We Appraisers Finally Have Our Own Union.

[Ruth Potulin]

Hi Wayne,

I read your information about how to access the Old Board. I set my search parameters for all posts within the past 6 months. The browser froze up while downloading at between 6% and 20%. I have to reboot and go back into your website. The back button wouldn't work and it wouldn't let me exit my browser. I would really like to finish reading those informative old posts.

Is there something I am doing wrong, though I'm a veteran websearcher, webmaster and degreed in computers. So I thought perhaps my search parameters were too numerous for the older read only configuration you may be using to access the Old Board.

I was thinking that it would be worthy of time and attention to make those powerhouses of information easily accessible for a very long period of time.

One non-appraiser usersgroup I belong to puts every one of the old posts on another webite of theirs in a read only format as if they were each magazine articles placed under pertinent topics and by dates of posting so their users could go to topics of their choice and be able to see the period of time that the information surfaced and was relevant.

I am wondering if you and those you diligently and excellently are working hard with realize what a treasure trove of pertitient, real world, library of expert, professional real estate appraisers braining storing articles that you have in those historical documents of yours. They are not the Old Board. Perhaps more respect should be paid.

I am looking forward to being able to access those historical documents when I remember a pertinent article I would like to refer to and could easily access them searching by topic and date.

Thank you and all those you work with who are really trying to make a big differnce in the promition of the appraisal profession.

All appraisers I have known are really geniune, honest, good hearted people who definately know their business.

Can you imagine if all appraisers joined together, communicating like your forum is magnificently facilitating, and they found out that their fellow appraisers are worth joining together with, are worth fighing for and are worth defending.

All appraisers are in the trenches together as a profession, but have in the past been separate as people, while each is suffering the increased dis-respect or the fudging a little to beable to support their families.

I am very excited about the fact that we appraisers finally have our own union. Even better yet, not just with any organization, but intrinsically affiliated with the respected AFL-CIO. I have just recently joined and am very excited about what could lie ahead if 100% of appraisers joined our appraisal's union. We could have more power than NAR.

I am sorry to be negative about others, but NAR has never done anything of great benfit for appraisers all those years with all their power. They had the power to make very needed changes for appraiser and they failed to use their power on our behalf.

The soon to be honorable, powerful American Guild of Appraisers is a topic that all appriasers need to get serious about. If appraisers were - all for one and one for all - we could really make a difference in our repectable profession and even increase our own self esteem in the process.

God Bless,

Ruth Potulin

 

[Head Surfer]

Hi Wayne,

I read your information about how to access the Old Board. I set my search parameters for all posts within the past 6 months. The browser froze up while downloading at between 6% and 20%. I have to reboot and go back into your website. The back button wouldn't work and it wouldn't let me exit my browser. I would really like to finish reading those informative old posts.
lin

Don't do that! You were asking it to give you over 25,000 posts in one browser window! No wonder your browser froze up you ran your computer out of memory asking it to display in one browser window over 25,000 posts!

Just search by keywords for those posts containing the subject that you are interested in. If you truly want to browse all posts do it like this:

Put a date range of not more than 1 week at a time! It will still return in excess of 1500 posts so it is better to be on DSL or Cable modem and have a computer with lots of memory. And you will get a list of posts, stacked one on top of the other, that are not organized, just like the old board.

This is one big reason we changed formats. Only the most recent 2,500 posts were available for browsing on the old format anyway, the rest were in the archives.

The new format is much better! I began with our first appraisers forum in 1998. This is the only the third software package that we have used during that time. We don't change for sake of change. There has to be a real need. The old system was very limited. While it may have looked like there were a lot of posts to browse there was only the latest 2,500, which was 7-10 days. And they were stacked one on top of the other, when you clicked them, you had to click on each reply, again, stacked one on top of the other. There was no categories, or separate "Forums" to arrange the topics in. It was okay to come read the recent posts from today, or yesterday, but to read about a subject from 2 or 3 weeks ago, forget it! So can you see why something needed to be done?

