an oligopoly ("...a state of limited competition,
in which a market is shared by a small number of producers or sellers"),
a free-market, which is what you're envisioning, does *not* exist.

It's one thing when there are thousands of "employers", including,
big banks, small banks, credit unions, mortgage brokers, and yes,
AMCs, looking to hire the services of an appraiser. It's quite another
scenario, when the market for a group of some 50-70,000 appraisers
-read employees- is effectively reduced to under 1,000 (??) "employers"
(most being AMCs).
A concentrated force like that cannot be resisted by a vague group
with no effective group "force", even guerrilla warfare needs someone
or something to band together the peasants so they can as is said
"harass the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging their communications
and supply lines"

How do we as a group do that? Look to the the AMA, the NAR, and the
BAR Association for models.
We do need an Association that can effectively argue *for* us as a group.

 

[leasedfee]

but a more dynamic price point would allow for the top guy to charge say 8%, while a junior broker might charge 3%.

A decade ago in the library stacks I stumbled upon a dusty book from the 50s/60s called something like Why Wages Are Inflexible Downward, or perhaps Why Wages Don't Fluctuate. I didn't read the book, but noted that the guy must have decent arguments if he managed to write 500 pages on the topic. Of course, that was in the day of big unions, America having the bulk of capital stock and infrastructure after the war, and before contemporary globalism. To answer your question, I think the 6%, 5.8% in Denver, sticks because consumers see that as an tolerable price point and anything higher as intolerable: 3%/2.8% to the brokerage. Then the successful agents get a 90%/100% (paying a desk fee) of that 3% from the house while less successful brokers get a smaller split (70%-80%). And volume too, is the big differentiation; and how prominently your listings and face are advertised. In the same way, retailers in particular see rent as a % of their revenue, aiming for 5% to 10% depending on their industry and location. They're not nearly as hung-up on $/sf as we are.