Appraisal Foundation (TAF)

Board of Trustees:Listening Tour and Stakeholder EngagementThe Board of Trustees began the year with a listening tour to engage with stakeholders across the profession, gathering their concerns and suggestions on how the Foundation could enhance public trust. These sessions were crucial in shaping the Board's agenda for the year. Regular updates were provided to demonstrate how stakeholder feedback influenced ongoing projects.Governance ModernizationOne of the major initiatives in 2023 was the Board Structure Work Group's report, which recommended streamlining and modernizing the Foundation's governance. Based on stakeholder feedback, the recommendations included eliminating direct appointments to the Board by external organizations, creating a new Partner category independent of financial contributions, and emphasizing governance responsibilities. After a public comment period, the Board adopted these recommendations and updated the bylaws accordingly. Implementation will continue through 2024.Successful Recruitment and NominationsThe Trustee and Boards Nominating Committees had a productive year, successfully recruiting new board members. The Boards Nominating Committee received a record 73 applications for the Appraisal Standards Board and Appraiser Qualifications Board. The Trustee Nominating Committee conducted two nomination cycles to ensure a full Board of Trustees for 2024. Both committees employed blind scoring and rubrics, achieving strong results.Diversity and Outreach EffortsThe Consumer Affairs and Stakeholder Outreach Committee and the Special Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion focused on outreach to aspiring appraisers in underserved communities. The Consumer Affairs Committee produced a video featuring a supervisor and trainee of color, highlighting their journey into the profession. The Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee attended an event at Morehouse College to promote the profession to students from the Atlanta University Center Consortium, where Foundation President Dave Bunton also spoke.Looking AheadAs the Board of Trustees prepares for 2024, the insights gained in 2023 will continue to guide their efforts.

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.

Appraiser Qualifications Board:Real Property Appraiser Qualification CriteriaOn June 22, 2023, the Appraiser Qualification AQB (AQB) adopted a new edition of the Criteria with an effective date of January 1, 2026. The new Criteria was informed from two Exposure Drafts of Proposed Criteria changes that were released to the public, as well as from the AQB's Forum to Explore Education Requirements: Fair Housing Laws and Valuation Bias Education (Forum) on September 12, 2022. At the Forum, the AQB and the public heard from federal agencies, state appraiser regulatory agencies, professional appraiser organizations, education providers, and consumer, civil rights, and fair housing advocacy groups on the topic of requiring valuation bias and fair housing laws and regulations education for real property appraisers. After the Forum, and subsequently, a working group consisting of state appraiser regulatory agencies; professional appraiser organizations; education providers; appraiser coalitions; and consumer, civil rights, and fair housing advocacy groups met toto provide receive feedback to the AQB on what exactly the education requirements should contain. This was followed by the AQB issuing a First Exposure Draft in January 2023 and a Second Exposure Draft in May 2023.The adopted changes to the Criteria include new requirements for current and aspiring appraisers to complete Q.E. and/or C.E. courses which meet the content requirements of the Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations Outline. Approved the First PAREA Program The Appraiser Qualifications Board approved the first two PAREA programs. Both programs are the Appraisal Institute's Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (AI PAREA). One program is for the licensed residential credential and the other is for the certified residential credential. There are, however, several other developers still working to create their PAREA programs. As of December 31, 2023, the AQB reviewed 12 concept proposals from potential PAREA providers. States and territories continue to enter into rulemaking to adopt PAREA as an alternative pathway. As of December 31, 2023, the AQB's informal tracking noted PAREA adoption in 47 states and territories. The AQB continued conducting outreach to states by attending the state board meetings and speaking on PAREA. Specifically, the AQB spoke to several state appraiser boards including those in Vermont, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Wyoming, Nevada, and Georgia. Improving the Course Approval Program 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, 2023, there were approximately 275 CAP approved courses. Improving the National ExamIn 2023, the exam performed as intended and there was an increase in first time test takers. The exam questions for the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations underwent an annual review by the AQB in 2023. An bi-annual review has been conducted by the AQB ever since both the 2008 version of the Criteria went int effect, which included the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations requirements.To update the exam questions , the AQB engaged a group of appointed Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The AQB, along with their contracted exam writing experts, and these SMEs met in-person in July to review exam questions and finalize new versions of the exams for each license classification. The new exams will launch on January 1, 2024.Degree Review Program - Outreach to Minority Serving Institutions In 2023, the AQB continued evaluating graduate and undergraduate degree programs in real estate to determine if their real estate courses meet the Q.E. education requirements of the Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria (Criteria). As a result, programs from the following colleges/universities had degrees approved: University of Cincinnati University of Nevada Las Vegas Mesa Community College Villanova University of Texas Arlington Since the beginning of this program, the AQB has approved a total of 29 undergraduate programs, 15 graduate programs, and 2 associate programs. The AQB continued outreach to education providers including minority serving institutions. The AQB also worked with several appraisal membership organizations to find ways to collaborate on future outreach. The AQB plans to continue their outreach to minority serving institutions, including tribal and women colleges in 2024. Certifying USPAP Instructors The Appraisal Standards Board adopted the 2024 version of USPAP in May 2023 with an effective date of January 1, 2024. Unlike previous editions, it will not have an end date. The Instructor Recertification Course (IRC) opened on October 1, 2023, and instructors have until March 31, 2024 to recertify. As of December 31, 2023, the number of USPAP Instructor who recertified to teach the 2024 USPAP courses was 240. The Instructor Certification Course (ICC) for new USPAP instructors is scheduled to be held in 2024 (the course is typically held every other year). USPAP Education The AQB, in collaboration with the ASB, revised the 7-Hour National USPAP Update courses which became available to teach on October 1. The course has again been well received, given its newer design and format. The course is designed to meet three objectives:1. Ensure that participants understand the principles and requirements of USPAP.2. Ensure participants understand USPAP in the context of current and common issues.3. Ensure participants know how to use the USPAP publication to solve their day-to-day appraisal practice related problemsAlso, the Functional Specifications and Requirements for Gaining an Equivalency Rating were updated for education providers who plan to develop their own equivalent USPAP courses.Q&As RELEASED In 2023, the AQB released four Q&As: Practicum course - Content & Experience PAREA & State Specific Certificate Mass Appraisal Experience & Supervisory Signature Can Licensed Appraisers be Supervisors

