A Letter To Our Members
By John A. Meyer, SRA, 2007 MiCREA Chairman
 Wow, where has this year gone? And what a year it has been! As I read through the letters I have written this year, it is interesting to view the year in retrospect. In March I wrote about the number of foreclosures in the state and our need to be honest in our evaluation of the markets we are working in. The number of foreclosures has not subsided, unfortunately, and the need for our honest opinion is greater than ever. Please report what is really happening and do not continue to check “stable” or “increasing” if in fact the market conditions do not reflect this, just to avoid a call from a loan officer or an underwriter! Let’s step up and tell it like it is!
We took a survey early in the year and found out many of you did not know what MiCREA was. I hope we have helped you figure that out this year. We were instrumental in putting on the Appraisal Track at the MAR convention in September, and had a pretty good turn out for the educational offerings. Many of us were able to pick up our Appraisal and Real Estate continuing education hours at the convention, and look forward to doing the same next year. The other day I was looking for some water-front related facilities along the Lake Michigan shore. By using the “Find an Appraiser” link on the MiCREA Web site I was able to go down the lakeshore from top to bottom, pulling up appraisers in each county, and calling them for information. What a wonderful resource!
Continue to look for the MiCREA page in the Michigan REALTOR® magazine. The goal is to have articles on current hot topics geared to appraisers and residential real estate practitioners. We also are in touch with our legislators through MAR and will keep you informed of any changes that impact our profession. On a related note, three of our MiCREA members, John Collison, Dave Maturen, and Dave Deverman have been appointed to the 2008 NAR Appraisal Committee, and through them we are in touch with appraisers throughout the country to stay on top of the issues for you.
Our top priorities are education, political issues that impact appraisers, and providing a way to interact with each other to discuss issues that impact us all. We will continue to try and reach as many of you as we can in 2008.
We are very fortunate to have Beth Graham from Lansing taking over as the Chairperson for MiCREA next year. Beth is also serving on the Michigan State Board of Real Estate Appraisers and it has been a pleasure working with her over the past several years. I would like to thank the other committee members and the MAR staff for their help and input this year, especially Andrea Bates, who kept us up to date with MAR and reminds me to write this letter each month. Andrea, thanks for all your hard work.
I hope to meet more of you as the years go by. I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and may 2008 be better than 2007!
Take Care – John
top
Homeowner Relief Package
Although the legislature is technically on break for the holidays, the House Republican Caucus was busy holding press conferences around the state on a plan to infuse the housing market and spur the economy in Michigan. The “Homeowner Relief Package” aims to preserve home values, stabilize the real estate market, and protect against harmful lending practices. The plan stems from hearing the concerns of Michigan residents on issues of property taxes, decreasing home values, fraudulent lenders, and assessment problems. Highlights of the plan include:
- Requiring property assessments to reflect the current housing market
- Granting Homestead Exemption Status immediately when a home is purchased
- Criminalizing mortgage fraud, prohibiting inflated appraisals and preventing the filing of fraudulent deeds
- Offering incentives to home buyers purchasing a foreclosed home
- Allowing banks more flexibility with at-risk homeowners
The proposed plan encompasses numerous facets of the real estate community. Most of these issues are already a top priority of this association. The MAR looks forward to working with the legislature on the homeowner relief plan in the upcoming 2008 legislative session.
top
NAR Supports Appraiser Independence
NAR opposes a "blind draw" system for FHA transactions because it may discount appraisers' knowledge and interfere with the appraisal process.
Read more
Read a related NAR news release and testimony
top
|
