The Historic Preservation Program started in the US with the passage of the National Historic Preservation act of 1966. To date, there are over 79,000 listed properties covered under the Act. The purpose of this Act was to create a means for the documentation, designation, and financial assistance necessary to save landmark properties from total extinction or destruction.

As time went on, the Federal government empowered local municipalities and authorities to create ordinances with standards and guidelines for incentives and the control of historic places and properties.

Thanks to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation federal support was gained that resulted in the above named Tax Reform Act of 1966. This Act created economic incentives and disincentives, benefits, and penalties that included the beginning of investment tax credits.

Further incentive efforts resulted in the Economic Recovery act of 1981 which accelerated property depreciation and attracted large scale developers.

However, 1982 saw the tax credits base change from a 3 tier savings to only 2 tiers. One, the 25% investment tax credit for historic rehabilitation was reduced to 20% while the 15% and 20% credits for 30 and 40 year old non-historic buildings were combined into a single 10% credit for buildings built before 1936. The one year passive loss rule set at $7,000 to be used up annually now could only be applied against the tax on income generated by the projects themselves. (High-income taxpayers could not use the tax credit at all).

The overall savings and write offs on investment tax credits were forever changing and more and more individual funding again was being relied on.

The 1978 Urban Development Action Grant (UDAGS) allowed grants up to 50% of rehab costs. This changed and ITC’s now were only being applied at the local and state levels and allowed for economically feasible projects only.

The 1995 Historic Home Ownership Assistance act capped the housing tax credits from 20% of costs to $50,000 maximum. These credits however, could be transferred and could reduce interest on mortgages.

Other issues began to rise such as actual uses vs. economic uses, Eminent Domain, and Condemnation Authority conflicts, exemptions and/or tax freeze actions. Also, many properties became subject to the ability to achieve competitive market sales, a reasonable return on investment and a proportion of rent allocation to business income in order to meet eligibility requirements. More and more local, state, and federal authorities are requiring appraisals as the means for establishing eligibility, benefits and analysis of Investment Tax Credits and values for these Historic Properties.

One or all of the common approaches to value are typically used to identify value benefits to individual corporations or agencies who participate in these projects. The appeal, besides third party oversight, is that the appraisal or valuation process is an orderly program by which the problem is defined; the work necessary to solve the problem is planned, and the data involved is acquired, classified, analyzed, interpreted, and translated into an estimate of value.

Some of the available benefits and incentives are as follows:

1. Subsidized interest loans
2. Tax exempt bond financing
3. Mortgage guarantees
4. Relief from local sales tax, tax moratoriums, freezes and abatements
5. Assessment tax relief
6. Zoning and building code relief
7. Public purchase and private resale at low prices
8. Public/private joint ventures
9. Sale of Development Rights (Transferable Tax Credits)
10. Accelerated depreciation
11. Charitable Donations and Grants

Appraisers must thoroughly document what they are appraising and sometimes must be creative in their approaches. Incentives are created to benefit participants and can create added value. A $50,000 rehab grant in the Cost Approach may create additional return in the Income Approach. Restricting the building height of a historic property may mean analyzing land value by dividing the floor area by the existing building and comparing it to the potential floor area to find the difference in lost density dollars per square foot of land area. Relief from real estate taxes may well mean lower expenses and a higher NOI (net operating income) and a higher market value. Many times historic properties are tourist attractions and create substantial income advantages; all must be measured properly.

Of the 37 listed historic places in Seattle including properties in the Ballard District, Georgetown, Columbia City, Harvard-Belmont Capital Hill, Pike Place Market, the Stimson-Green house, the Arctic, Lyon and Hoge Buildings, Pioneer Square, The International District, and so on, listing them all, Lamb Hanson Lamb has appraised 14 properties.

Those who would like additional information on Historic Properties in Seattle may view the Preservation Advocate website at www.historicseattle.org, or call Christine Palmer at 206-622-5444 ext.226.

In the years immediately following, several other prestigious groups were formed, notably the American Society of Appraisers, the American Right of Way Association, the Independent Fee Appraisers, the Organization of Governmental Appraisers and others. All of these groups had various goals to achieve, but their primary aim was the same: To make real estate appraising a profession and all of their members true professionals.

Now let’s have the courage to call an obvious fact a fact. A whole passel of so-called appraisers licensed and certified have sprung up over the years, to a point where the public is overwhelmed and confused not knowing who’s the most qualified, because they all present themselves to be able to appraise or analyze all types of properties and real estate investments whether competent or not.

I don’t know why we can’t say what the problem is, because the public, our judges, attorneys, clients, lenders and knowledgeable laity, are saying it out loud repeatedly, writing letters about appraisers, the actions of appraisers, and reporting fraudulent, unethical and incompetent activities in ever-increasing numbers. And just what is it they are saying? The ones who only have a cursory knowledge of real estate and real estate appraising simply state that, based on their experiences, the letter designations don’t seem to mean a thing. The public does not seem to recognize the difference between a Designation and a State licensed or certified appraiser. They report that one seems to be just as bad as any other, and none of them seem to be real professionals. But the people who have a bit more sophistication, which include the courts, attorneys, lenders, and today the majority of the buying and selling public, are more articulate and more specific. They will mince no words and tell you that they know why most of the so-called appraisers came into existence during the past 15+ years: These johnny-come-latelies passed State exams with a minimal amount of training and dubious course work and have grown because it is relatively easy to get.

