[1]National Appraisal Congress (NAC) has announced the formation of the Society of Young Appraisal Professionals, an NAC subcommittee focused on addressing the declining workforce in the residential valuation space.
The new subcommittee's focus will be on actively recruiting, educating, and promoting apprentice appraisers and on brainstorming ideas and developing solutions to help appraisers who have been in the valuation space for five years or less.
“It has long been known and of major concern that the appraiser population is aging, retiring or leaving the industry at a rate greater than the number of new appraisers entering the industry to replace them,” said Greg Stephens, a Member of NAC and Chief Appraiser/ SVP of Compliance for Metro-West Appraisal Co. “This is not the result of a lack of interest. Many appraisers report multiple inquiries from individuals interested in locating a sponsor. The challenge has been finding an appraiser willing to be a sponsor and to take on the time-consuming and financial responsibility involved in successfully mentoring a trainee appraiser.”
Effective immediately, the Society of Young Professional Appraisers will become an active part of NAC, which is a Five Star Institute membership group that collaborates on sustainable solutions for issues impacting U.S. appraisers and the residential valuation industry. One of NAC's goals is to promote the industry as an attractive option for entrepreneurial-minded professionals.
Stringent barriers for entry, combined with conflicting state guidelines, have made it difficult for experienced appraisers to invest in training the next generation, and the result has been a substantial decline in the number of apprentice appraisers nationwide. NAC is actively working to address this problem by developing a plan to foster dialogue with state and federal regulators which not only would streamline oversight of apprentice appraisers, but on using cost-effective strategies to train those apprentices.
“In certain states, regulations make it impossible for an appraiser trainee to serve as a force multiplier on behalf of their trainer or mentor,” said Jordan Petkovski, chairman of NAC and chief appraiser for TSI Appraisal. “The end-result is a timely and costly training process that discourages the mentoring of the next generation of valuations professionals. In a decade, the falling ranks of new appraisers will catch up to consumers and financial firms—all of whom will eventually be hit with longer origination timelines and higher appraisal costs due to the dwindling number of appraisers operating in this space.”
Editor's note: The Five Star Institute is the parent company of National Appraisal Congress, DS News, and DSNews.com.