Chapter News

Fellow Appraisers,

Membership in Appraisal Institute is both privilege and duty. The privilege of serving as your 2011 chapter president is one I take seriously and hope to perform to your approval. Much of what happens in any given term is set in motion during preceding terms. For this we should all be grateful for the service of Ken Jaggers, MAI our immediate past president, prior presidents, and board members who have served our chapter for many years.

As a volunteer organization, we can be proud of our history of sustained dedication for more than 75 years. Today, leadership by Appraisal Institute remains critically important due to various challenges facing our industry. I remain proud of our national significance and the impact Appraisal Institute is having on legislative and regulatory fronts. While many things are occurring on the national level, my goals for 2011 are more locally focused.

At our first meeting in January, your board of directors discussed ways to enhance our chapter. We intend to take steps to improve communication, connect with associate members, highlight member accomplishment, and amplify our chapter voice. We have already begun work in pursuit of these goals.

Thomas (TJ) Hawks, MAI is Vice President and, therefore, responsible for planning chapter events. He shared many great plans for the year ahead including an event aimed at connecting younger members. He is also working on a possible joint meeting with St. Louis and Ozark Mountain Chapters.

You may have noticed that Michael Elliott, Secretary and technology advisor has been making changes to our website. The board discussed making the website more 'member centric'. The aim is to focus on you, our members, by creating a Member Spotlight page and through other structural changes. Look for additional enhancements to the website and remember to relay special accomplishments and honors received by your colleagues.

Our education slate is complete and just a click away. Michael Septer, Director and Education Chair, stepped in last year to help plan our current offering and will serve throughout 2011 to develop a line up for next year. The board also discussed the challenges related to education and agreed to prioritize this as our main concern. We will be exploring solutions and reporting our findings along the way.

We are sponsoring two green seminars- one for commercial and one for residential appraisers.  An Introduction to Valuing Commercial Green Buildings is scheduled for February 24.  We have also teamed up with the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City for The Canary in the Coal Mine & Inspecting the Residential Green House which is scheduled for March 14.  I encourage you to check out the 2011 education schedule.

Finally, we are forming a public relations committee to strengthen our voice within the region. Vital to our success, the Appraisal Institute must be the locally recognized leader for issues involving the real estate valuation profession.

Join me in recognizing the remaining leaders of your board: Erin Reese, Treasurer; and Directors Susan Smith, MAI, Chris Williams, MAI, and Brian Reardon, MAI. Of course, we would all be lost without Rosanne Saitta, our Executive Director. Please contact myself or any of your board members for information on becoming involved.

Wishing you great success in the year ahead,

Mark H Maschger, SRA

Information and registration link for courses & seminars http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/kansascity

On December 7^th, 2009, The Kansas City Chapter of the Appraisal Institute celebrated the end of the 2009 year and the beginning of 2010 at the Annual Holiday Meeting / Installation Dinner at Accurso’s near the Country Club Plaza. The room was full with approximately 50 chapter members and their guests. The chapter had several new members in 2009. Sidney Womack, MAI, now the current past president, presented certificates and pins to two recently designated members – Marian Fields, MAI, SRA and Chris M. Williams, MAI.

The chapter met on November 19th at the Granite City Food & Brewery in Olathe, KS. The featured speaker for this meeting was Mr. Paul Welcome. In addition to his duties at the Johnson County Appraiser’s Office, Mr. Welcome is also President of the Appraisal Foundation. Mr. Welcome spoke on a variety of topics – first and foremost the creation of a third, independent Board within the Appraisal Foundation – the Appraiser Practices Board. The purpose of this third board is to issue voluntary timely guidance to appraisers on emerging valuation issues that are occurring in the marketplace. The new board will be similar in structure and composition to the already existing independent boards, the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) and the Appraisal Standards Board (ASB). Mr. Welcome also spoke on issues related to the newly released 2010-2011 edition of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and other appraisal topics.

The chapter members dined on a Mediterranean Chicken lunch and several door prizes were awarded. All chapter members are encouraged to attend our next chapter meeting – the Annual Installation Dinner one week from today on December 7th, 2009. Details and online registration are available on the chapter website – www.appraisalinstitutekc.org

Chapter members met on September 23, 2009 at the newly restored Sewall Paint Building in Kansas City, Missouri. The topic of discussion was the history of the West Bottoms (Kansas City's oldest commercial district) as well as ongoing and future developments in the area.

Speakers included Scott Brown, General Counsel for Faultless Starch and Pat Murfey, Principal with Grindstone Properties and incoming President of the West Bottoms CID.

Additional information from today's meeting will be available to members soon in the members-only section of the chapter website.

