AI, Appraisal Institute, Designation Descrimination
Committee “I” (Created December 2nd, 2007)
Demand a Congressional investigation of the Appraisal Institute, its members and its practices.
Proposed Petition:
We petition the US Congress to do a complete forensic investigation of the Appraisal Institute, its membership/practitioners, and the reports its members produce. We advocate eliminating the use of appraisal designations, as said designations cause confusion to the lending community and the public at large.
The Appraisal Institute (AI) continually lobbies for its membership to have lenders assign their members appraisal work and preferential treatment over other appraisers who are duly licensed, but do not have the revered MAI/SRA designations.
AI is a private organization; a Real Estate Appraisal School is all that it is in actuality.
It is by far the largest appraisal school in the world, and is in the process of completing a merger with the ASA. The AI is predatory and monopolistic as it continues to discredit, appraisal course instruction by non - AI instructors.
Appraisal instructors looking in from the outside (Instructors who are not AI members) do not offer the lofty “designation(s)” the appraisal institute provides. Accordingly, eliminating the designation will eliminate the confusion that it causes in the lending community, where lenders repeatedly ask for an MAI or an SRA approved report.
The Appraisal Institute places itself on a pedestal, as it promotes its so-called prestigious designations, MAI/SRA. The fact is that the educational courses for state licensure for appraisers are based upon criteria as mandated by the Appraisal Foundation’s Course Approval Program (CAP) which is the same for all states for licensure.
The AI charges membership fees to candidate members, while existing, ordained (if you will) official members (MAI/SRA’s), put the fear in you to join (extortion), or you may expect your work to be blacklisted via the lending community, (Which is contrary to the FIRREA anti-discrimination law – chapter 564.5-6).
Said anti-discrimination law was passed back in 1989, namely due to the S & L crises, in which many BAD appraisal reports were prepared by Institute members.
The Appraisal Institute has managed to sneak a paragraph into section 203K of the HR 3837 bill, which endeavors to reverse anti-discriminatory legislation which has existed since 1989, which will further cause into confusion, the differentiation from a state certified appraiser, versus an MAI/SRA appraiser, of which there is in fact no difference.
The appraisal Institute furthermore is known to be and IS a nepotistic organization. The AI makes it very difficult, and in many cases impossible to obtain their designations, as their existing membership oftentimes refuses to approve their candidate members for the MAI/SRA designations, as the ordained members realize, that if/when they do, they are inviting competition into their exclusive club.
Accordingly, the Institute keeps candidate members hanging on year after year, paying associate membership fees, but oftentimes, said associate members never get to see the prized MAI or SRA designations.
Appraisal reports prepared by members of the Institute should be forensically investigated, as organization members are rampant with fraudulent appraisal reports.
The Appraisal Institute has contaminated the process of doing business with their unofficial/unregulated authority over the appraisal industry. Federal and State agencies regulate the banking industry - not the Appraisal Institute.
Summary – Abolish the Appraisal Institutes designations (MAI/SRA) as it causes into confusion for lenders and the general public, the terms State Certified Appraiser as opposed to an MAI/SRA, in which there is no difference what-so-ever.
To join this Committee please copy/paste the following text and fill in your information. Then email it to us at committee@appraisalunion.org. Please also attach a current resume, and any additional information you would like on your page (personal photo, website info., additional contact info. etc…).