Appraisal News and Business Tips

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May 2023

  • Assessment Appeals – Marketing, Reassessment Opportunities, Fees, Critical dates, etc
  • The Valuation of Condominiums, Cooperatives, and PUDs – Book Review
  • Limiting Conditions and Assumptions. Appraiser Humor. By Deane Wilson, ASA

April 2023

  • Home Measurement Services – How to Use Your Appraisal Skills to Make More Money
  • How to get started in commercial appraising: 5+ unit apartments
  • Making adjustments in today’s market by Doug Smith, SRA

Appraisal Today 6-14 issue NEWSLETTER WITH VA ARTICLES

Issue indexan easy way to find the articles and topics you want!

List of articles by month

FREE SPECIAL REPORTS!! Click the links to download
Updated 9-20
Legal and Tax-related Appraisals Special Report
Relocation appraising – Much higher fees than lender work.


Past issues  2020 – 2023

March 2023

  • Many ways to cut costs and increase profits and cash flow
  • How to use less gasoline and save money with today’s high gas prices!
  • How to get no-lender business by networking at meetings
  • Staying positive with low fees, AMC hassles and slow business
  • Expert witness for residential appraisers – High Fees, Little competition
  • Bail Bond appraisals – all cash, very high fees, little competition

January 2023

  • Get started in attorney work by doing divorce appraisals – significantly higher fees, no UAD, no underwriters, no AMCs
  • Speaking at real estate sales meetings is an easy way to market your appraisal business
  • Book Review – Identifying Residential Architectural Styles by Marc Nadeau

December 2022

  • 2022 year-end tax planning for appraisers. It’s not too late to save on your 2022 taxes!
  • Book Review: Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use by Mark Ratterman, MAI, SRA Reviewer: Joe Lynch
  • Appraisers’ Heavy Loads USPAP, GSEs, Public Trust, Protect the Client by Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Marketing with Holiday Gifts and Cards – An Easy, Excellent Marketing Tool!

November 2022

  • Communicating with non-lender clients: Very, very different from lenders!!
  • Tips for dealing with complex residential appraisals by Joseph Lynch NOTE: The photos of examples in this article can be difficult to read in the 3 column format above. To see better quality photos, use the word processing style newsletter above starting on page 20. 

October 2022

  • Appraisals for estates and trusts – the most popular non-lender appraisals, Part 2
  • AEI’s Housing Market Indicators Report, by Wayne Pugh, MAI, FRICS, CCIM
  • Purchase and Sales Agreements, by Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Which are your best current and former AMC/lender clients? What do they want?
  • Client Rating Grid

September 2022

      • How to get a FREE Google Business Profile. Excellent way to get more appraisal business!
      • Fact vs. Fiction Don’t let these four appraiser liability myths, by Peter Christensen
      • Appraisals for estates and trusts – the most popular non-lender appraisals
      • Estate/trust liability advice from Peter Christensen
      • How land contributes to value, by Jamie Owen

August 2022

  • Comparison of lender and non-lender appraisals
  • What is a functionally obsolete appraiser, by Richard Hagar, SRA
  • Markets are changing. What does USPAP say about trends, by Tim Andersen, MAI

July 2022

  • E&O Insurance Update 2022 – Claims, State Boards, Discrimination, etc.\
  • First Notice of Claim: Some Do’s and Dont’s, by Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • 2022 E&O Insurance – Where to Get Insurance, What to look for in a policy, etc.
  • 2022 E&O Insurance Brokers
  • Risk Management for Real Estate Appraisers and Appraisal Firms – Book Review

June 2022

  • Appraisal Today newsletter 30th Anniversary. Changes over the past 30 years. What a wild ride it has been!
  • Residential appraisal forms from the 1960s to today
  • Revisiting the Green Hornet, by George Opelka
  • Computers, Mobile Devices and Digital Cameras
  • From EDI to UAD – appraisal data standards and data transmission
  • Mortgage lending from the 1870s to today
  • How the Internet changed appraising
  • Present and past appraisal forecasts

May 2022

  • Desktops – Yes, No or Maybe?
  • CubiCasa – Accuracy, Cost, Ease of Use, ANSI, etc.
  • Mortgage Loan Volume Index Graph 2016 to 4-2022
  • ANSI and USPAP – Confidentiality, by Tim Andersen, MAI

April 2022

  • How to handle a “low” appraisal By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Engagement Letters by Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Is is jUSt USPAP? by Barry Bates
  • Pocket App for saving information by Wayne Pugh, MAI
  • Do tandem bedrooms and garages impact value? by Jamie Owen