Be sure to join us for the next chapter meeting later this fall (date/location to be announced).

To All Chapter Members,

Client pressure on valuers is unbecoming in conduct and detrimental to the appraisal process and the entire system. I would like to encourage all appraisers to continue acting professionally and independently.  We are engaged to offer our supported opinion of value, not support the client’s (or their borrower’s) opinion of value.

I contend that professional appraisers separate themselves from the rest of the pack under dynamically changing economic conditions. The Appraisal Institute’s education and training is second to none and clients, more than ever, need the services of our designated members and associates.

Listed below is a recap of what the chapter has accomplished so far this year.

• We have a new chapter website that will be more efficient allowing constituents to sign up for meetings, events, and classes on line.

 http://www.appraisalinstitutekc.org

Special thanks to Michael Elliott who developed the entire concept and did a fantastic job. Additional thanks to Executive Director Rosanne Saitta, who has been working on this project.

• Our first meeting at Jack Stack BBQ downtown was attended by about 60 people. Edward Knotek, an economist with the Federal Reserve, was our guest speaker and answered a number of topical and interesting questions. Thanks to Ken Jaggers, MAI for planning the event and Rosanne Saitta for all the work she contributes.

• Your Board of Directors has already had two official meetings and the Nominating Committee, headed by Marian Fields, SRA, has assembled the 2010 slate of officiers.

• We rewrote the Chapter Bylaws effective January 2009, which was passed by electronic ballot.

• Erin Reese attended the LDAC Conference (Leadership Development & Advisory Council) in Washington, D.C. April, 2009. Erin has been serving the KCCAI for several years now and has done an outstanding job providing education alternatives as the Chair of the Education Committee this year.

• Last year we awarded two MAI designations. This year there may be as many as five new MAIs, and possibly two new SRAs. The time is now for you to follow through with your commitment to attain a designation. There are several new demonstration report styles available, so if you have been putting it off, revisit the opportunity.

A message from your 2008 President, Marian Fields, SRA -

As the Appraisal Institute starts its 76th year, it is with renewed commitment to the appraisal profession.  As evidence of that commitment in the Kansas City chapter we are offering a greater selection of educational opportunities than ever before.  Please check our offerings at the bottom of this page, and take the time to attend one of our local seminars or course offerings.  You will receive the double advantage of education from a leader in the industry and the opportunity to get better acquainted with local and regional appraisers.  In addition to our educational offerings we will have a variety of interesting and informative lunch meetings.  Also in 2008 the Kansas City chapter will be hosting the fall meetings for Region II.

As we start 2008 please note our new officers and directors. These are local professionals who are donating their time and talent for the benefit of our chapter and its members.   

Appraiser testifies about inflated price for Shields' home
 TONY RIZZO, The Kansas City Star

Two appraisers valued the Kansas City home of Katheryn Shields and Philip Cardarella at $1.2 million, about $500,000 more than its listed sales price.

One of them was working with the FBI. The other later was charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy.

On Thursday, Jeremy Plagman, who was indicted along with Shields, Cardarella and eight others, described how he intentionally inflated the house's value last fall.

Federal prosecutors allege that the conspiracy led by Raymond Zwego sought to profit by falsifying documents to obtain a loan far in excess of the home's actual value.

Plagman testified that he was contacted by a mortgage brokerage employee last October and asked to do an appraisal. The employee faxed him a sales contract on the property in the Sunset Hill area for $1.4 million.

Donald Gossman, the other appraiser who testified earlier in the trial, said he became suspicious because of the discrepancy between the sales price and the house's $700,000 asking price on a real estate database. He called the FBI and agreed to cooperate in its investigation.

Plagman testified that he, too, had questions about the discrepancy and said he could not find any sales of comparable houses in that neighborhood for that price.

He testified that he told the mortgage brokerage employee who hired him that he did not think the house was worth $1 million.

He said she told him that if he appraised it over $1 million, she would "send more business my way."

After conferring with Gossman, who was being directed then by FBI agents, they each came up with a $1.2 million appraisal, and an employee of Zwego drafted a new sales contract reflecting that price.

Neither appraiser had any contact with Shields and Cardarella during that process, according to their testimony.

The mortgage company employee Plagman dealt with did not say anything about pressuring Plagman during her testimony Thursday.

She was not charged, but her supervisor, Monty Kinman, is one of two defendants on trial with Cardarella and Shields, the former Jackson County executive.

However, much of the alleged fraudulent activity concerning the loan application process occurred while Kinman was on a two-week hunting trip in a wilderness area, according to testimony.

The trial is to continue this morning.