segment of the currently practicing residential appraiser population that will retire or become semi- retired, thus further decreasing the supply of appraisers.” The Mortgage Banker’s Association projects an increase in 12.7 million owner households from 2014 to 2024, averaging 1.3 million households per year. The inference is that the formation of these new owner household will require appraisals. The NAC believes that “even without further attrition, the current population of residential appraisers will be inadequate to fulfill that growing mortgage demand.” The NAC’s solution is a revision of state and lender client requirements. Instead of having to be directly supervised and accompanied on all inspections by their supervisor, the NAC proposes that an appraiser trainee be required to perform at least 30 inspections in no less than 90 days with their supervisor and, once adequately trained, be allowed to perform appraisal inspections on their own. This, the NAC argues, is a critical component of making the process of training a new appraiser more economical for both the supervisor and the trainee. The trainee may be able to negotiate a higher fee split or greater compensation because of the increased contribution and the supervisor able to delegate more and profitably employ trainees. The NAC draws similarities between appraisers and Certified Public Accountants (CPA), arguing that CPAs are currently able to utilize their trainees to a much greater extent than appraisers. The NAC believes that much like accountancy, the appraisal industry must “maintain a gold standard for qualifying and testing new appraisers, while also creating a structure that prevents the process from becoming cost prohibitive, redundant and a barrier to entry that prevents the admission of newly qualified appraisers.” The Appraisal Foundation- Final Say In an interview with Working RE, John Brenan, Director at The Appraisal Foundation, says that TAF’s Appraiser Qualification’s Board is not looking to roll back the College degree requirement. “At the AARO Conference in 2015, we didn’t hear any testimony saying we’ve gone too far. Members of the panel were actually saying that we should not remove the requirement. It has raised the level of the candidates to where it should be. I don’t think the AQB will get rid of that requirement, but it is looking at alternatives. If you’re a licensed appraiser with a track record of professional experience, but you don’t have a college degree, is there a way to be a Certified Residential? The AQB is considering that,” says Brenan. “FHA/HUD not accepting appraisals by licensed appraisers is also an issue. The AQB is very proactive about this and looking at what it can do to ensure people who want to be in the business can be in the business.” Brenan also says the AQB is looking into the experience requirement. “TAF and the AQB are considering if the 2,000 and 2,500 hour experience requirements are the right numbers. What is 2,500 hours of experience today compared to when these numbers were first done? Technology means appraisals are being performed in less time. We are also exploring what are other ways people can get that experience to get into the profession and become certified because we recognize the supervisor/trainee mentoring model is experiencing difficulties,” says Brenan. According to Brenan, the AQB is looking toward the further development of practicum courses, which would be additional courses that would satisfy up to 50 percent of a trainee’s required experience. The problem, Brenan says, is that no practicum courses exist today as it hasn’t been economical to develop