Navigating the Waves of Change
2022 RAC Conference
Another RAC annual conference is in the books and what a great conference it was. To start the week, we were thrilled to have George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE, host his Stats, Graphs and Data Science class which was a precursor to the conference. His class is one that needs to be taken more than once since it’s jam packed with information and techniques the typical appraiser doesn’t use. If you want to take your skill set to the next level, I highly recommend this class. More than half the attendees of the class stayed for the RAC conference the latter half of the week. We started off the conference with Appraisal Institute President Elect, Craig Steinley, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, AI-RRS, who gave an update on the changes in the industry and what we should be expecting to see soon. This session included our own Past President, Byron Miller, SRA, AI-RRS, RRA, MSSE, to clarify the ANSI measuring standards. Byron played a part in the ANSI update, so he knows the changes firsthand and how they were implemented. ANSI has been a big change for many in the industry and it’s comforting to know that we have the sources in our membership to help with these transitions. George Dell, SRA, MAI, ASA, CRE, gave a brief introduction of his class and Issac Peck, President of OREP, addressed the importance of managing risk in our daily activities as well as the new appraisal products that are in the market. Cindy Nixon, a recognized guest, and Director of Relocation at eXp Realty, assisted Ryan Campbell, SRA and RAC member, in defining the difference between sales price and market value; Yes, there can be a difference! Lastly, The Healthy Home Paradox panel included Emily Seils, Member Director, Real Estate Division, and David Maruna, VP, New Construction Division, from Pearl Certification, Jeff Bentley, ABR, CRS, Green, HERS Rater, LEED, Re/Max DFW Starwood, Realtor and local builder and Eric Johnson, Executive VP of US-Ecologic. They explored the paradox that exists between the demand for healthier homes, and the inability of the market to recognize and properly value the modern healthy home.
As if this wasn’t enough, day two started off with charismatic Dr. Ted Jones, Ph.D, Chief Economist at Stewart Title Guaranty Company. Ted brings an enlightenment to economics which he tailors for real estate professionals since Dr. Jones was once an appraiser. He can speak our language! Mark Gronke, CRP, GMS, President of Fidelity Residential Solutions and Linda Nesper, SCRP, GMS, VP Client services for Altair Global gave an update on the current relocation market and a forecast of what is yet to come. Molly Spalding with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brought us Catherine Pappas, Director of Relocation and Client Services, Dickens Mitchener and Allison Rybarczyk, CRP, Relocation Director, Arizona Best Real Estate, who followed up with the Relocation Directors Council (RDC) market update. In this current changing market, it’s imperative that we stay informed of any relocation changes and the challenges in market forecasting. Dr. Mary Allen, Ph.D, Social Scientist and Coordinator Lynker, Inc at NOAA Office for Coastal Management, showed us the damage water can do to coastal properties and how the changing coastline can affect property values. Our final session was given my Lisbeth Bullmash, JAMS Mediator and Arbitrator. She explained what an arbitrator is and how we can make it part of our wheelhouse if we choose to do so.
Congratulations to Michael Manley, CRP, IFA, the report writing contest winner! Job well done! And thank you to the judges, Diane Bell and Mike Vanni from Dwellworks and Dave Redding from SIRVA for judging the submitted reports; we appreciate your time and effort.
All in all, we hope that new connections were made, your knowledge was expanded, and a great time was had by all. The social events and planned dinners are designed to build relationships and collaborate with others in the industry. We hope this was accomplished. As Chair and Co-Chair for this year’s conference we are grateful to the planning committee members, speakers, and session leaders for all that you did to make this a fun, educational, and amazing conference. We couldn’t have done this without you! Thank you to all our sponsors Pearl Certification, Brubaker and Associates, Fidelity Residential Solutions, Appraisal Institute North Texas Chapter, Appraisal Institute Insurance Trust, OREP E&O Insurance, Jackson Claborn, Inc, PrimeLending, LIA Administrators & Insurance Services, Appraisal Institute, Miller Samuel, Inc., and Ebby Halliday for supporting and participating in our conference. We greatly appreciate all you do. We look forward to seeing you at next year’s conference, September 14 – 15, 2023, Plano, Texas.
Terri Love, SRA, AI-RRS, RAC President & Betsy Hughes, SRA, AI-RRS, GREEN, RAC President Elect