Appraisal Standards BoardOn May 5, 2023, the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB) adopted modifications to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). This decision culminated a two-year process that began earnestly after a Discussion Draft was issued for public comment in June 2021. The Discussion Draft sought clarification on whether appraisers and users of appraisal services correctly understood the requirement to avoid relying upon "unsupported conclusions" regarding demographic characteristics. Following the discussion draft, five exposure drafts were released, during which written and oral comments were received at five public meetings and exposure draft webinars. Each member of the ASB read and carefully considered every comment.A summary of the modifications are as follow: The Board adopted a Nondiscrimination Section in the ETHICS RULE and deleted all language relating to unsupported conclusions in the Conduct section of the ETHICS RULE. There are no changes to the Management and Confidentiality sections of the ETHICS RULE. The Board also adopted the addition of and other transfers," into Standards Rule 1-5(b), Standards Rule 2-2(a)(x)(3), Standards Rule 2-2(b)(xii)(3), Standards Rule 7-5(b), Standards Rule 8-2(a)(x)(3) Standards Rule 8-2(b)(xii)(3), and Standards Rule 9-4(b). The Board retired the definition of Assignment Elements, Misleading, and Relevant Characteristics. The Board modified the definition of Appraiser, Personal Inspection, and Workfile. The Board adopted replacement of the words "a summary" with "the description" in one sentence in each of the following Standards Rules: Standards Rule 2-3(ii), Standards Rule 4-3(c)(ii), Standards Rule 6-3(c)(ii), Standards Rule 8-3(c)(ii), and Standards Rule 10-3(c)(ii). The Board also adopted the addition of words "in writing and" to a sentence in STANDARD 6. The Board adopted adding words to a requirement in Standards Rule 8-2(b) so that it is consistent with the exact wording in 8-2(a).In addition to adopted new changes to USPAP, the Board also adopted the following changes to the Advisory Opinions (which are a form of guidance issued by the Board): The Board adopted changes to Advisory Opinion 2, Inspection of Subject Property, in part, to reflect adopted changes in the definition of Personal Inspection. The ASB retired Advisory Opinion 16, Fair Housing Laws and Appraisal Report Content. The Board adopted Advisory Opinion 39, Antidiscrimination, and Advisory Opinion 40, Antidiscrimination and the Research, Analysis, and Reporting of Location Data, including Demographics, for Residential Real Property Appraisal Assignments to provide guidance on the new Nondiscrimination section of the ETHICS RULE.USPAP without an end dateAs USPAP matures, the ASB has made the decision not to assign an ending effective date for the 2024 USPAP edition. Instead, the focus has shifted towards issuing more frequent guidance. This adjustment in focus enables appraisers to retain the USPAP standards on their bookshelf for the duration of its effectiveness, while obtaining the Guidance and Reference Manual as needed for coursework and updates. It's important to note that the ASB remains dedicated to upholding and refining the standards; however, there are currently no immediate plans for further changes to USPAP.USPAP as a standalone documentOn October 1, the 2024 USPAP became available as a standalone publication, which includes Definitions, Rules, and Standards. All Advisory Opinions, Frequently Asked Questions, and the recently launched Reference Manual, became part of a standalone publication called the 2024 USPAP Guidance and Reference Manual (GRM). Q&As After adopting the changes to USPAP, the ASB spent time creating a standardized process for being able to consistently develop and release timely and relevant Q & A's. While no Q & A's were issued in 2023, creating the process set the AQB up for being able to issue more timely Q & A's starting in 2024.Engaging with the Public During the public comment period, the ASB consulted with various stakeholders to gain insight into the potential impact of proposed changes to USPAP and to learn about current issues impacting appraisers. Feedback was solicited from the Appraisal Foundation's Advisory Council (TAFAC), the Industry Advisory Council (IAC), and Council to Advance Residential Equity (CARE). Additional outreach efforts were undertaken to solicit targeted feedback on the exposure drafts from specific groups. These groups included former chairs, federal regulators, state regulators via the State Regulator Advisory Group and Association of Appraiser Regulatory Officials meetings. Members of the ASB or the Foundation staff also presented on USPAP and recent board activities to: Colorado Association of Real Estate Appraisers McKissock Learning The Risk Management Association Central Mississippi REALTORS Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the Appraisal Institute The National Association of Appraisers Appraisers Coalition of Washington Illinois Coalition of Appraisal Professionals American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers Shawgo Real Estate LLC Appraisal Update Podcast with Bryan Reynolds of Appraiser eLearning Lambda Alpha International NY Chapter New York State Association of REALTORS

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