NH-VT chapter of Appraisal Institute plans for a busy 2019 - by Brian White

The former New Hampshire and Vermont Chapters of the Appraisal Institute merged into a single chapter one year ago. The combined chapter is now known as the New Hampshire/Vermont Chapter. David Cornell, MAI and 2018 president of the chapter oversaw the merger and the first year operating as a combined chapter. Cindy Rogers, executive director of the chapter and Duane Cowall, MAI and treasurer of the chapter worked diligently to make it a smooth transition. The merger has resulted in the new chapter being 82 appraisers strong with 42 being members having the MAI or the SRA designations, or both. The 2019 board of directors is made up of mostly New Hampshire appraisers with Amy McCellan, SRA and Sean Sargent, MAI, SRA being the Vermont based board members. The 2019 season begins under the leadership of Robert Concannon, MAI and incoming chapter president.

The NH-VT Chapter of the Appraisal Institute has plans to offer five 2-hour seminars in 2019 and several continuing education classes. The offerings begin on January 15 when the chapter will produce a 2-hour “Commercial Roundtable” seminar in Concord, NH. The three presenters will be David Choate, EVP and Dan Scanlon, JD, CCIM both of Colliers International and Steve Weeks, Jr. of Weeks Commercial Real Estate. This seminar will provide an overview of the commercial marketplace in Southern New Hampshire. Each appraiser will examine trends in the commercial market including such topics as: owner-user properties, investor demand, valuation trends, lease rates, vacancy rates, operating expenses, net operating income, capitalization rates and income multipliers. This seminar is a must-attend event for every commercial real estate appraiser that works in New Hampshire. It will also provide residential appraisers with valuable market and valuation information from the larger New Hampshire real estate marketplace. 

Four additional 2-hour seminars will be offered later in the year in March, May, September and November. For additional information on these seminars you should visit our website at AI-NHVT.com.

The chapter’s continuing education class offerings will begin in April when we offer “Valuation by Comparison: Residential Analysis and Logic”. This 7-hour class will be held in Rutland, VT on April 4 and again in Concord, NH on April 5. The instructor for this new class offering is Mark Smeltzer, MAI, SRA, AI-RRS. Recent market volatility and increased oversight has left residential appraisers searching for new strategies to handle their appraisal assignments. This seminar will revisit valuation fundamentals and it will illustrate why residential appraisers need data collection and analytical skills now more than ever. 

Later in December of 2019, the chapter will offer two 7-hour USPAP classes with Bruce Hunter, MAI being the instructor. The New Hampshire class will be on December 5 in Concord and the Vermont class will be on December 6 in Rutland. For additional information on these classes, or to register for the class, you should visit the Appraisal Institute website at: appraisalinstitute.org/education/. 

The NH-VT chapter is dedicated to continue to provide its New Hampshire and Vermont members with quality local education through both seminars and classes for years to come. The chapter typically holds its roughly bi-monthly meetings and seminars in Concord, NH but efforts are underway where one of the chapter’s meeting/seminars will be held in Vermont later in 2019. Our organization is made up of the most professional and educated residential and commercial appraisers located in the Green Mountain and Granite States and we welcome new members who have the same high standards. 

Brian White, MAI, SRA, is the 2019 vice president of the NH-VT Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and operates White Appraisal, Dover, New Hampshire.