Other than the 2,500 posts that were on the old board, the rest were in the archives, just like they are now! Most people never got beyond the main page because the amount of posts were so overwhelming. With the new system,and their arrangement into forums, plus the fact they are stored in an SQL data base means that we can have many more messages online and available for reference.

The format that the old messages in are the best that can be arranged, given the software they were written with. If I made it to where all the messages came up when someone loaded the old board it would crash their browser just like it crashed yours.

 

[Ruth Langkawel]

Every organization can use more ruth. It keeps them from being ruthless :wink:

I'm a member of the Appraisers Guild also. A decision that was not easy for me - as "union" has not always had a good image for me. I have witnessed goons and thugs involved in union activities. It was nearly 30 years ago - but the memory is still vivid. I was very reticent to affiliate with a union. But, after lengthy and serious deliberation, I concluded that it was the strongest chance that we have to turn around the destructive forces against our profession.

You have impressive verbal skill (in writing anyway). I'm sure we'll share politically activism as well as our first name.

Welcome aboard 8)

 

[David C. Johnson]

Ruths:

Don't think I am knocking the idea. I am interested in learning more about it.

dcj

 

[Ruth Potulin]

Thank you, Wayne, for your "old forum" search information.

Thank you, Ruth Langkawel, for your kind words to me and for your support of our union.

Thank you, David Johnson, for wanting to learn more about the union.
I have received emails from other people who also wanted to know more about the union. Some appraisers didn't know we finally have an appraiser's union, so I thought I would post how to find out more from the union's website for those who are interested.

To get to the American Guild of Appraisers webpages go to:
www.opeiu.org which brings you to the Office and Professional Employees International Union website. On the first paragraph of that page click on the link "American Guild of Appraisers" to go to the appraiser's union "Mission Statement" which is written by William Sentner the President of our union. At the bottom of that page you will find the phone number, email address and mailing address of our union.

Also, click on the link button at the top right corner of the "Mission Statement" page which reads "Views/Discuss" to go to a page that will let you into their forums. Click on "Guild-44-The American Guild of Appraisers" to go to the appraiser's union forum which is moderated by Alan Sims. In this forum you can post your ideas, concerns and goals for our union and the appraisal field. Rest assured the management of the union reads your posts with great interest. You can make a difference. Please click on my post entitled "Our Union Needs All Appraisers To Support It".

The application to join the appraisers union can also be accessed on their website. It needs to be printed, filled out and mailed in. Our union needs the financial and intellectual support of all appraisers in order to get up and running in full force and effect. Finally there is a way for all appraisers from all different backgrounds who are members of different appraisal organizations, to join together as one powerful unit.

Let me know what you think about it.

Thank you,
Ruth Potulin

 

[Restrain]

The idea of the Appraisal Guild is attractive. What turns me off to it is the fact that it tends to march lock-step with the AFL-CIO which has become a very liberal organization and supports all Democrat Liberal ideas, even those which adversely affect its membership.

If the Appraisal Guild wants to attract membership, it should move to become more mainstream and separate itself from the political extremes of the leadership of the AFL-CIO.

 

[Ruth Potulin]

Dear R Strahan:

What excited me the most when I heard about the appraiser's union is the very fact that it is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. I am a conservative Republican, but I also know that if our union is going to be able to make the desprately needed changes that our profession is in need of (for instance, stopping the pressure to make obsurd values in order to make a living), then we would have to have REAL power behind us.

Look past their political agenda on issues that don't affect us, and think of what we need them to do for us. If our union was mainsream and not affiliate with a powerful entity, it would be no different than any other appraisal organization with no power to do anything. As we have seen in the past.

I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of being pressured and brow beaten by the mortgage industry in order to stay in the appraisal profession. Appraisers deserve to be respected, allowed to be independent in arriving at values, and be paid no matter what value they independently reach, otherwise what's the point of having appraisers if the appraisers are just coming in at whatever value the sales price is.

