To all the agents in the house,
There will be many worthy artifacts to put in a 2020 time vault, but for housing one underrated candidate is the quarter three/quarter four issue of Valuation magazine.
"Valuation" is the house publication of the Appraisal Institute, the trade group representing real estate appraisers, and the cover headline is "Embracing Change."
Several pages in, once you get past a giant picture of Ben Franklin on a $20 bill with a mask on, Rodman Schley, president of the Appraisal Institute, acknowledges that there is, perhaps, racial bias in the industry. It's an admission that comes after news stories that appraisers seemed to value a home higher because the person buying the home was white.
"There have been reports of bias in real estate values, and while it is painful to read about in the press, it has allowed the Appraisal Institute to be a leader in the space and identify any problems that may exist," Schley said.
Schley also acknowledges there needs to be more diversity among appraisers -- and simply more appraisers. "We offer a number of scholarships," the president stated. "But many of them go unused each year."
I'm just wading into the world of home appraisers, so let's keep this big picture for now: Agents, what do you think of the job of appraisers you observe?
Do you live in worry that the appraiser will do a less than thorough job, or even fall into assumptions -- benign or discriminatory -- about a property and a neighborhood?
Or do you think appraisers do a good job, and it's the kind of thankless profession journalists only care about when individuals blatantly mess up?
And let's handle the racial bias issue as a separate question: Have you seen it? How prevalent is it?
And do you see individual appraisers and groups like the Appraisal Institute addressing these serious allegations in a serious way?
So, I have lots of questions about appraisers. Please send me answers, or at least your thoughts, anonymously to mblake@housingwire.com.
Sincerely,
Matthew Blake
Senior Real Estate Reporter
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