The appraisal profession is in a sorry state. It's not the result of the HVCC, Dodd-Frank or any of the myriad other external factors influencing appraising. The sad state of affairs is the result of thousands of appraisers nationwide who choose to sit on the sidelines by not joining a professional appraisal organization.
Appraisers liken themselves to other professionals, yet how many other professions have a vast majority of its practitioners unaffiliated with an association? Significant numbers of CPA's, lawyers and doctors belong to their professional associations, yet an amazing 75% of appraisers do not belong to an organization of their peers.
Many reasons are often cited for not joining. "It costs too much," "the meetings are too far away," "I don't get anything from it," and so on. Membership in MBREA costs $275 a year for a licensed or certified appraiser. Members receive considerable discounts on education with classes held in all regions of Massachusetts along with Portsmouth, NH. Most people who join an organization receive back what they put into it. We encourage members to join a committee, participate in the MyMBREA online community and attend some of MBREA's networking events to build relationships and to make MBREA their own.
Going back to cost for a second, we receive notes from non-members criticizing MBREA for not doing more to protect the profession from things like AMCs. Effective representation of a profession requires financial and staff resources that appraisal associations lack due to the low number of members. Despite these limitations, in the past year MBREA successfully filed bills to regulate AMCs and rescind the many disciplinary actions issued over the completion of USPAP updates. We plan to continue our aggressive representation of the appraisal profession, but we could do more if our membership numbers increased.
We are asking you, an appraiser who does not belong to a professional appraisal organization, to become part of the MBREA. The process is easy - you can join online through our website at www.mbrea.org or you can download an application form to fax in. Let us count on you just like the profession has counted on MBREA for 78 years.
Jonathan Asker is the 2012 president of MBREA and is CEO at North Atlantic Appraisal Company, West Bridgewater, Mass.