With the appraisers union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, appraisers, for the first time in our professional lives, could have our own power. We as appraisers don't even know what its like to have power over our own fate. We have been so walked-on and degraded to such a degee for so long.

A simple thing the appraiser's union could do for us that could make big changes in that respect is likened to what the National Association of Realtors did for their members. NAR made sure that a check was written to the broker directly our of escrow so that no one had control over Realtor's fees. NAR didn't do that for us and they could have.

If our powerful union required that appraisers were cut a check directly out of escrow and mailed to the appraiser by the escrow company, then mortgage companies would no longer have control over us by threatening not to pay us our accounts receivable if we didn't make values for them.

Our fee is the only amount included in the mortgate company's check that DOESN'T BELONG TO THEM. I know for a fact there are hundreds of thousands of dollars of appraiser's fees that were never paid to the appraiser by mortgage companies. Why are they paid our fee and then we have to chase them all over town trying to get the fee from them. That is ridiculous.

Think of the possibilities if we had real power for once and overlook some things associated with being affiliated with power. It can't be worse than being a pressured and threatened in order to stay in your own profession.

Sincerely,
Ruth Potulin

 

[Ruth Potulin]

I have received several emails asking how to access the Appraiser Guild's membership application and how to get questions answered.

The Office & Professional Employees International Union's (OPEIU) website has been changed, so the URL you should use to access the American Guild of Appraiser's home page, instead of going through the OPEIU home page is:

www.opeiu.org/appraisers/index.htm

That brings you to the Mission Statement page. Scroll down to the bottom where there is the link "AGA Membership Application". Click on that link and a PDF file comes up so that you can print out the application. You can then fill it out and mail it in with $175.00 membership fee.

While you are at the bottom of the Mission Statement page, click on the the link just above the application link, "An Argument for an Appraisers Union", which is an excellent article written by a concerned and informed appraiser, Ernest R. Darpino, PhD, IFAS, ASA, GAA.

Also, at the bottom of the Mission Statement page is Alan Sim's email address: appraisers@alansims.com. He is very helpful. The American Appraisers Guild's address is also on that page.

Ask your questions and discuss your concerns. Information is power.

Sincerely,
Ruth Potulin

 

[David C. Johnson]

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

William Sentner mentioned some accomplishments of The Guild in a previous post which sounded fairly impressive. Do you know what's currently on the appraiser-related agenda -- ongoing or proposed?

I do not need any of the benefits/services, at least right now -- such as the credit union (already got that), life insurance (even though I have been repeatedly advised recently to increase it) and numerous etceteras, but I like the low dues of $175, and I like the idea of the strong lobbying potential -- which is arguably greater than that of NAR.

I am not sure I completely agree with all of Mr. Sentner's comments on the Departure Provision of USPAP, but there's no doubt I share several of his concerns; and more importantly -- the organization appears to have guts -- which may be a dangerously scarce commodity among appraisal organizations these days.

Also, it's not "in completion" with the other appraiser organizations -- different type "charter."

My inclination is to join.

Regards,

David C. Johnson, Raleigh, NC</span>

 

[TONY B]

THE APPRAISERS GUILD IS VERY ATTRACTIVE FOR SOLIDIFING OUR POLITICAL CLOUT. THE APPRAISERS GUILD IS READY, WILLING AND ABLE TO GO TO BAT FOR US IN A BIG WAY, BOTH LEGISLATIVE LOBBYING AND LEGAL REPRESENTATION IN COURTS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

JUST AN IDEA OF THE CLOUT THE GUILD IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE AFL-CIO HAS: THE AFL-CIO PURCHASES APROXIMATELY 40-60% OF THE PAPER FROM FANNAE-MAE. IMAGINE IF THAT PURCHASER REFUSES TO BUY MORTGAGES MADE WITH AVM'S.