CO Code § 12-10-602 (2021)
2021 Colorado Code|Title 12 - Professions and Occupations|Article 10 - Real Estate|Part 6 - Real Estate Appraisers|§ 12-10-602. Definitions

 As used in this part 6, unless the context otherwise requires:       “Appraisal”, “appraisal report”, or “real estate appraisal” means a written or oral analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the nature, quality, value, or utility of specified interests in, or aspects of, identified real estate that is transmitted to the client upon the completion of an assignment. These terms include a valuation, which is an opinion of the value of real estate, and an analysis, which is a general study of real estate not specifically performed only to determine value; except that the terms include a valuation completed by an appraiser employee of a county assessor as defined in section 39-1-102 (2).    The terms do not include an analysis, valuation, opinion, conclusion, notation, or compilation of data by an officer, director, regularly salaried employee, or agent of a financial institution or its affiliate, made for internal use only by the financial institution or affiliate, concerning an interest in real estate that is owned or held as collateral by the financial institution or affiliate and that is not represented or deemed to be an appraisal except to the financial institution, the agencies regulating the financial institution, and any secondary markets that purchase real estate secured loans. An appraisal prepared by an officer, director, regularly salaried employee, or agent of a financial institution who is not licensed or certified under this part 6 must contain a written notice that the preparer is not licensed or certified as an appraiser under this part 6.    “Appraisal”, “appraisal report”, or “real estate appraisal” does not include a federally authorized “waiver valuation”, as defined in 49 CFR 24.2 (a)(33), as amended.         “Appraisal management company” or “AMC” means, in connection with valuing properties collateralizing mortgage loans or mortgages incorporated into a securitization, any external third party authorized either by a creditor in a consumer credit transaction secured by a consumer's principal dwelling that oversees an appraiser panel or by an underwriter of, or other principal in, the secondary mortgage markets that oversees an appraiser panel to:   Recruit, select, and retain appraisers;    Contract with licensed and certified appraisers to perform appraisal assignments;    Manage the process of having an appraisal performed, including providing administrative duties such as receiving appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports to creditors and underwriters, collecting fees from creditors and underwriters for services provided, and reimbursing appraisers for services performed; or    Review and verify the work of appraisers.       “Appraisal management company” or “AMC” does not include:   A corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, or other entity that directly performs appraisal services;    A corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, or other entity that does not contract with appraisers for appraisal services, but that solely distributes orders to a client-selected panel of appraisers; and    A mortgage company, or its subsidiary, that manages a panel of appraisers who are engaged to provide appraisal services on mortgage loans either originated by the mortgage company or funded by the mortgage company with its own funds.          “Board” means the board of real estate appraisers created in section 12-10-603.    “Client” means the party or parties who engage an appraiser or an appraisal management company for a specific assignment.    “Consulting services” means services performed by an appraiser that do not fall within the definition of an “independent appraisal” in subsection (7) of this section. “Consulting services” includes marketing, financing and feasibility studies, valuations, analyses, and opinions and conclusions given in connection with real estate brokerage, mortgage banking, and counseling and advocacy in regard to property tax assessments and appeals thereof; except that, if in rendering the services the appraiser acts as a disinterested third party, the work is deemed an independent appraisal and not a consulting service. Nothing in this subsection (5) precludes a person from acting as an expert witness in valuation appeals.    “Financial institution” means any “bank” or “savings association”, as those terms are defined in 12 U.S.C. sec. 1813, any state bank incorporated under title 11, any state or federally chartered credit union, or any company that has direct or indirect control over any of those entities.    “Independent appraisal” means an engagement for which an appraiser is employed or retained to act as a disinterested third party in rendering an unbiased analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the nature, quality, value, or utility of specified interests in or aspects of identified real estate.      “Panel” or “appraiser panel” means a network, list, or roster of licensed or certified appraisers approved by an AMC to perform appraisals as independent contractors for the AMC.    Appraisers on an AMC's appraiser panel include both:   Appraisers accepted by the AMC for consideration for future appraisal assignments in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions; and    Appraisers engaged by the AMC to perform one or more appraisals in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in connection with covered transactions.       