Why be a member of a professional organization

[bradellis]

Ter,

You raised an interesting point about geographic concerns for some who must travel for CE or an assoc. meeting. It is true, but...

I am wondering why this is any different from other aspects of life? If you choose to live in a rural community (by choice or family heritage), do you not have to put up with the disadvantages attendant to that in order to get the advantages?

I drive 31.9 miles to work. 1-1.5 hours each way (yep- LA freeways). If I lived in rural AR, I could go that in what, 25-30 minutes? But, I would also not have easy access to lots of other things.

If I were a doctor in your area and wanted to attend an AMA chapter meeting, would I not have to drive a long way? if I were a lawyer and wanted to serve on an ethics committee, would I not be faced with the same thing?

When you make a choice on where you live and work, it all comes into play. Some trade lack of access to museums, restaurants, etc. for clean air and no traffic. Others do not.

So, for your circumstance, professional assoc. membership may not make sense. For others it would. JoAnn Meyer Stratton travels considerable distances to attend her AI and NAIFA chapter meetings. She has made her choice, just as you made yours.

I just think it is unreasonable to require easy access to certain things when you make a conscious decision to live far away from those things. It is just as unreasonable for those who choose to live close to those things to expect freedom from the drawbacks like traffic, smog, and noise.

On CE, eventually, some or all of it will be available on-line. It will be available from both the orgs and the proprietary schools. So, you will get to choose whom you pay. For the proprietary schools, those courses will be developed by a very few people with minimum input from others. For orgs, they have a base of thousands of pros to access. For me, and meaning no disrespect to the for profit schools, I'd rather get my ed from the orgs. Again, it is my choice.

Brad Ellis, IFA, RAA

 

[Paul Ness MAI]

AI already has a number of on-line courses. They have a very slick on-line educational system. I have not yet taken any seminars on-line, but have spoken with some who have and plan on taking one before the end of the year.

 

[Red Blumenstock]

Paul Ness,

Hi! I noted that you are planning to take an on line course from the AI. Please be aware that PA does not recognize distance education for continuing education, regardless of which proprietary school or organization offers it. It still would be OK for AI Continuing Ed.

Red Blumenstock

 

[Paul Ness MAI]

Hi Red, Yes I am painfully aware of PA's limitations on CE. I'm taking it only for my MAI CE.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

The biggest mistake was when the Institute of Real Estate Appraisers felt they were too big to remain under the NAR umbrella. It's been down hill ever since.

I was following the path to the RM, then the SRA, and finally dropped out to join NAR's appraisal section since I also hold the CRB designation. Will I keep it? Most likely...the dues are reasonable and I feel we need some form of unity.

While residential appraisal will change, it is my not so humble opinion we well be here when the dust settles. Look for another big savings and loan fiasco coming soon to your local community.

To those who say, I saw an appraisal from a designated appraiser (insert your own MAI, SRPA, SRA, RM, RAA, SOB) and it was crap....when was the last time someone looked at your work and said the same thing? Those who spend the money and time to take courses, follow a path to designation, and submit to peer review generally are less apt to take short cuts. If I could have my way, I would say...."use only designated appraisers". Lets make it tougher to get into the business, not easier.

Licensing has allowed someone who was flipping burgers at Mickey Dee's to become an appraiser all too easily. You all know the ABQ has a draft resolution which would make a college degree mandatory for all new appraisers or those changing license levels. At first I thought this was a bad idea, now I am not so sure. As a final thought, what happened to the "two year" apprenticeship program. I am seeing people claiming 2,000 hours of experience in 6 months, they just tell the state they are working 16 hours a day doing 4 drivebys every day.

Thus sayth the old guy!

 

[Residential Appraisal Ser]

Paul: That is a misnomer. No moneys that are paid into the Guild are used for any political purposes unless the Guild members thru their repersentives vote on it. All political contrabutions are personal donations. Political contrubutions in each state are OKed by members in that state. The membership raises their own moneys.
It is against the law to do it any other way.

William Sentner
President
American Guild of Appraisers OPEIU AFL-CIO

 

[Paul Ness MAI]

Bill, Are you saying that none of the AGA dues money gets passed through to the OPEIU, and that none of that money in turn gets passed through to the AFL-CIO, and that none of the money in the coffers of the AFL-CIO goes into the political arena? That's a tough one for me to swallow. I'm not crazy about my money getting passed that far down the pipeline that it gets diluted with other non-appraisal related unions. As you can guess by now, I'm not a supporter of labor unions, but to each his own.

 

[Ben Vukicevich SRA]

Oregon Doug,

Come on, pay those dues. Once an SRA, always an SRA. I paid mine just in time to avoid the 15% late penalty. Hey, look at it this way. We all belonged to the SREA and the AIREA and didn't complain about paying two sets of dues for the SRA and RM designations, so AI just combined the two dues into one big one when they merged


Red,

I'm currently trying to out-think PA's ban on on-line education. I let my PA General license expire and I'm now in the process of reapplying again via reciprocity with NJ to get it back. I'll let you know how I make out with it.

CE, such silly stuff.

Paul,

If you were an old guy like me [48], you wouldn't be mandatory CE. I get to float. I'm not mandatory CE and I never do any more than my state licensed counterparts. AI's got to lose that excessive CE stuff.

Ben

 

[Residential Appraisal Ser]

Paul: We pay a per Capita to OPEIU and AFL-CIO for our lobby effort etc.
It is against the law for union member dues to be used for political contrubutions unless given premission by the union member. They do have a large PAC. this is through individual donations and fund raisers.

Bill Sentner AGA OPEIU AFL-CIO
RESASINC@aol.com