NJ Valuator
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2003
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- New Jersey
My original intention for this site was to make it a private forum like the Florida one operates. However, after posting my question on the General Forum December 20th asking if anyone would be interested in a NJ only forum to date there have been a whopping 470+ views to the topic, but only 10 responses. I therefore came to realize that many people are interested in the NJ site, but for whatever reason simply did not want to take the time to reply to the post; I guess they felt more comfortable remaining in the background and not participating which is perfectly okay as I have no problem with that.
I therefore have come to the conclusion, and would like your feedback, that rather than having anyone interested in the NJ site first have to email me in order to join, that we should allow the forum to be open to all thus not requiring any exclusive membership. The reasoning is that most people are probably not going to take the time to email me that he or she is interested in joining. Again, they are interested in the site and would like to view the posts as evidenced by 470+ views, but simply do not want to have to join in order to do so. As a result, if people are not required to "join" than more folks would most likely view and take part in the forum.
The forum, however, will still be New Jersey based and oriented. Discussing appraisal related issues in the Garden State will be the focal point of this site.
The other criteria for membership is that you MUST BE AN HONEST APPRAISER. If you are a numbers hitter and care more about making money at the expense of an accurate, credible report, you are not welcome. Appraisers utilizing comparable sales that are not representative of the subject or from different market areas in order to hit a predetermined number are not welcome. Appraisers who find out the sales price or what is needed for the loan and works in reverse to figure out how he or she can come up with that number are not welcome. In other words, appraisers who are obeying demands for fixed values and tainting the entire profession and making it very difficult for the ethical appraiser who wants to complete a reputable appraisal to do so are not welcome.
I finish the first NJ post with the following question:
Should we make the forum private(which may limit participants, but keep it exclusive to NJ appraisers) OR simply leave it open to the public(which will most likely result in more participants, but allow non NJ appraisers to view) OR keep it open to the public temporarily until the word has gotten out that the forum exists and there has been a reasonable amount of exposure. Once people have already participated in the site when it is public, they will more likely continue with it if it ever goes private.
Please let me know your opinion of what I have conveyed.
A. keep it public?
B. go private?
C. stay public temporarily until enough folks find out about the site as evidenced from the number of views and then eventually go private?
I therefore have come to the conclusion, and would like your feedback, that rather than having anyone interested in the NJ site first have to email me in order to join, that we should allow the forum to be open to all thus not requiring any exclusive membership. The reasoning is that most people are probably not going to take the time to email me that he or she is interested in joining. Again, they are interested in the site and would like to view the posts as evidenced by 470+ views, but simply do not want to have to join in order to do so. As a result, if people are not required to "join" than more folks would most likely view and take part in the forum.
The forum, however, will still be New Jersey based and oriented. Discussing appraisal related issues in the Garden State will be the focal point of this site.
The other criteria for membership is that you MUST BE AN HONEST APPRAISER. If you are a numbers hitter and care more about making money at the expense of an accurate, credible report, you are not welcome. Appraisers utilizing comparable sales that are not representative of the subject or from different market areas in order to hit a predetermined number are not welcome. Appraisers who find out the sales price or what is needed for the loan and works in reverse to figure out how he or she can come up with that number are not welcome. In other words, appraisers who are obeying demands for fixed values and tainting the entire profession and making it very difficult for the ethical appraiser who wants to complete a reputable appraisal to do so are not welcome.
I finish the first NJ post with the following question:
Should we make the forum private(which may limit participants, but keep it exclusive to NJ appraisers) OR simply leave it open to the public(which will most likely result in more participants, but allow non NJ appraisers to view) OR keep it open to the public temporarily until the word has gotten out that the forum exists and there has been a reasonable amount of exposure. Once people have already participated in the site when it is public, they will more likely continue with it if it ever goes private.
Please let me know your opinion of what I have conveyed.
A. keep it public?
B. go private?
C. stay public temporarily until enough folks find out about the site as evidenced from the number of views and then eventually go private?