March 2022

  • Who Said I Agreed To Be An Expert? By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Review: Measuring Square Footage with ANSI 2021: Home Measurement Textbook
  • ANSI and Appraisers, real estate agents, and MLS – what it means by Hamp Thomas
  • What do you want/need to know about ANSI? Many appraisers say they know ANSI but do not when questioned.
  • Review of all available ANSI classes and webinars except in-person. Select what works best for you.
  • How do we value a house with a HUGE non-permitted addition By Ryan Lundquist

February 2022

  • Sloped ceilings, stairs, and below grade issues
  • Why did Fannie select ANSI Z765? Which appraisers are using ANSI now?
  • Fannie vs. ANSI, similar with some differences
  • Who developed ANSI Z765-2021 and Who approved the 2021 changes?
  • ANSI Resources
  • Does my neighborhood really need to be analyzed? Part II By Tim Andersen, MAI

January 2022

  • Construction Progress Reports
  • Does My Neighborhood Really Need to be Analyzed? Part 1 By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • New Year’s resolutions. Set goals for 2022 and plan how you will accomplish them
  • When the best comps are four years old by Ryan Lundquist
  • Buy this book! 36 answers you need now! To help you master neighborhood analysis by Tim Andersen, MAI

December 2021

  • 2021 year-end tax planning for appraisers It’s not too late to save on your 2021 taxes!
  • Marketing with holiday gifts and cards – An easy and Most Excellent Marketing Tool
  • Think carefully before signing a Records Affidavit by Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • An Appraiser Gets Audited by the IRS! My Story by Ann O’Rourke

November 2021

  • Why Do Claims Get Settled? By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • How to reduce your appraisal stress. Don’t let other people “push your buttons”
  • I think something is missing, but I’m not sure,. How to explain the omission of the Cost Approach, for example By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • How to handle angry borrowers and agents: Ask, Listen, Repeat, Relate by Dustin Harris
  • Limiting Conditions and Assumptions (Humor) By Deane Wilson, ASA

If you lose this link:

October 2021

  • Threatened with a Lawsuit? By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • The Angry Property Owner – What to Do? By Ryan Reynolds
  • Internal Consistency – What Reviewers and State Regulators Look For By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • When is It Not Ok to Use a Sale Withing a Mile? By Jamie Owen.

September 2021

  • Vacant Land: A Nightmare for an Appraiser By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Is it okay to compare two detached units with two attached units? By Ryan Lundquist
  • Don’t use only automated valuation (weighted average) from your appraisal forms software without additional reconciliationanalysis by Doug Smith, SRA
  • I’m Just Going to Check the Box – Highest and Best Use

August 2021

  • Using Trainees – the Safe Way, By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Part II The goal is conformity, believability, and the resulting mediocrity, By George Dell, MAI, SRA, CRE
  • The Misnomer of Market Value, By David Braun, MAI, SRA
  • Krisp – Noise Cancelling for Internet Conferencing By Wayne Pugh, MAI,FRICS, CCIM
  • Vacation Time for Appraisers By Doug Smith, SRA, AI-RRS

July 2021

  • Limiting Liability to Third Parties By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Rising Markets: When my subject is the New High Sale, Part 2 of 2, Denis Desaix, MAI, SRA
  • 2021 E&O Insurance Where to get E&O insurance, most frequent claims, etc
  • 2021 E&O Insurance Brokers

June 2021

  • Don’t Assume You Did it “Right” the First Time By Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • The AMC/Lender Will Whistle a Jaunty Tune as it Throws You Under the Bus by Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Seeing the forest through the trees by Rachel Massey, SRA, AI-RRS
  • Rising markets when my subject is the new high sale by Denis Desaix, MAI, SRA Part 1 of 2

May 2021

  • How to communicate your reconciliation by Rachel Massey, SRA, AI-RRS
  • Practical Guide to USPAP Appeasement. Only the first 24 pages matter by George Dell, MAI
  • How appraisers use abductive reasoning to provide a value opinion by Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Rules are made to be followed by Claudia Gaglione, Esq.
  • Malwarebytes mobile security for the iPhone By Wayne Pugh, MAI

April 2021

  • Retirement: To Stay or Not to Stay. That is the question!!
  • Highest and Best Use of the Cost Approach, by Scott Cullen
  • Review: Residential Property Appraisal by Mark Ratterman, SRA, MAI. Buy This Book!!
  • Appraiser Independence Rules (AIR), AMCs, and the Appraiser, by Julie Freiss, SRA, AI-RRS

