VA Going Regional Across the Country ?

[Joe Birrell (NY)]

Yesterday, I received a letter from VA Regional Office in Manchester, NH(I'm in downstate NY). Letter indicates effective prior to 10/1/02 VA appraisal activity in NY will be taken over by NH. They are requiring all appraisers on VA roster to attend a mandatory meeting (or you get dumped off the list).

Their letter indicates "..we will have a meeting to introduce members
of our staff and review VA appraisal procedures"......The meeting is 2 hours long on a Tuesday afternoon in July, in Albany. Albany is a 5 hour drive from here. So I have to drive 10 hours to say "hello" and review procedures that are as simple as ABC. Give me a break !

IS THIS HAPPENING IN OTHER AREAS ?

 

[Don Clark]

8)

Joe:

Yep! All over the country. My region(Roanoke, VA) has taken over several areas in the past 2 years and will soon take over more. We have a great region. They travel to us to do Fee Panel training. However, I would drive as far as I needed to to stay on the panel.

Don :wink:

 

[mikegoff]

Been over a year since we've had a meeting in Florida, but we typically meet once a year.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Mike, is your yearly meeting mandatory?

 

[mikegoff]

Hi Pam,
The meeting is mandatory and very informative as far as changes in VA procedures, minimum property standards, proposed construction, etc

 

[Richard Carlsen]

We have a mandatory meeting in Detroit once a year. That’s about 3 ½ hours’ drive. Fortunately, they schedule it when the snow flies and the roads are bad and the appraisal business is a little slower. I use it to stay with a friend and visit the Bass Pro Shop down there.

Detroit is merging, or has merged into the Cleveland unit. We still have a couple of appraisal staff in Detroit but we are not sure for how long. It actually does not matter as all contact except for annual meeting is via phone and e-mail.

One thing I am proud of the VA for is their stand on .pdf. If a client can't take .pdf or won't, we send them 1 copy via snail mail. That is what we are told to do. If a lender is overdue on an invoice, we can tell them that the appraisal is finished and will be sent as soon as we receive payment. VA won't get involved with collections but they gave us a little leverage in getting paid.