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Impressions from AI National Conference Nashville 2018
[fusion_dropcap boxed=”no” boxed_radius=”” class=”” id=”” color=””]F[/fusion_dropcap]irst, I should start by saying I’m not an appraiser. As the marketing lead for realquantum, my background is software technology, not real estate. My impressions from the AI National Conference was a crash course in what’s top of mind for appraisers today. A few themes emerged. Foremost is that we are in a period of change. Certainly, technological change. We talk about that all the time here at the realquantum blog. But also change tied to regulations and the pressure to reduce fees. Propmodo has articles posted almost weekly about how there has been an explosion of investment in commercial real estate technology companies in areas from brokerage to smart buildings. Tech will likely drive more real change in the next 5 years that we are seeing today. Lots of attendees, and a few education sessions, discussed regulatory changes. They often focus on how lenders are increasingly using evaluations and light appraisals as cheaper, faster alternatives to full appraisals.
Risks From Change
Smart people are raising legitimate concerns about the risks that come from the eval trend. But, even if we assume that those warnings are heeded, there will still be plenty of eval work and current appraisers need to adapt. Fee pressure is closely related to the regulatory changes. Getting a few hundred dollars for an eval versus thousands for a full appraisal is a great example. In addition, larger firms are reducing fees and increasing volume to compete for market share. This is a natural behavior in any competitive market so again, the appraisers I spoke to are deciding how to deal. The Appraisal Institute magazine has a good article on the topic this month here.
Change Also Brings Opportunity
The message we shared with attendees was adapting is not optional, it’s necessary for survival. Fortunately, it’s possible to actually thrive in this period of change. The key is to both increase the quality of your appraisal insights (you’re not paid for your word processing skills after all) while also increasing efficiency. Producing an end product that is both better and faster seems counter-intuitive. But our customers are doing this today and we showed everyone at the conference who stopped by our booth how they could do it too.
One clear message that I left with after talking to dozens of people is that the attendees of the AI National Conference are dedicated to their craft and focused on doing work with quality and integrity. I’m looking forward to 2019 in Denver.
If you did not get to meet with us at the conference or you did, but have more questions, let’s start a conversation.
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