March 2021

  • Managing Multiple Appraisal Deadlines, By Doug Smith, SRA, AI-RRS
  • If people can’t find you, they can’t order an appraisal or give you a referral
  • Review of The “Appraisal Bible” – The Appraisal of Real Estate, 15th Edition
  • Sales and financing concessions. What Fannie and USPAP say, Tim Andersen, MAI
  • 20 Questions from Tim Andersen
  • How affordable, really by Rachel Massey, SRA

February 2021

  • Appraisal Risk Management – Fannie’s LL-2021-01 Risk scores, appraisal defects, appraiser independence, etc.
  • Make use of your driving time by exercising
  • Procrastination costs you time, money and more stress, which we don’t need now!
  • FHFA wants input on waivers, hybrids, new form and UAD changes, etc. by 2-26-21
  • Appraisal waivers up 137% for all loan types in 2020
  • Braintoss captures your thoughts, By Wayne Pugh, MAI
  • Egad! UAD and Forms Reforms by George Dell, MAI, SRA, ASA, CRE

January 2021

    • Top 10 Appraiser Time Wasters And What to do About Them By Doug Smith, SRA
    • The Power of Surveys By Rachel Massey, SRA, AI-RRS
    • The Anti-Statistics Guy by George Dell, MAI, SRA

December 2020

  • 2020 year-end tax planning for appraisers. It’s not too late to save on your 2020 taxes!
  • Marketing with holiday gifts and cards – easy and Most Excellent Marketing Tool!
  • How to reduce stress and be more productive

November 2020

  • Increase your productivity by managing your email
  • What is True and Correct per USPAP? By Tim Anderson, MAI
  • Tales of a Trainee at Appraisal Camp Sedona by Brian Aldridge
  • CamScanner Review By Wayne Pugh, MAI

October 2020

  • Appraisers don’t “Create” Value! By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Practical tips you can use today for getting more appraisals done and make more money
  • New appraisers need live, not “virtual” field training By Julie Friess, SRA
  • My new blog, Covid Science For Everyone! Covidscienceblog.com

September 2020

  • Disability – your greatest risk
  • Disability insurance – more important than ever during a Pandemic! by Paul Porter
  • But Fannie Mae says I don’t have to do the Cost Approach! by Tim Andersen, MAI
  • The common sense of it all, something we should always try and revisit By Rachel Massey
  • Appraising Solar: New Fannie guidance August 2020 by Mark Buhler

August 2020

  • How to keep safe from COVID-19, including tips for appraisers
  • The Vaccine Race
  • Grammerly can fix your grammatical errors By Wayne Pugh, MAI

July 2020

  • Reduce your liability: Sample disclaimers/statements for your appraisals
  • Welcome to Appraisal Purgatory! A day in Appraisal Camp, Sedona, Arizona
  • E&O insurance – where to get it, reducing liability, most frequent claims, etc.
  • 2020 E&O insurance brokers

June 2020

  • How to communicate with appraisers online. What’s the best way for you?
  • Fannie Temporary Appraisal RequirementFlexibilities – What They Are and
    What They Mean For You

May 2020

    • Virtual Inspection Tools Make Appraisal Drivebys and Desktops Much More Reliable
    •  Desktops and Exterior Appraisals: Virtual Inspection Tools Can Help
    •  Musings on Misleading by Tim Andersen, MAI
    •  What Does Fannie Mae Really Want? By George Dell, MAI
    •  Malwarebytes Keeps Your Computer Free of Worms, Trojans, Etc By Wayne Pugh, MAI

April 2020

  • COVID-19: Data, Comps, and Values
  • Data and Comps. It’s all about the data!!
  • Vaccines, Immunity and Q&As

March 2020

  • Restricted Appraisal Reports – Yes, No or Maybe? By Tim  Andersen, MAI
  • Why is USPAP copyrighted? Why must buy it every 2 years? (book review of “Dispatches from the Cosmic Cobra Breeding Farm”
  • How much money did you make per hour, after expenses, in 2019?

February 2020

  • Entrepreneur, technician, and manager – the three conflicting roles of fee appraisers
  • I am not “JUST” a residential appraiser! By Rachel Massey, SRA, AI-RRS,ASA,IFA
  • Highest and Best Use and USPAP 2020 By Julie Friess, SRA, AI-RRS, MA
  • Should you stay or should you go? That is the question…

January 2020

  • Practical tips you can use today for getting more appraisals done and make money
  • New Year’s resolutions. Set goals for 2020 and how you will accomplish them
  • Anker Innovations brings Amazon Alexa to your automobile
  • New CA law: What’s happening in your state? Appraisers want to keep Independent Contractor Status with AMCs to save on your 2019 taxes!!