Date: 10 August 2010
From: Patrick Murphy Chairman, MD State Commission of Real Estate Appraisers and Home Inspectors
To: All Interested Parties
Re: Significant Appraisal Assistance
To All This May Concern:
Since its inception, the Maryland State Commission of Real Estate Appraisers and Home Inspectors
(the “Commission”) has been receiving submissions of appraisals to be reviewed by the Commission in
relation to licensure and license upgrades.
But in recent months, there have been frequent submissions of appraisals that are not technically
in compliance with the Uniform Appraisal Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP),
particularly Standard 2, which among other things, requires all that have provided significant
appraisal assistance be named in the Certification of the report and then supply a description of that
assistance either in that Certification, or elsewhere in the report.
It has always been the Commission's position that the trainee or licensee providing such assistance
either sign the report along with a supervisory appraiser, or in the absence of a signature, provide
the information outlined above.
Of late, we have been receiving reports that do not comply with either of these options.
In an effort to correct this shortcoming, the Industry Members of the Commission met with the State
Administration and Office of Counsel to produce a way to steer these reports back into compliance with
USPAP and the State Commission while accommodating the State’s licensee’s, who may have client
requests to perform their appraisals otherwise.
The Commissions first preference is always to have the trainee or licensee who provides significant
appraisal assistance sign the report along with the supervisory appraiser. In the absence of this, we
provide two options:
OPTION ONE
The Supervisory Appraiser will provide an Addendum within the report that specifically addresses the significant appraisal
assistance. This addendum names the person providing the assistance, describes the extent of that
assistance, and states the hours claimed in performing that assistance. It requires the signature of
the supervisory appraiser and is dated. The reference to this addendum must be located on page one of
the report as well as the fact that it is an addendum describing significant appraisal assistance in
the preparation of the report. This reference could be as simple as “Please refer to the addendum
regarding significant assistance in the preparation of this report.”
The addendum (PDF document,
57KB,
download
Adobe Acrobat for free) that should be used is attached to this memorandum and marked “Option 1.
OPTION TWO
The appraisal report for which the trainee/licensee is claiming credit will have a statement
similar to the declaration provided in the sample of the attached
document. This statement provides the name of the licensee, the description of the
assistance provided, and the hours claimed.
The instructions for placement of that statement are included on the
attached document (PDF document,
104KB, download
Adobe Acrobat for free) labeled “Option 2.”
The use of either of these options will be mandatory for reports dated January 1st, 2011 and
thereafter. It is suggested that the options be implemented immediately, especially in the cases where
a trainee/licensee anticipates submitting reports to the Commission for compliance reviews.
The Commission realizes that at present, there are a number of trainee/licensees that are “caught
in the middle” so to speak, as they have been providing appraisal assistance that does not meet the
current expectations of the Commission with regard to acknowledgement of their services within the
report. We will review those submissions on a case by case basis and try to assist the applicants in
gaining credit for their experience. There is no universal solution to these cases since the methods
utilized to meet their clients’ needs ranges from burying the acknowledgement in the obscure fine
print of the report — to no signature or acknowledgement at all.
We know that there is no one solution that all affected and/or concerned will find the best, above
all else. What we provide is a simple solution that will be as painless as possible for the majority
of Maryland Appraiser Licensees while still upholding the professional and ethical standards that each
of us practice every day.
Patrick Murphy
Chairman
Maryland State Commission of Real Estate Appraisers and Home Inspectors
Download the memorandum and
attachments (PDF document, 174KB, download
Adobe Acrobat for free)
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