Home Inspectors: Inspecting Your E&O Insurance by David Brauner, Senior Broker, OREP Here’s a riddle that more and more inspectors are solving easily: how do you obtain errors and omissions insurance (E&O) and General Liability Insurance from an “A” Rated, Admitted carrier including an Additional Insured Endorsement for Agents and other Referring Parties, Termite and…
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Inspectors: Golden Rules for Avoiding Liability By David Brauner, Editor Seasoned home inspectors say the golden rules for avoiding liability are simple- write what you see, say what you write and don’t sugarcoat anything! More specifically, report what you see and also what you don’t see- and why you couldn’t see it. They also suggest…
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“The USL Documenter provides professionalism to my appraisals and keeps me from worrying about liability issues. I wouldn’t send out an appraisal without it.” – Greg Beck Editor’s Note: According to the developer David Braun, MAI, SRA, the Report Documenter Software operates in any modern Windows environment and no longer requires MS Excel to run....…
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Clarifying Copyright (by Someone Who Knows) by Tim Vining, MAI As the appraiser who brought suit in federal court for copyright, I wish to address and clarify some comments made in writing in other appraisal industry publications. Whether you realize it or not, once pen is put to paper the author has copyright protection. In...…
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Editor’s Note: Appraiser Pat Butler shares little-known but common measuring mistakes, reveals why two competent appraisers might produce varying sketch measurements and provides the best ways to reconcile the differences. Everything You Don’t Know about Measuring (Really) By Patrick J. Butler An important part of the appraisal review process performed by relocation companies and others...…
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Editor’s Note: We found the following quote among many similar comments online over the summer: “I took the seven-hour USPAP class to update myself on the new changes to USPAP. Most of the class left confused and unclear with regard to some of the changes.” (Appraiser wishes to remain anonymous.) The following is excerpted from...…
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Editor’s Note: As business slows, some of us need a little nudge when it comes to expanding our minds, our skills and hopefully our income. John Harris points out that there are significant opportunities for professional and financial growth appraising items other than real estate. Expand Your Mind (and Income) by John Harris What do...…
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Editor’s Note: Author Beverly Bayer, SRA says that lenders, fed up with shoddy appraisals, are laying traps for unsuspecting appraisers. Fannie Mae has said as much, indicating that one of goals with the new forms is to make appraisers more accountable for their work. In this story, Bayer exposes several “gotcha” traps designed to snare…
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Getting Full Fees By David Brauner, Editor Appraisers will tell you that fees haven’t budged in 15 years or more. For many, fees are falling. Welcome to the world of mega banks and the AMCs that service them, AVMs, the Internet and an appraiser-supply that outstrips demand. But some appraisers manage to command full fees....…
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Editor’s Note: We received a number of comments on last issue’s cover story: How to Make Six Figures Appraising. One of the most “colorful” leads to this follow-up story (see Readers Respond). The comments were submitted by a fairly seasoned appraiser (four plus years) who is incredulous that anyone would pay a trainee six figures (who...…
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