You want to be taken seriously? Talk like.

[Atlanta CG]

OK, now a rant from a loyal reader who is just frustrated and tired from 51 weeks of (little) work and waiting for Saturday to start his one week's annual vacation with the family.
Lots of talk about the lack of professional fees in our industry, about little respect for our knowledge and importance in the lending process and oncoming changes that may marginalize our position even more.
Yet, what I read sounds more like my 3-year old grandkids talking: "...me and my staff", "..."there sales are not what I....", "...us appraisers need to....", .......
And, to rant more, how do you expect others to respect our professionalism by sending them to this forum to view the comments, arguments, and opinions with names we hide under that are better suited to Saturday Night Live shows or Wrestlemania? Can you imagine Tom Brokaw, taking over from Russert, telling the viewers that (such as- and I'm making this up but you get the picture) "Pieface" on Appraiser's Forum states that we should listen to his professional opinon on the role of appraisers in this economy, or some such.
WE are professionals, and as such we should at least present ourselves as such at a minimum. Most of us have time on our hands now. Pick up your old English grammar book and time block even 15 minutes a day to review it. Put it in your library so at least 5 minutes a day is spent viewing it. Think about who we respect and if they were referred to as the same moniker as you are, would your respect be the same?
It does not take much. We do not need to be English majors, but we should be able to converse with minimal grammatical errors. Learn a new word, even if it is one a week. Using it in a report, or in conversation, that may better express what we are trying the reader to understand. It will be more effective and perhaps impress the client and make them understand that we are better than average, that we work hard to continue our education, not only in real estate but in communication in general so we are taken more seriously in our profession. And, as a result, earn the respect and the $$$ that it creates.
10-4, end of rant.

 

[c w d]

John, I agree with you. It's all about professionalism. Naive and asinine posts such as yours aren't going to improve upon this forum's professionalism. So,what's your point?

 

[Robert Muir]

John, I agree with you, any and all written transactions should be in a professional format, including emails. Many people (professionals) abbreviate emails into simple phone text sentences. How many times has someone received an email order that did not have all the information you need to proceed. As for improving the lunk heads in this forum, (me included) is a hard task, we as appraisers are an independent sort of creature that doesn’t take criticism lightly. Mostly the forum is a relaxed place for us to talk (or rant) and not worry about watching our P’s and Q’s. If you are telling us to improve ourselves for our profession, then yes, we all agree with you. If you telling us to improve our postings here in the forum, well, that will be nigh on impossible. Most postings are quick and easy postings, whether humorous or serious, but are just quick thoughts.
As for the 'word a week', I agree, but don’t include them in your reports unless you want to spend your time educating the loan officer or underwriter. I have been there and done that, I have enough things to explain in the appraisal report. You have to remember who our target audience is. It will not do us any good if we talk over their heads.

Bob

 

[Lawrence R.]

OK, now a rant from a loyal reader who is just frustrated and tired from 51 weeks of (little) work and waiting for Saturday to start his one week's annual vacation with the family.
Lots of talk about the lack of professional fees in our industry, about little respect for our knowledge and importance in the lending process and oncoming changes that may marginalize our position even more.
Yet, what I read sounds more like my 3-year old grandkids talking: "...me and my staff", "..."there sales are not what I....", "...us appraisers need to....", .......
And, to rant more, how do you expect others to respect our professionalism by sending them to this forum to view the comments, arguments, and opinions with names we hide under that are better suited to Saturday Night Live shows or Wrestlemania? Can you imagine Tom Brokaw, taking over from Russert, telling the viewers that (such as- and I'm making this up but you get the picture) "Pieface" on Appraiser's Forum states that we should listen to his professional opinon on the role of appraisers in this economy, or some such.
WE are professionals, and as such we should at least present ourselves as such at a minimum. Most of us have time on our hands now. Pick up your old English grammar book and time block even 15 minutes a day to review it. Put it in your library so at least 5 minutes a day is spent viewing it. Think about who we respect and if they were referred to as the same moniker as you are, would your respect be the same?
It does not take much. We do not need to be English majors, but we should be able to converse with minimal grammatical errors. Learn a new word, even if it is one a week. Using it in a report, or in conversation, that may better express what we are trying the reader to understand. It will be more effective and perhaps impress the client and make them understand that we are better than average, that we work hard to continue our education, not only in real estate but in communication in general so we are taken more seriously in our profession. And, as a result, earn the respect and the $$$ that it creates.
10-4, end of rant.

10-4 End of English lesson. Glass houses, Mr. Marshall.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Like too many of our (my) posts....just spit it out and say it plain. No problem here.

 

[Head Surfer]

Moved to "forum help" since this is not really about appraising but about how appraisers talk to each other on this forum.

Really, I think you are over thinking the forum. It is an informal gathering to exchange ideas with others who have an interest in appraisal. Most here are appraisers, but all are not and are not required to be.

Internet forums such as this are informal by nature. No one is graded or tested on their spelling or grammer here, it makes no difference in the scheme of things! We have operated with this inforrmal, open nature for 10 years and it has been successful. If you want a closed, more narrow minded focus there are such forums available.

So enjoy, be civil, and not so critical of your peers and those who share an interest in appraisal.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Like, nobody important takes this forum seriously, dude!

This is the like biggest bunch of crusaders with like their own personal crusades.

Fannie Mae don't care what we like think.

TAF don't care what we like think.

Cuomo don't care what we like think.

I don't care what most of these sum-o-beeches think.


If you think about it, it does present our profession appropriately. Most appraisers are idiots that don't really know how to appraise properly. Just look at how many appraisal 101 questions are posted daily. Then look at how many wrong answers are given and how many suspect answers are defended and debated.

People log on here and complain about everything, but don't want to face facts about their own limitations. When Fannie Mae can't get appraisers to perform REO appraisals correctly to the point that they think BPO's are more reliable and quite frankly are in many cases, we need to re-examine ourselves before we start complaining. Fannie Mae is very close to eliminating appraisals on REO properties because appraisers do such a poor job that BPO's are more reliable. If nothing else is a testament to our profession, that certainly is!

I don't know why I hang out here with so many loosers (the official forum idiot's spelling).

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Moved to "forum help" since this is not really about appraising but about how appraisers talk to each other on this forum.

Really, I think you are over thinking the forum. It is an informal gathering to exchange ideas with others who have an interest in appraisal. Most here are appraisers, but all are not and are not required to be.

Internet forums such as this are informal by nature. No one is graded or tested on their spelling or grammer here, it makes no difference in the scheme of things! We have operated with this inforrmal, open nature for 10 years and it has been successful. If you want a closed, more narrow minded focus there are such forums available.

So enjoy, be civil, and not so critical of your peers and those who share an interest in appraisal.

It's "grammar" surfer dude!

 

[Head Surfer]

It's "grammar" surfer dude!

Bet you had to run it through spell check to find that error, else you would have spotted it the first time you read my post!

If you guys would use the same creativity you exhibit on this forum to find more business you wouldn't have time to be frustrated with each other's spelling and uh.. g-r-a-m-m-a-r.

 

[TC]

Mr. Marshall, your preeching two the choir with me.

Duckie Boy, it's not nice to criticise the Head Surfer.

TC