Valerie A. Dreas July 11th, 2008
I remember back to those blissfully ignorant days when I said “yes” to be an appraisal trainee. I was lucky and worked for a large corporation and thus, a salary and benefits were included in this career change. It was not until several years later when I left that company to become a fee appraiser that I really began to appreciate the abject poverty and financial worry that I had been spared during my apprenticeship.
Trainee Selection
Therefore, when a potential trainee consents to go through that financial struggle, I do not take the responsibility of training someone to be an appraiser lightly. One, their success or lack thereof will reflect back on me; and two, I do not want someone to lose their license and career because of something I did or did not teach them. And so, the task of taking on a trainee should be considered – like marriage – soberly and carefully with all due consideration for the amount of time that will be expended, and likely never recouped, during the three year process.
It is important for a supervisor to pick someone who has the potential for greatness as an appraiser. Sometimes, that is not always readily seen in the interview process. So, I look for several things: intelligence, writing skill (yes, I do ask for a writing sample), articulation, education, and the all important computer skills. I also look for someone with a backbone and enthusiasm for doing the job. I also have the heart-to-heart talk about the financial struggles that are expected. I usually get one of two reactions: “That will not happen to me,” or, “Uh, maybe I’ll work for McDonalds. They pay better.”
As an aside, I will just mention here about the backbone part. I have fond memories of my review sessions with my supervisor. We would discuss the report at length and then I would exit her office and my coworkers would ask me if I was okay. I realized that our discussions got sort of loud as we both passionately “discussed” appraisal theory and practice. However, I look at it this way; it was great training for responding to those pesky clients who “insist” that the value is too high or too low – whichever position is to their advantage. Further, a backbone will help offset the rejection and downright rudeness encountered when trying to confirm comparables with buyer, sellers and brokers. Ya’ll are smiling right now cause you know what I mean.
Defining Supervision
Merriam-Webster defines the word supervision as “the action, process, or occupation of supervising; especially: a critical watching and directing (as of activities or a course of action).” In applying this to trainee supervision, the meaning here is to watch or review critically whatever a trainee does. The same source defines critical as “exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation.” Therefore, supervising and critically evaluating a trainee’s work does not involve sending them out on their own and reading through the report and putting a signature on it. What it does involve is a lot of time and effort in carefully guiding a trainee’s thinking regarding how to look at properties, understanding the scope of work for the appraisal, defining potential problems, and understanding valuation and economic theory.
Client Relationships
I have several hard and fast rules regarding client relations and trainees. My trainees do not discuss anything with a client other than setting up the site visit or asking for specific documents. They are never to discuss the valuation or issues regarding the property with a client – EVER. During the site visit, they are to take pictures and wait to ask me questions later. (The no talking rule abates when the trainee has some more experience under their belt.) As a trainee’s education and experience grows and they get closer to sitting for their license exam, they become more involved in the business of dealing with clients and putting together proposals and marketing packages.
I expect the new trainee to be in my office almost 70 percent of their day for the first few months and joined at the hip when out in the field. My focus is commercial property and that is a very broad range of property types, each with its own unique issues that need to be addressed. I have forms for site visits and comparables visits to help direct a trainee’s focus. I have scripts for verifications so that that the main questions are asked and answered.
Every detail is looked at, reviewed, and discussed with respect to the final work product. Comparable searches are done together, at first. Later, the trainee performs searches on their own and then comes in to discuss them. While we are talking, I’m pulling up the databases as well to see if we get the same properties. Afterward, each comparable is analyzed and red flags are noted. At this time, I explain what is important for this property type to look at and what questions will need to be asked during the confirmation process.
When the valuation has been completed, the final report document is brought up and reviewed – line by line. The file and the trainee are at my desk during this process to answer questions. If there are holes in the report that need to be addressed, I ask questions like who, what, where, when and why. If the trainee cannot answer those questions to my satisfaction, they are sent back to their desk to get the answers. Obviously, this is a time consuming process. However, by the time I am finished
reviewing the report and concluding the final value, I know everything about how the value was derived.
It disturbs me when clients tell me that they hired a certified appraiser and when they call with a question regarding a report, they are passed to a trainee to answer their question. Basically the supervising appraiser is saying they do not know enough about how the value was derived to answer the question. This also undermines the client’s confidence in the value, because a person without the specialized knowledge they are paying for performed the appraisal. That should never happen. The
supervisor’s signature is attesting to the fact that the value is true. How can they attest to that if they cannot discuss how the value was derived?
The recent change in Washington law regarding the trainee’s bill was a good one. However, it is only half the battle. The remaining battle needs to be fought in each appraisal office with respect to what supervision entails. It is up to each designated and certified appraiser to ensure that appraisal quality is at its highest, and that trainees are adequately trained and supervised so that the next generation of appraisers are better than the last. My ultimate hope is to hear someone say, “That person is a damn good appraiser.” My response will be, “I know. I trained them.”
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