Mark Chapman has been in the real estate appraisal profession over 20 years. Currently he is the President/CEO of Southeastern Evaluation and the 2011 President of the South Carolina Professional Appraisers Coalition.
Imagine this: An appraisal order has just come into your office for a house that is perfectly square, in a neighborhood that has at least 6 sales within $2,000 of the purchase price. There are even lot sales on the same street to help with the land value of the property. Sounds perfect doesn’t it? What appraiser would NOT want to do that? More often than not, the property is actually a 6,000 square foot house 10 miles away from ANYTHING, sitting on 8.5 acres of land, and oh yes….it has a barn AND a pool. Now THAT is more what a typical property is like.
Whether you think this is a good time for appraisers depends on your perspective. The appraisers’ perspective has changed over the past 2 or 3 years. The advent of HVCC, Dodd Frank and Interagency Guidelines has really changed the way appraisers conduct their business. The debate over reasonable and customary fees in ongoing. Our profession has seen more changes in this period of time than any other in our history. Most regulations have been made with little input from the appraiser. My perspective is that appraisers are mad and not going to take it anymore.
In 2006, the South Carolina Professional Appraisers Coalition (SCPAC) held its first meeting. It was organized by a group of appraisers with various backgrounds. Their primary goal was to be proactive in legislative and regulatory issues affecting SC appraisers. Since that first meeting, the coalition has continued to grow. In 2010 the board decided that we could better serve our membership by having local chapters. The first chapter began in Myrtle Beach, SC. Since then we have started chapters in Greenville, Columbia, Charleston, Florence, Hilton Head and Aiken. Monthly meetings may include speakers from the state appraisal board, local education providers, real estate brokers, certified financial planners, marketing experts and tax assessors. In additional to the informational part of the monthly program we have created an atmosphere where appraisers feel comfortable talking with other appraisers about what is going on in their market.
The annual meeting is held the first quarter of each year. The officers and directors are elected at this time. We typically have one or two other statewide meetings to discuss major issues concerning our profession.
As a whole we are seeing more appraisers getting involved. Our membership continues to increase. This year we partnered with another appraisal organization to help write the state AMC bill. It was not voted on this year, but we anticipate it will be passed in next year’s legislative session.
Our perspective as appraisers is changing. This gives us hope that we can have an effect on what happens to our profession. Get involved, join a local organization. Don’t just gripe about all the changes, work to make a difference.
