It appears that a battle is being waged over who will control appraisers and the appraisal industry.  Will it be the federal government, the state government, some agency or group of agencies within the financial system, the real estate industry, or an as yet unidentifed player?  It really does make a difference, if we are controlled by real estate agents or mortgage brokers we might as well do something else, because its no longer about providing an unbiased opinion of value . . its about bringing in the numbers.  That's not providing an appraisal its just using a rubber stamp.

There are articles on this site that discuss the increasing use of broker price opinions BPOs, they are now being used to establishing short sale values and for mortgage lending purposes.  The use of BPOs for these purposes is a recipe for disaster.  

2010 may well be the year that ends the residential real estate appraisal business as we know it.  If broker price opinions are the future, there is no way that having a residential appraisal license makes any sense.  The appraisal organizations have sounded the alarm, but is anyone listening? 

Alternative valuation products appear to be the answer that some are offering up to appraisers.  I guess that the process is fine, you just have to conclude a value using it, shorten the report and take twenty cents on the dollar to survive.  That may sound like a great solution, but personally I don't think residential appraisers will want to become competitive with $ 25 BPO's, but I could be wrong.  » Read More