A Week Has Passed

So, for the curious, I suppose I ought to recap the events of the past several months. My employment has been a concern for quite a while (ever since Charter One was sold to RBS and REAS was spun off to NASCO and they closed the operation in March 2005). We survived (barely) under self-employment, but I was constantly sending out resumes and applying for openings that showed up.

On April 16 I received a call from a temp agency in California asking if I was interested in a Review Appraiser position in Akron -- the recruiter had spotted my resume on the internet. On April 17 I started my first 8-5 job in over three years. I would be working for the temp agency for the first 13 weeks, and then, if I had performed satisfactorily, would be offered a permanent position.

It turned out that the company I would work for was planning to expand its valuation services, but at the moment had a need for a certified appraiser to do quality control reviews on Broker Price Opinions (BPOs). Basically, the job was making sure all the blanks were properly filled in. The Appraisal Standards Board FAQ #198 ("I am an appraiser and my practice includes requests to comment on a wide range of valuation work performed by others. Sometimes this work is presented as an appraisal report, appraisal consulting report, consulting report, market data summary, and even as a broker’s price opinion. When does STANDARD 3 apply?") states that,

"Assignments related to consulting reports, market data summaries, and broker’s price opinions are not appraisal reviews. Even when the work under examination is performed by an appraiser, evaluating these types of work is not part of an appraisal review.

However, even if the service is not an appraisal review, the portions of USPAP that apply generally to appraisal practice, (i.e., DEFINITIONS, PREAMBLE, the Conduct, Management, and Confidentiality sections of the ETHICS RULE, the COMPETENCY RULE and the JURISDICTIONAL EXCEPTION RULE) would apply."

Standard 3 would not be applicable. I was comfortable with that.

Several weeks into the job, I was notified that plans were afoot to expand the responsibilities of the BPO auditors (we used that term so as to avoid misconceptions about the scope of our work) to "reconcile" BPOs and appraisals. The software that the company was using provided an on-line form which was filled out by the real estate agent doing the BPO. Once the form had been audited to make sure all the necessary information was there, and the specific client guidelines for the report had been followed, the software turned it into a PDF format report which was sent to the client. The report was not signed; a space at the bottom stated "Signature on File".

At that point there were two other appraisers doing the same thing I was doing. We discussed the implications and I studied the Standards. My conclusion was that, using the current software, it was not possible for licensed appraisers to legally and ethically do the "reconciliations". To do so would move the work into the category of an appraisal review.

Again from FAQ #198, "The answer to this question lies in the definition of an 'appraisal review:'

the act or process of developing and communicating an opinion about the quality of another appraiser’s work that was performed as part of an appraisal, appraisal review, or appraisal consulting assignment.

For this question, the key features of an appraisal review are:

• the work under review was performed by an appraiser, and
• the work under review was performed as part of an appraisal, appraisal review, or appraisal consulting assignment.

If a service satisfies the definition of appraisal review, STANDARD 3 applies. Assignments involving commenting on the quality of appraisal reports and appraisal consulting reports are appraisal reviews.

Standard 3 of USPAP sets out the conditions governing an appraisal review and its reporting. At minimum, to meet the Standard, the scope of the review would be determined by the client and the reviewer, but would have to be stated in the report. The signature of the reviewer would have to be under his/her exclusive control. The appraiser would have to maintain (for at least 5 years) the workfile containing true copies (meaning copies of the reports as received from and submitted to the client) of both the work under review and the review itself. Finally, the signed certification as required by Standard 3-2 would have to be attached as an integral part of the report.

I discussed these concerns with my supervisors and also with one of the vice presidents of the company. I would have no objection to doing the "reconciliations" if the software could be altered to allow conformance with Standard 3, and, I put forward suggestions as to how that could be done (it would be a very simple process of adding addendum pages to the PDF formatted reports). I was told that there were no plans to alter the software.

In mid-July, at the 13 week point, I had a performance review. At that time I was informed that because of my concerns over the "reconciliation" process, I was not going to be hired as permanent staff. I was, however, retained as a BPO auditor.

The amount of work fluctuated over the summer; in September, a new client came on board and by this time our department had 6 licensed appraisers and 1 real estate agent reviewing the BPOs. For two weeks in mid-September, we all worked overtime. Then the work slowed. People were asked to volunteer to go home during the day because there wasn't enough work. The week ending 9-27 I was able to put in 33.75 hours, the week ending 10-4, 23.25 hours, and my last week, 31.75 hours.

On Friday, 10-10, I was asked to go home at 3 PM since there wasn't enough work to go around. My team leader signed my time sheet, and checked the box that said my assignment would continue the next week. About 7 PM I got a phone call from the temp agency in California, informing me that my supervisor had called and said that I was being let go because "the numbers were not high enough". I have checked the local job postings all week; it appears that no effort has been made to recruit someone to replace me.

So... the LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. Blessed be the Name of the LORD. Its time to start a new adventure.