Inside This Issue
1 March Education Seminar
1 May Course for SRA and/or Upgrading License.
2 Home prices fall for the first time in 40 years.
3 FHA Eliminates Exam Requirement 3 Common Errors in an Appraisal
March Education Seminar
March 20, 2008
The Vermont Chapter of the Appraisal Institute is offering a 4 hour seminar on Thursday, March 20, 2008, at the Best Western Hotel located at Exit 10; I-89 and Route 100 North in Waterbury, VT. This educational offering will be two, 2 hour seminars from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The fee is $30/members and $40/non-members. The first is entitled Geographic Information Systems for the Appraiser and the second is Vermont Current Land Use Regulations. The instructors are Leslie Pelch, a geographic information systems expert with the Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc. and Bill Snow, with the Vermont Department of Taxes and the administrator of the Current Use Program
This course has been approved for 4 hours of continuing education by the Appraisal Institute and should be approved for continuing education credits for your state license soon. To register go to www.ai-vt.org and click on Education. The link to the national website is prominently displayed. Click on the link and then click on Register to sign up for the Course. Follow the prompts and pay by credit card. There is limited seating so be sure to register as soon as possible. If you have any questions on signing up for a course contact John Waldo at woodrea@sover.net.
SRA Course Information
May 20,21 2008
The Vermont Chapter wants to be known as the Education Chapter. To this end the Board of Directors has committed itself to offering any and all courses required to obtain the SRA designation. The first course in a series is entitled Residential Report Writing and Case Studies and is approved for 16 hours of credit. These hours can be used to upgrade you license to a Certified Residential and/or toward the SRA designation. The class will be held at the Hampton Inn at 104 Ballardvale Drive, in White River Junction, VT on May 20,21, 2008.
The instructor is Dr. Alan Blankenship from Colorado. The cost of the seminar is $325 for members and $375 for non members. This includes all course materials, coffee breaks and lunch both days. Rooms are available at the Inn for $100/night (normally $129). You can call to reserve you room at (802)296-2800. We will offer this course even if we do not have enough students to break even financially. This course is already on the web site and you can register at any time by going to www.ai-vt.org and click on Education.
If there are any courses you need and would like to see offered in Vermont, please contact Ed Friihauf, MAI, Education Chairman at ed.friihauf@verizon.net.
Existing Home Prices Fall for First Time in 40 Years
From Appraiser News Online
For the first time in the last 40 years, the median price for an existing single-family home declined across the country in 2007, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors. The median home price fell 1.4 percent in 2007 to $218,900, from $221,900 in 2006. NAR said the national median existing-home price in December alone was down 6 percent, year over year.
"It's the first annual drop since we started collecting data in 1968," association spokesman Walter Molony said. "Based on anecdotal information, academics agree the previous [such] decline was in the Great Depression." "The average price is now back to the level of March 2005, which implies that many people who bought homes two years ago have seen no appreciation in value" David Oser, economist for ShoreBank in Chicago, said. "Those who bought more recently are likely to live in homes that are worth less than they paid for them."
NAR’s announcement coincided with the unveiling of an economic stimulus package currently being considered by Congress. It is hoped that the package will aid in restoring the housing and mortgage market as well as revitalize the general economy. However, Shorebank’s Oser and other experts are skeptical. "Things take a really long time to play out [in housing]," he said. "And even if we have reached a bottom, we're going to bump along at that bottom for a long time – many months, perhaps a year before a recovery starts. The federal government can inject stimulus into the overall economy and do all sorts of things to put money into people's pockets, but when it comes down to housing itself, it gets solved family by family," Oser said.
"We still haven't reached a bottom for the housing slump, nor do the data suggest that we are close," said Bernard Baumohl, managing director of the Economic Outlook Group, a forecaster in Princeton, N.J. "But it wasn't all bad news," he said, pointing out that while a 1.4 percent in prices is a decline, last year’s 5.62 million sales is the fifth-highest volume on record.
Construction of new homes fell 24.8 percent in 2007, the largest amount in 27 years, exceeded only by a 26 percent drop in 1980, the Commerce Department reported January 17. For December, new-home construction sank by a larger-than-expected 14.2 percent. Meanwhile, monthly applications for building permits fell 8.1 percent.
FHA Eliminates Exam Requirement
As of February 7, 2008 applicants for the Federal Housing Administration Appraiser Roster will no longer be required to pass a Housing and Urban Development test on FHA appraisal methods and reporting. Because holding a state certification or license is among the requirements to be on the roster, the FHA says the test “has become duplicative of the national examination requirements for state licensure and certification and, therefore, unnecessary.”
Only appraisers on the roster may perform required appraisals of properties that are to serve as security for FHA-insured single-family mortgages.
USPAP 2008
Common Errors in an Appraisal Report
This is the first in a series on USPAP 2008-2009 and will report on the most common errors found in appraisals.
Underwriters and reviewers report that the most common errors in an appraisal are found in the Certification Statement. Not only do you have to remain up to date on the current certification requirements in USPAP 2008-2009 but designated and associate members of the Appraisal Institute have an additional statement that must be included in every appraisal. The required certification changes from time to time and the appraiser must use the one that is current as of the date of the appraisal. Each written appraisal MUST contain a signed certification similar in content to:
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief:
- The statements of fact contained in this report are true and correct.
- The reported analyses, opinions, and conclusions are limited only by the reported assumptions and limiting conditions and are my personal, unbiased professional analyses, opinions and conclusions.
- I have no present or prospective interest in the property that is the subject of this report, and I have no personal interest with respect to the parties involved.
- My compensation for completing this assignment is not contingent upon the development or reporting of a predetermined value or direction in value that favors the client, the amount of the value opinion, the attainment of a stipulated result, or the occurrence of a subsequent event directly related to the intended use of this appraisal.
- My analyses, opinions, and conclusions were developed, and this report has been prepared, in conformity with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
- I have (or have not) made a personal inspection of the property that is the subject of this report.
- No one (or name a person or persons) provided professional assistance to the person signing this certification.
In addition the following Certification is required in each appraisal if you are a member of the Appraisal Institute and it must be verbatim! It states:
The reported analyses, opinions and conclusions were developed, and this report has been prepared in conformity with the requirements of the Code of Professional Ethics and Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice of the Appraisal Institute. The use of this report is subject to the requirements of the Appraisal Institute relating to review by its duly authorized representatives. As of the date of this report I, (your name), has (or has not) completed the continuing education program of the Appraisal Institute.
The VT chapter Board of Directors meets five times a year. Usually this is on the same day as our educational programs. The BOD meetings are open to any chapter member who can just observe or ask questions. We welcome any member to get involved at the local level.
Our Mission this year is to promote the SRA designation to all chapter members. Many of our associate members have had difficulty in finding the necessary courses in New England that are needed to earn the designation. Therefore we will be sponsoring courses in Vermont over the next year. The first in the series is Residential Report Writing and Case Studies (see page 1), a 16 hour course required by the Appraisal Institute toward the SRA Designation.
Chapter News and Notes
We will continue to sponsor any course a member would like to see in Vermont toward a designation. The problem with offering these courses in Vermont is we have a smaller pool of appraisers to draw from and often this type of course only has 10-15 students. Typically we need 20 students to break even on the cost of a course. However, this year we will offer these courses even if we lose money!! Now is the time to earn your SRA. We have at least five members working on a designation and we will do all we can to support their efforts. If you have any questions please contact Ed Friihauf, MAI at Ed.Friihauf@verizon.net.
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