If one person can make a difference, imagine what an army can do. That’s the initial thought I had after attending the Georgia Real Estate Board meeting this past Wednesday morning.
I won’t go into much detail here as I’ll post the link to the blog article for all to read at the end. I will however, give a small background before doing so.
About a month ago, Real Estate Appraisers as well as others in Georgia were made aware of a public hearing to take place in which the Georgia Real Estate Appraisal Board would be considering rescinding rule 539-1-.23. This rule is the customary and reasonable fee requirement to appraisers from appraisal management companies. Once announced the public would be able to attend this meeting or send in letters within the 30 day time period in favor or against the proposed rule change.
The following is the Georgia Real Estate Commission and Appraisal Boards rule and their reasoning for this change.
RULE 539-1-.23 Appraisal Management Companies
Purpose: In light of the recent decision and order In the Matter of Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board Before the Federal Trade Commission of the United States and to avoid even the appearance of anticompetitive conduct or the unreasonable restraint of price competition for appraisal services in Georgia, the proposed rule amendments rescind RULE 539-1-.23 (i). The Board recognizes that the statutory authority for the rule remains as a foundation if future action is deemed necessary.
What’s most interesting in this, is that the Georgia law is pretty much worded the same as the Federal Law regarding this same topic. Many state and appraisal organizations voiced their concerns on the issue of Customary and Reasonable fees which had lawmakers agree with them and 15 U.S. Code § 1639e – Appraisal independence requirements was adopted into Federal Law.
So now that you have some background on this, please click the link below and read the outcome of this hearing. You will then see why this blogs title is what it is.
The following blog was published on the Appraisers Blogs website. https://appraisersblogs.com/georgia-state-appraisal-board-tables-proposed-rule-2-eliminate-customary-n-reasonable-fee
The following are some acknowledgments I would like to make.
- Mary Thompson of Lanier Appraisal Services . Mary wrote a very compelling letter to the state board and added extra fire power to the opposition of this. Mary really explained the consequences that would happen if this were to be taken out of law. Her letter was the ONLY one referenced by the state board. Thank you Mary for taking the time to also stand up voice your concerns. Well done. https://www.lanierappraisalservice.com/
- VaCAP (Virginia Coalition of Appraiser Professionals) While there are many state appraiser coalitions, VACAP is always engaging in the issues and not only helping their own state appraisers but also the appraisers nationwide. VACAP brought this issue to the attention of all appraisers and gave their full support to the Georgia Appraisers to combat this https://vacaponline.com/
- Appraisers Blogs Appraisers Blogs is a great resource for appraisers and the public. They continue to publish various blogs written by appraisers and others pertaining to the real estate appraiser profession. https://appraisersblogs.com/