An appraiser is an independent contractor for purposes of this subsection (8) if the appraiser is treated as an independent contractor by the AMC for purposes of federal income taxation.         “Real estate appraiser” or “appraiser” means a person who provides an estimate of the nature, quality, value, or utility of an interest in, or aspect of, identified real estate and includes one who estimates value and who possesses the necessary qualifications, ability, and experience to execute or direct the appraisal of real property.    “Real estate appraiser” or “appraiser” does not include:   A person who conducts appraisals strictly of personal property;    A person licensed as a broker pursuant to part 2 of this article 10 who provides an opinion of value that is not represented as an appraisal and is not used for purposes of obtaining financing;    A person licensed as a certified public accountant pursuant to article 100 of this title 12, and otherwise regulated, as long as the person does not represent his or her opinions of value for real estate as an appraisal;    A corporation, acting through its officers or regularly salaried employees, when conducting a valuation of real estate property rights owned, to be purchased, or sold by the corporation;    A person who conducts appraisals strictly of water rights or of mineral rights;    A right-of-way acquisition agent, an appraiser who is licensed and certified pursuant to this part 6, or any other individual who has sufficient understanding of the local real estate market to be qualified to make a waiver valuation when the agent, appraiser, or other qualified individual is employed by or contracts with a public entity and provides an opinion of value that is not represented as an appraisal and when, for any purpose, the property or portion of property being valued is valued at twenty-five thousand dollars or less, as permitted by federal law and 49 CFR 24.102 (c)(2), as amended;    An officer, director, regularly salaried employee, or agent of a financial institution or its affiliate who makes, for internal use only by the financial institution or affiliate, an analysis, evaluation, opinion, conclusion, notation, or compilation of data with respect to an appraisal so long as the person does not make a written adjustment of the appraisal's conclusion as to the value of the subject real property;    An officer, director, regularly salaried employee, or agent of a financial institution or its affiliate who makes an internal analysis, valuation, opinion, conclusion, notation, or compilation of data concerning an interest in real estate that is owned or held as collateral by the financial institution or its affiliate; or    A person who represents property owners as an advocate in tax or valuation protests and appeals pursuant to title 39.           History. Source: L. 2019: Entire title R&RE with relocations,(HB 19-1172), ch. 136, p. 663, § 1, effective October 1; (2)(a)(I) amended,(SB 19-046), ch. 50, p. 164, § 3, effective October 1. L. 2020: (1)(b), (9)(b)(VII), and (9)(b)(VIII) amended,(SB 20-047), ch. 17, p. 71, § 1, effective September 14.    Editor's note:    This section is similar to former § 12-61-702 as it existed prior to 2019; except that § (7) and (8) were relocated to § 12-10-101 (1) and (2), respectively.    Before its relocation in 2019, this section was amended in SB 19-046. Those amendments were superseded by the repeal and reenactment of this title 12, effective October 1, 2019. For those amendments to the former section in effect from March 25, 2019, to October 1, 2019, see SB 19-046, chapter 50, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.     Cross references:   For the legislative declaration in SB 19-046, see section 1 of chapter 50, Session Laws of Colorado 2019.   ANNOTATION   Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.   This section does not prohibit a person licensed as a real estate broker from testifying as to an opinion of value before the Colorado state board of assessment appeals so long as such opinion is not represented as an appraisal. Miller v. Boulder County Bd. of Equaliz., 990 P.2d 1114 (Colo. App. 1998).   A real estate broker may be qualified as an expert witness before the Colorado state board of assessment appeals as to value of a car dealership so long as such broker's opinion is not represented as an appraisal. Miller v. Boulder County Bd. of Equaliz., 990 P.2d 1114 (Colo. App. 1998).   Based on the comprehensive legislative structure regulating them, real estate appraisers practice a profession involving knowledge or skill, and their conduct should be judged according to the tenets of their field. Therefore, a buyer's negligence claim against real estate appraisers for inaccurate appraisals involved professional negligence. Hice v. Lott, 223 P.3d 139 (Colo. App. 2009).   Establishing a standard of care in a professional negligence case normally requires an expert to explain it because ordinary persons are not conversant with it. The issue of whether a dwelling was a “mobile home” or a “modular home”, and the effect of that determination on the dwelling's appraised value, were beyond the experience of ordinary jurors, even when assisted by generally accepted standards of professional appraisal practice. Thus, expert testimony was necessary to establish the standard of care an appraiser must employ when appraising a structure that may be a “mobile home”. Hice v. Lott, 223 P.3d 139 (Colo. App. 2009).