Real estate appraisal’s future? Dare we look into it? Is it not best to leave some elements of life undiscovered? Tim Andersen, The Appraiser’s Advocate peers into that abyss. But since the future in unknowable, Tim’s guesses are as good as anybody’s. Isn’t it amazing? Real Estate’s appraisal protocols have not changed fundamentally since the 1930s. Yet the technology is changing so fact, we can’t keep up with it. That’s why its necessary to peer into the future – to makes sense of these changes. A big change is Fannie Mae’s adoption of ANSI measurement standards. Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) is another major change coming to real estate appraisal. While PAVE blames appraisers for what are really lending abuses, we must be aware that PAVE’s findings are part of our future.

Real Estate Appraisal’s Future? It will require more training, education, and practical experience. In addition, the GSEs are now looking for appraisals to be accurate, reproducible, and reliable, not merely credible. So the GSEs are holding us to standards even higher than those in USPAP. For good or ill, that requires we up our game. Fortunately for us, we can. All the education and training we need are out there. But we must choose to take advantage of them so we benefit from them.

So, when it comes to real estate appraisal’s future, we know there will be changes. Some will be positive. In any event, we must keep up with them. If we are not moving forward, we are falling behind!