Survey SAYS! . . . .USPAP Needs Analysis

GUEST POST:  Nancy Summers, Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and AQB Certified USPAP Instructor in the San Jacinto, CA area.  Nancy's real estate appraisal blog is "Ground Up"

 

Nancy's blog post USPAP Needs Analysis Results (click here) begins:

"This is a summary of a formal needs analysis* I conducted in March and April 2012 regarding the problem of appraisers continuing to violate the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and receive reprimands and enforcement actions.

* A needs analysis is a formal analysis of a problem to determine if it could be solved by instruction.

Possible causes of the USPAP problem are:

• misunderstanding about what USPAP is, 
• separation of appraisal principles instruction from USPAP instruction, 
• or even an attitude about the appraisal profession.

I prepared a needs analysis by obtaining additional information from two separate survey sources, an online survey of appraisers, and a set of personal interviews of instructors and officials. The results of the interviews and surveys were analyzed and summarized here, with recommendations for possible instructional solutions and further study".

Appraiser Survey comment (excerpt)

Appraiser Survey The survey included three multi-part questions.

1. The first question asked respondents to agree or disagree with several statements about USPAP concepts and the current USPAP education requirement. Respondents were also given a choice to select “I don’t understand the question.” These statements were provided to gauge appraisers understanding of key concepts in USPAP and to determine if they believe the current USPAP courses are working. As can been seen in Graph 1, the majority of appraisers completing the survey agree with all statements. The largest number of appraisers indicated that they understand how the appraisal process presented in USPAP fits into appraisal practice, as the individual standards rules in USPAP present a clear process for completion of an appraisal. However, one appraiser who also identified himself later as a USPAP instructor, disagreed with the statement and made a point to indicate that USPAP does not include an appraisal process. This confirmed that there may be variety of interpretations of USPAP even among instructors.    
2. The second question asked respondents to identify, from a list of training possibilities in the past that would have been more likely to produce a higher comfort level with USPAP today. The respondents were able to select multiple answers as well as provide additional responses. As indicated in Graph 2, most appraisers did select multiple responses, although respondents were also provided with “I’ll never feel comfortable with USPAP” and “I’m already comfortable with USPAP” selections. The majority of the responses (57%) indicated that they would feel more comfortable with USPAP today if it were integrated into other continuing education courses. Another popular choice was if USPAP were integrated into the basic principles cases, with others believing if USPAP were taught by their mentor during apprenticeships they would feel more comfortable.     
3. The third question asked of the appraisers is how USPAP would best be taught. As presented in Graph 3, the highest percentages of selections were small, live classes with 5 to 10 students maximum and integrated with other material (rather than a standalone USPAP class). Another popular selection was larger live classroom. Both independent study and online courses received the least number of selections, with respondents indicating that appraisers benefit from class discussions. Both those selecting smaller class size and those selecting larger class size each indicated an increased willingness by participants to share in discussion as a reason it is superior.

 

To read the FULL post by Nancy Summers, visit her blog by clicking here.

Thanks to Ann O'Rourke (Appraisal Today) for highlighting this article.

 

GUEST POST:  Nancy Summers, Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and AQB Certified USPAP Instructor in the San Jacinto, CA area.  Nancy's real estate appraisal blog is "Ground Up"