MYTH: The standards and qualifications produced by the Foundation’s technical boards are developed with no input from the public or regulators.
FACT: The Foundation’s technical boards rely on public input to carry out their congressionally authorized roles. The Boards determine what, if any, changes are needed through conversations with stakeholders inside and outside of the appraisal profession. If changes need to be made to the standards or qualifications, both the Appraisal Standards Board and Appraiser Qualifications Board follow a process that closely mirrors federal rulemaking. This includes multiple exposure drafts and public comment periods to ensure the Boards receive feedback on all drafts. The public can always participate in public meetings and share their thoughts with the Boards through the Foundation’s website.
MYTH: The Foundation does not utilize subject matter experts in making decisions regarding the standards and qualifications.
FACT: The Appraisal Foundation’s technical boards consist of subject matter experts in the standards and qualifications, including many practicing appraisers. In addition, feedback is sought from a wide range of stakeholders on any proposed changes, including those with expertise across a range of groups, such as regulators, consumers, and lenders.
MYTH: The Board of Trustees directs what changes are made to the standards and qualifications.
FACT: The Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) and Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) operate independently of the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees cannot dictate either boards’ work plan or their decisions regarding any topic in front of the board. There is an Oversight Committee charged with ensuring that all board members are upholding the Foundation’s Code of Conduct and ethical requirements, but this role is strictly managerial. Trustees on the Oversight Committee cannot participate in any substantive discussion of standards and qualifications issues while conducting oversight.
MYTH: USPAP controls how appraisal reporting forms are developed and written, what those forms say or how they should be used, including Fannie Mae’s 1004 form.
FACT: The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) does not dictate the form, format, or style of appraisal reports. And it is the position of the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) that it is the appraiser, not a form, that complies with Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Each assignment is different, and no form can cover all Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) requirements for the assignment. Appraisal report forms are simply tools used to organize the reporting of assignment results, and it is common for appraisers to supplement a form with addenda in order to comply with Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) requirements.
MYTH: Any party who is given a copy of an appraisal report should be able to understand not just what is in the report, but why certain information is, or is not, in the report.
FACT: Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) only requires an appraisal report to only be able to be understood by the party (or parties) who the appraiser has identified as an “intended user” of the appraisal report. While a client is always an intended user, someone who simply ends up being given a copy of an appraisal report, is not an intended user. An appraiser writes an appraisal report in a way that answers the identified intended users’ questions and cannot be expected to write appraisal reports in a way that answers any questions a “reader” of the report (that is unknown and not identified by the appraiser) would have.
MYTH: The requirement to take the 7-Hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) Course is only required if there are changes made to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
FACT: The AQB education requirement for appraisers to take the 7-Hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) Course every two years is independent of whether changes are made to Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) or not. Every two years, appraisers take a new version of the 7-Hour Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) Course which will feature hot topics in the profession and how appraisers can better apply Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) in their daily appraisal practice. This requirement that an appraiser stays proficient in applicable standards through education is in line with other professions, including lawyers and pharmacists.
MYTH: : The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is the 344-page book appraisers purchase for the 7-Hour USPAP Course.
FACT: Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is only 58 pages long. The book you currently buy is called the “Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) publication” and contains Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and material that is not Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), including Advisory Opinions and Frequently Asked Questions. This additional material is referred to as guidance and is designed to be a resource to appraisers to better navigate the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and apply them to their daily appraisal practice. Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice’s (USPAP) preamble, definitions, rules and Standards 1-4 are all available for free online here.
MYTH: States and the federal government cannot exceed the qualification criteria set by the AQB.
FACT: The Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) sets the minimum qualification criteria for appraisers. States and the federal government can and often do place additional criteria exceeding the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) minimum. For example, many federal government agencies require an appraiser to have 3-5 years of experience before they are considered qualified to do an appraisal for that agency. You can check out the Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) task force’s map here to view the criteria each state has put in place in addition to the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) requirements.