President's Message, July 2024

July 2024 President's Message

Greetings friends and colleagues! Change is inevitable and necessary for growth and meeting our strategic goals. Embracing it starts with having an open mind and being involved in understanding the change and its intended outcomes. This month I am focusing on changes that are under consideration and the scope of our international involvement.

August 15-16, 2024: The Board of Directors will meet in Minneapolis instead of Chicago because the Democratic Convention will be taking over Chicago during that time. You should have received the 45-Day Notices regarding upcoming topics the board will be considering. Please read the Notices and send your thoughts, pro and con, by August 8, 2024, to 45daynotice@appraisalinstitute.org. The notices are:

• Possible changes to the Bylaws, permitting AI Professionals to be referred to as designated member, associate member, or affiliate member.
• Possible change to include a second definition of fee simple in the Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal.
• Possible change to Regulation No.2 to add a Residential Capstone Program option for residential candidates to fulfill the Demonstration of Knowledge requirement.

International involvement has been cut back dramatically over the past few years. The International Relations Committee is working to identify areas where we have the best opportunities to benefit AI. From past and present experience, we know that benefits to our organization fall into the following categories.

• Our educational materials and textbooks are highly regarded internationally, and we must find ways to remain the world’s best provider of the valuation profession’s body of knowledge.
• Keeping our AI brand at the top of mind internationally serves our members by letting those investors, our potential clients, know the value-add of retaining our designated members and our affiliates. The U.S. Dept of Commerce reports the U.S. remains the world’s top destination for foreign direct investment for the 12th consecutive year in 2023.

Today our focus is an intentional relationship building outreach to sister organizations worldwide. Some members may have seen this as “junkets” in the past but the well-considered international travel we have started after COVID is focused on areas where we can provide education or publications as well as solidifying relationships for collaboration. Our international involvement must be a benefit for AI’s members.

WAVO Annual General Meeting 2024 was held Tuesday, June 25th, 2024, via zoom. Terry R. Dunkin, MAI, SRA, CRE, CCIM was elected to a new 2-year term on the WAVO Executive Committee. Terry is a past AI President and past chair of the AI International Relations Committee. He has given many volunteer hours and traveled to world conferences on his own dime to represent the Appraisal Institute. Congratulations Terry on being elected to the WAVO Executive Committee. Thank you for promoting the Appraisal Institute brand as you serve in this capacity.

AI Canada - President Elect Paula Konikoff and I attended the AI-Canada conference on Prince Edward Island in June. Representatives of ASA, IAAO, and TEGOVA were also in attendance. We often heard that it is good to see the AI presence once again. These conferences provide us with useful information and contacts that will serve us well. We learned that Canada is experiencing the same issues of lower fees, upzoning, and declining residential lending work. One of the ways we engage with AI-Canada is through the licensing of our text, The Appraisal of Real Estate. They adapted the AI Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum to their specific building terms.

From left to right: Paula Konikoff, AI 2024 President Elect, Sandra Adomatis, AI 2024 President, Rebecca Malmquist, IAAO 2024 President, Dena Knopp, AI-Canada President, Denton Knopp, and Krzysztof Grzesik , Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The European Group of Valuers’ Associations

Union of Pan American Valuation Associations (UPAV) is an organization of 18 South American countries. The Appraisal Institute has a memorandum of understanding with UPAV and offers a certificate for those taking several of our education programs such as Principles, Procedures, and International Valuation Standards for Phase I of the program. Phase II is still in development. Membership does not serve them well because we do not have chapters in their areas to provide the types of services we do in the U.S. Our goal at UPAV is to provide education courses and materials where it is at least cost neutral to us.

Our Washington D.C. staff, Brian Rodgers and Scott Dibiasio, are working on our behalf to support legislative efforts that promote best practices for our profession. If you have relationships with any legislators, please let Scott and Brian know.

On July 8th, 2024, the House passed Rep. Lee’s Accelerating Appraisals and Conservation Efforts Act. It now moves to the Senate. If passed, the bill allows independent fee appraisers to work across state lines to do appraisals for the Department of Interior (DOI) without regard to state licensure. The DOI would solicit a state credentialed appraiser first and if none were available, they would go outside the state. Federal employees with the certified general credential already enjoy this privilege and if passed the same would apply to independent fee appraisers. Brian and Scott will keep us informed on the progress. In the meantime, if you are considering this book of business, the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions: Practical Applications (Yellow Book Course) is being offered in Denver, CO July 29 and 30th; synchronously and classroom; and classroom on November 18-19 in Lancaster, PA.

National Committee Opportunities: We invite you to serve on a national committee, please show your interest by going to the Leadership Resource Registry (LRR) and check the committees that are of interest to you. If you’ve never served on a national committee, won’t you give it a try? Committee appointments will be proposed for approval by the board at the 4th quarter meeting. Please let us know if you are interested by registering on the LRR.

Membership Meeting and 3 quarter board meeting report out – August 23rd, one week after the board meeting we will have a report out by the officers around noon. Stay tuned for exact date and link.

Market Moves with Mark and Jeff Podcast – Mark Verrett, SRA (AI Director) and Jeff Morley, MAI, SRA have interviewed several people including CEO Chance on the AI-PAREA program. Tune in for coming interviews with recent AI-PAREA graduates.

As we move through the challenges our profession and our organization face, we must stay alert and when warnings come our way, act upon them. Knowledge of future events will permit us to support our members through education, collaboration, or a change of course. The Appraisal Institute mission is to empower valuation professionals to prepare us for the economic trends that affect valuation and in turn protect the public trust. We welcome feedback from membership on how we are doing in meeting your needs in this member-led organization.

Your friend,

Sandy Adomatis, SRA