Residential appraiser legislation is being pushed in Arizona by appraisers concerned about the bad reputation of home appraisers in the state.
Members of the Coalition for Arizona Appraisers have called on state legislators to craft regulations that would regulate their profession and that would impose penalties on individuals that damage the appraisal profession.
Licensing for appraisers has long been implemented in Arizona, but a number of reputable and professional appraisers claim that inefficient and bad appraisers are still able to conduct appraisal work for clients. During the housing boom, a lot of appraisers inflated their home valuations so borrowers can get approval for higher loans.
With lessons from the resulting foreclosure crisis, one would think that inflated or inaccurate appraisals are a thing of the past, but these defective valuations still proliferate. According to observers, while there are a lot of inaccurate valuations done by inexperienced appraisers, there are more faulty valuations done by appraisers who are serving the interests of certain parties.
These appraisers, according to analysts, deliberately exclude certain market information in order to facilitate the sale of the homes being appraised.
In Arizona, a residential appraiser becomes certified only after completing 150 hours of education in appraisal and 2,000 hours of training and working under a veteran appraiser. The appraiser must also pass the state appraisal exam and a criminal background check.
There are about 2,800 residential appraisers in Arizona and they are supervised by the Arizona Appraisal Board, which was created in 1991 to approve licenses, handle complaints against appraisers and hold disciplinary hearings.
Despite the authority of the board to revoke or suspend licenses, many appraisers think that the board has been too lenient, allowing the proliferation of inflated or defective appraisals. The board has dismissed ten percent of complaints it has received this year and eight percent of complaints last year. The licenses of ten appraisers were revoked last year.
Bill Barnes, founder and leader of the Arizona Appraiser Association and appraiser for Glover Valuation Group, said that the Appraisal Board has not been doing its job of monitoring the activities of appraisers. He added that complaints are usually dismissed without proper investigation.
In response to complaints about the board, Appraisal Board vice chairperson Debra Rudd stated that the board is underpaid and overworked and she reiterated that board members are doing their best to ensure that every residential appraiser in Arizona complies with appraisal regulations.
