Appraisal Foundation

APPRAISER QUALIFICATIONS BOARD (AQB) The AQB is responsible for developing and updating the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria (Criteria), the minimum qualifications to obtain a real property appraiser credential in the United States. The AQB adopted a new edition of the Criteria with an effective date of January 1, 2022. The new Criteria was informed by two Exposure Drafts of proposed changes that were released to the public, as well as an Exposure Draft of a proposed general interpretation of the Criteria. Changes include revisions to distance education requirements, an explicit addition of "valuation bias, fair housing, and/or equal opportunity" as allowable continuing education and qualifying education, and allowance of up to 100% experience without a traditional client. Criteria changes also addressed concerns raised about the limited number and cost of platform delivery reviewers and adopted the Foundation as an additional delivery mechanism approval entity. The AQB also formed a Panel on Delivery Mechanism Approval that provided expertise in building a high-quality and cost-efficient delivery mechanism approval entity as part of CAP. The AQB continued efforts to implement the Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) per the Criteria that went into effect on January 1, 2021. PAREA provides another pathway, in addition to the existing supervisor/trainee model, for aspiring appraisers to fulfill their experience requirements by taking advantage of innovative technology. The AQB held a PAREA webinar for potential PAREA providers and a PAREA webinar for state regulators, which were well attended. Due to state requests, the AQB created a PAREA handout for states and by the end of the year reviewed six concept proposals from potential PAREA providers. The AQB continued to administer its Course Approval Program (CAP), a program designed to help state regulatory agencies approve qualifying and continuing education. As of December 31, 2021, there were approximately 350 CAP-approved courses. The AQB adopted new CAP Policies and Procedures with an effective date of January 1, 2022. The exam questions for the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations underwent an annual review by the AQB in 2021. An annual review has been conducted by the AQB ever since both the updated Criteria and the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations were implemented on January 1, 2008. To update the exam questions, the AQB engaged a group of appointed Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). New versions of the exams were finalized for each license classification. In addition, the Job Analysis SMEs met to discuss the results of the 2020 Occupational Job Analysis survey and modify the Exam Content Outline (ECO) for the National Examination to be effective January 1, 2022. The new ECO is published on the Foundation website. In 2021, the AQB continued evaluating graduate and undergraduate degree programs in real estate to determine if their real estate courses meet the education requirements of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria. As a result, programs from Baruch College, Fort Valley State University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Mississippi, and Virginia Commonwealth University in 2021. Since the beginning of this program, the AQB has approved a total of 20 undergraduate programs, 11 graduate programs, and one associate program. Additional colleges and universities are currently being reviewed. Additionally, The AQB continued their outreach to veteran programs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). The AQB also worked with several appraisal membership organizations to find ways to collaborate on future outreach. Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) The ASB is responsible for writing, amending, and interpreting the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). The ASB announced that the 2020-2021 edition of USPAP would be extended by one year until December 31, 2022. This decision was due to a variety of factors including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the profession and to further examine complex issues. The ASB also released an Exposure Draft of proposed changes to Advisory Opinion 16, Fair Housing Laws and Appraisal Report Content. Additionally, the ASB, after issuing a Discussion Draft of potential areas of change and gathering stakeholder feedback, issued the First Exposure Draft of potential changes to the 2023 USPAP. The draft included eight sections, including the Ethics Rule, personal inspection and the certification, disclosure in reporting, transfers and sales, retirement of three definitions, modification of three definitions, an addition of a definition, and other minor edits for clarity. A webinar was held to explain the rationale for the exposure draft. After receiving additional feedback, the ASB released a Second Exposure Draft of potential changes to the 2023 USPAP. The ASB continued its outreach to stakeholders on USPAP issues and consulted with many different stakeholders to better understand how current issues are impacting appraisers. Feedback was received from the Appraisal Foundation's Advisory Council, the ASB Issues Committee, and the Industry Advisory Council.

Publications and Instructor Education The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 recognizes the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) as the generally accepted real property appraisal standards and requires USPAP compliance for appraisers in federally related transactions. The Appraisal Foundation publishes and sells the USPAP manual along with a series of courses related to the standards. These courses are available for several appraisal disciplines: business valuation, personal property, mass appraisal, and real property. The Foundation also is the publisher and sells the US Department of Justice's Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (Yellow Book). The Foundation offers the Instructor Certification Course (ICC) to certify instructors to teach USPAP courses. It is a challenging two-day course followed by an exam. In October 2021, the course was offered virtually for the second time. After the successful online course, the AQB was able to welcome 11 new USPAP instructors. The Instructor Recertification Course (IRC) opened on October 1, 2021, and instructors have until March 31, 2022, to recertify.