Who's Quitting?

[Tomasz]

I'm getting out after 16 years. I still don't know how I'm getting out or where I'm headed, I'm still working on that part. I would like to go back to school and get into the health care field or something similar as my lifes purpose is to help people.

The problem is to be able to pay the bills while I'm in school. Every cent of my savings and retirement has been spent riding out this wave and I realize now that it was a mistake, I should have got out years ago when I had the money to do so.

I encourage all mortgage appraisers to have a "Plan B". We are on a sinking ship.

Stay positive - as I posted earlier, I had saved well more than most financial publications recommend and still managed to deplete savings. I wish everybody the best and I'm confident that opportunities exist for those determined to seek them.

 

[liznindy]

I started a part-time job (25 hr/wk) last winter and continue to do appraising (which is also part-time due to the low volume).

I have my sales license and am assisting my sister in purchasing a home (this will likely not be profitable for me, after expenses, etc.). Don't see a jump coming in the need for buyer agents in the near future!

Going forward, I don't know if I will continue in the appraisal 'profession'. After 12 years of hoping that things would change, it is disappointing to see that the change that appears to be coming is not for the better...(AMC's appear to be winning this one).

I will not and can not afford to work for AMC fees. I make more at my part-time job and get benefits with no pressure for turn-times.

It is sad that lenders do not appear to give any 'value' to the appraisal product and appraisers are viewed by those in the real estate industry as only a necessary evil (instead of being viewed as the only unbiased party in the transaction).

As a trainee, working towards my license, I was surprised by the lender pressure for values (this was not mentioned or suggested in the initial classes I took)...After 12 years, I'm tired of the pressure. Most of the appraisal work I currently have is VA and most of it is liquidation appraisals.

I don't see that the real estate industry as a whole will be bouncing back anytime soon. All those going through foreclosures will not be able to purchase for a few years and I am not sure that we have seen the peak of foreclosures activity as yet.

The mess the real estate industry is in has been coming for a few years (in my opinion) and a number of factors have created the 'perfect storm' (mortgage fraud, overbuilding, loose credit, zero down mortgages, fraudulent appraisals, etc.).

Have you looked at your mutual funds to see how much is invested in financials??? Scarier than the price of gas....

I'll keep my license, MLS fees, software support, E&O for another year and then make a more permanent decision as to my future in this 'profession'.

 

[Joe Booth]

Despite the pressure from the wife and the slow payers, I plan to hang in there. I just got my letter of admission to the certified test and plan to take it. I plan to make a big marketing push after I pass the test. We'll go from there.

 

[Mountain Man]

I'm still rockin' in the commercial appraisal end, my brokerage activity is picking up, and our family building & remodeling biz is still rockin' on. While commercial appraisals have just slowed within the very past few weeks, this month our residential sales have shot up and are outta the roof!

 

[josephdifranco]

I was a bit unsure, thinking when I left the business things would pick up, but I left residential for commercial almost a year ago now and wish I had gone sooner.

This whole situation of the slow market, AMC's, zaio, lender pressure, couldn't suck any worse. I wish everyone the best of luck.

 

[liberated]

Despite the pressure from the wife and the slow payers, I plan to hang in there. I just got my letter of admission to the certified test and plan to take it. I plan to make a big marketing push after I pass the test. We'll go from there.

Way to go...hang in there! Good luck on your exam.

 

[eric van horn]

Totally staying in there. Whatever happens. I like being naive and having a positive attitude though. As only a Licensee, I am really struggling, but so what...

Things are always changing. A proper, well-researched and thoughtful appraisal will never be something a computer can do. Computers don't buy houses, people do. They will never fully understand the buyer's motivation.

 

[J Grant]

well said Eric!

 

[Jim Hill]

Always looking at other options.

Right now I have not completed the 30 hours of CE and I am still thinking about which way to go before the end of the year. when I would have to renew my license.

I have for the past 25 years always had more then one business going at a time and I thank my lucky stars because my other two business are going well and paying all the bills.

My appraissal business is on life support and just not sure what I want to do with it next.

Right now there are just so many questions about what will happen next with us and fannie and just how this whole mess will shake out.

I do not know the answers to many of these questions and I really don't think other appraisers do either. Some claim to know but in most of us are not sure what is going to happen after 1-1-2009

This past week I did talk with another appraiser who has been in business for over 10 years and they told me they are getting out for good.

That now makes six state certified appraisers who are leaving for good that I know of.

I will do some soul searching before Nov. 30 and I only wish I saw some light at the end of the tunnel for this business but right now it kind of crazy.

Jim

 

[Al Merrick]

I drive a truck now.