Several years ago, I was teaching the 7-hour USPAP class and we got on the topic of Scope of Work. A discussion evolved along the lines of what kinds of valuation services a residential appraiser might be able to provide for a client other than a traditional appraisal with an interior inspection. We made a list of different services that began with the appraiser supplying nothing more than raw assessor and MLS data, included “desktop” and “drive by” appraisals and concluded with a Scope of Work that included an interior inspection, full confirmation of sales data, listings, trend analysis, etc. As I recall, the list included about eight or ten items.
After we would list a new item, the class would discuss the service and then move on to a more inclusive item. At each stop along the way, some old guy in the back row would holler out “just give ‘em an appraisal.” It soon became apparent that the old dude just didn’t “get it” when it came to scope of work. Now, if this fellow was capable of getting enough business doing whatever he defined as “an appraisal,” more power to him. However, most appraisers who want to attract new clients and be successful in filling the needs of their existing clientele understand the importance of tailoring the scope of the assignment to the needs of the client.
Just as an appraiser must develop the appraisal in an assignment-specific manner, the appraiser should be reporting the assignment results in accordance with the needs of the client and other intended users. To this end, ACI has developed the family of GPAR forms.
In the previous edition of The Compliance Corner, I discussed the GPAR forms and said I’d be going into additional detail in future installments. So to assist you in using the GPAR forms, let’s look at the first two pages of the GPAR Single Family 2006 and compare it to the URAR 2005 form. I’ll explain the key differences and the reasons for them as we take a section-by-section look at the significant differences between the GPAR single family and the URAR
To facilitate cloning from one format to another and to keep the learning curve short, we retained much of the URAR in terms of data fields and layout. However, to reduce appraiser’s liability and eliminate unnecessary data gathering, we eliminated a number of items. Click here to view the comparison.
In the next installment of Compliance Corner, we’ll look at pages 3 and 4 of the GPAR and pay special attention to how GPAR’s limiting conditions were designed to protect the appraiser from unwanted liability.