Appraisers Need to Stay in Their Market Areas!

Austin is looking at changing their MLS program, and they've asked the membership for help in the decision. There are 3 programs we're looking at. I attended the meeting on Monday to go through the overview of the systems. The meeting was open to anyone who is a member.

The gentleman in front of me was asking question after question about a system to share data in the different MLSs in the state, which was not what we were there to talk about. At one of the breaks, I find out that he's an appraiser. There's this program called Data Co-op that is used in many areas where MLSs overlap, like New York. In Austin, we have our main system. NW of Austin about 1 1/2 hours, there is a different system, and then San Marcos, about 45 minutes south of Austin has it's own system before you get to San Antonio with its own system.

These areas are very distinct areas so I would not consider the Austin MLS having an overlap of systems. This Appraiser started talking about how it's so expensive to join all the different boards in order to have access to all the data he needs for his appraisals, and wouldn't it be great if the Texas systems would participate in the Data Co-op like other areas? (Most systems do participate, they just don't share the data with other systems)

All of a sudden, it clicked what he was really talking about...

I said, "No offense, but I want my appraisers to be local. I'm sick and tired of appraisers in one area thinking they can do an appraisal in another area that they're not from. It's people like you that are causing problems on many transactions because you're not familiar with the areas."

I told him about an appraiser coming up from San Antonio to do an appraisal north of Austin. I told him about an appraiser that I accidentally got black-listed from a lender because I asked him about his CA area code and how long he had been in the Austin area, and he threw a temper tantrum. This appraiser agrees that my concerns were valid.

This appraiser doesn't admit that he's doing anything wrong, however he does tell me to continue to report appraisers that I feel aren't doing good jobs. How could he think my concerns are valid, but continue to do what he's doing? The Data Co-op system isn't supposed to be used for people to do their job outside of their market. Why don't appraisers understand that real estate is local, and it's not possible to know everything about every neighborhood in a 200 mile radius? I'm licensed in the entire state of Texas, but I don't go sell houses in Abilene or Corpus or any other area I'm not familiar with. It's a disservice to the clients.

Appraisers, don't bid the job just because you're free that day. Bid the job because you're capable!

**Are You Packed Yet?**

Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com
austin-texas-homes-for-sale.com

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Copyright© 2012 By Donna Harris, All Rights Reserved. You may re-blog with links back to this post.
* Appraisers Need to Stay in Their Market Areas! * was first published on donnahomesblog.com.