I began my career in the real estate appraisal industry. Eight years later the housing market crashed, and it was time to reevaluate the trajectory of my career. During that time, I chose to specialize my skills and complete training and education necessary to become a personal property appraiser specializing in building materials. While I do enjoy the deconstruction and donation industry far more than real estate, I miss the collegial atmosphere of the real estate appraisal industry.
Among appraisers specializin in valuing building materials, the collaborative culture is not always promoted. This is especially surprising considering there are only approximately 17-20 of us nationwide. Some appraisers are more inclined to become insular, territorial, and sometimes even speak ill of fellow colleagues. Greater industry-wide successes would be generated if we joined forces to promote the sharing of best-practices and appraiser/appraisal standards. This lack of collegiality is quite disconcerting and could potentially allow inaccurate or sometimes fraudulent appraisals to be performed with no detection due to lack of oversight within and without the appraisal community.
Disparagement of others within the personal property industry has been deemed an ethical violation by the three main industry organizations: The American Association of Appraisers (AAA), the International Society of Appraisers (ISA), and the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). In fact, all three organizations foster the idea of support and strength among its members and would like to promote idea sharing, best-practices and internal review and oversight.
For example, the ISA’s core values consist of integrity, leadership, expertise, and education. It is a collaborative culture and member driven in its efforts to promote ethical leadership within its ranks. In the association’s Code of Ethics, a policy to which all members must adhere, Section VI, Part E states that disparagement is not to be tolerated: “ISA members shall not make unsubstantiated statements or unfounded implications regarding a colleague. ISA members shall not interfere with a colleague's right to practice, serve, or compete to the full extent of the colleague's knowledge, competence, and abilities.”
Moreover, ISA guidelines in the Code of Ethics section, which focuses on the development of the profession, states, “ISA members shall promote development of the appraisal profession encouraging and/or engaging in exchange of knowledge and experience with colleagues, students and the general public.” Encouraging and engaging in habitual exchanges of knowledge is a requirement of ISA’s members. Yet contradictory actions are found encompassing so many within the industry. This continues to damage our reputation as ethical appraisal professionals.
The ASA also has a similar statement in their Code of Ethics regarding protection of the professional reputation of other appraisers: “It is unethical for an appraiser to injure, or attempt to injure, by false or malicious statements or by innuendo the professional reputation or prospects of any appraiser.”
Other organizations, such as the Appraisal Foundation, concur. The Appraisal Foundation’s vision statement clearly advances the idea of collaboration when it states that, “The vision of The Appraisal Foundation is excellence, unity and trust in the valuation profession.” If we do not support collaboration, and instead engage in practices including written and oral unfounded criticism of work product and defamation of appraisal’s characters, clients may lose trust in us as professionals and in the industry as a whole. They may well think they walked into a consortium of used car salespeople.
Where will that leave the deconstruction appraisal industry? Violating these Codes of Ethics can result in dismissal from the organization and a dismissal can revoke the legitimization of the appraiser’s qualifications according to IRS requirements for a qualified appraiser.
The deconstruction and donation market provides more than enough appraisal production work for all ethical appraisers. As deconstruction awareness and popularity increase, as appraisers we must work together to standardize, encourage, and enforce best practices. However, if unethical practices of knocking each other down coupled with the insularity of the industry continue to exist, we could contribute to the disallowance of deconstruction tax deductions. Tax benefits are a critical “carrot” to affect taxpayer behavior towards environmental and sustainability ends. Should the tax deduction be lost, Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste diversion currently realized through tax deductions for donation over dumping may no longer be realized and landfills will feel the burden.
Deconstruction appraisers: Remove the insularity of our practices. Work together to collaborate on best-practices. Let us heighten the barriers to entry so only those of us with adequate education, experience, and training are producing appraisals, and those sullying the industry through less-than-ethical practices can find another line of work--and not in the used car sales industry--the earlier comment was in poor taste. Many used car salespeople are much more ethical than the behaviors seen within appraisal industries.