They have the minimum education requirements with very little work review, simply send in a log showing you have taken some courses and take a simple test; send in your money and you’ll be granted a license or certification. This plus the minimum continuing education courses of study are far below the rigid requirements that have made the Institute and like organizations strong, progressive, viable sources, and centers of professional growth and knowledge. The various designations of the Institute continuously demand hard work, dedication, additional study and a willingness to subscribe to a set of professional ethics and standards. Not the minimum standards found in licenses, certifications or designations COD by return mail.

I have talked about drawing in new members through our professionalism, ethics, continuing education, ability to make more money, and a strong, national, unified appraisal organization. These are different topics, but all inter-related and having a common goal. The public, our clients, are not talking about us as much as I would like, and I am afraid they don’t know who we are. I believe it is time for us to stand up, look at ourselves in the mirror of reality, and tell it like it is. The question is what are you, you, going to do about it?

Professional real estate appraising, in my opinion, is at a very serious stage in its history; we either go forward or backward. We are at a crossroad. We must take action. I believe we are in the position of the bicycle rider pedaling up a hill with a tiger on his tail: we can’t stop or stand still, and if we try to coast, we’ll go back downhill, so our only course is to keep on pedaling.

You’re right: Real estate appraising and real estate appraisers have come a long way since the middle 1930’s, but I believe the battle is just beginning, and we’ve still got a long, long way to go.

The old cliché, the clothes make the man, is true only for a very brief instant, or while the suit is on a dummy, or in a photograph, because as soon as the image is animated, whoever is wearing the clothes, names, or expensive tailoring will hide or disguise the person under the clothes.

Designations are important, vitally important to our industry. To the people who retain us, to the bankers and lenders who rely on our professional ability, and to the attorneys and courts who listen to us as experts. Additionally, they prove a great deal both to the outside world and to the individual, because they represent the culmination of a great deal of study, hard work, and discipline. But acquiring the letters behind one’s name, earning the professional designations, is just the first step. As any very candid M.D., or D.D.S., or J.D. will tell you, once he or she has the coveted little initials after their names, that is when they really began to prepare, to study and learn. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, all professional people, really only begin to practice their professional AFTER they have been designated.

In the real estate profession a lot of us were interns for a number of years, working as appraisers, and working toward our designations, and harboring the hope that on the day we were designated we would be given enlightened intelligence, that the designation would be the key to solve all of our problems.

What a shock: We finally received that coveted group of letters, and an impressive document to frame and hang on our office wall, but the fact of the matter was we were just exactly the same person we had been twenty minutes earlier. We still knew as little, or as much, we were still filled with the same hopes and fears, but there was one essential difference: We had the knowledge, ability, and stamina to complete a very rigorous course of study and had been so recognized by our professional peers and associates.

Having earned a professional appraisal designation seems to make a person stand a little taller, look a bit sharper, and act more decisively. A professional designation doesn’t grant immunity to mistakes, or make the average appraiser into a genius, but it seems to make the person more aware of his responsibilities, to make him want to do a better, more thorough job.

In the last twenty-five years, we have gone from slide rules and mechanical typewriters to word processors and computers, and the speed at which the appraisal profession is changing is simply awesome. If the appraiser doesn’t keep up with the changes, the advances, he will surely be left behind.

A designation as a professional appraiser is a hallmark that the individual has dedicated a great deal of time, energy, effort and study to improving his ability to serve the public and I sincerely believe that the designation will become more important in the future. With the increasing speed of communications and all the other technological advancements, appraisers must devote more and more time each just to stay abreast of these changes. And the criteria of ability will trend more and more to be a professionally designated appraiser, because he or she will be involved in mandatory education recertification programs.

A professional real estate designation tells the world that you care enough to be the very best!

I think all of us daydream once in a while about finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, winning the State Lottery, or inheriting a fortune from some long lost relative we’ve never even met.

But the dream passes, and we come back to reality, back to our jobs, and our daily routines. Too often though, we tend to equate back to work, or reality, with drudgery, or unpleasant tasks, and miss the fact that our golden opportunity, the key to future happiness and success, is right there in front of us and always has been just waiting for us to take the initiative.

If you are working to become a professional real estate appraiser, why not upgrade that goal to read, “I am working to become the BEST professional real estate appraiser.” Too many people sacrifice themselves to mediocrity simply because it is the easy way out. There is always an excuse available if needed. One can always justify the reason for not doing something. It’s just human nature at work. But remember, success and accomplishments don’t need to be rationalized, explained, or excused: They tell their own story.

One of the really serious problems of our appraisal profession has been that a large number of real estate appraisers have never taken appraising seriously. They arrived, sort of by accident, found they could make a fairly good living, and having reached a certain level they stopped reading, studying, learning, and trying to advance their knowledge and skills. As a result, we have a lot of people working in the appraisal profession who are actually satisfied with mediocrity, are willing to deliver just enough to get by, and will accept the income such work justifies.

They don’t want to join a professional organization because they say it costs too much, and anyway they get all the work they want without belonging. But these are the people who have benefited from all of the work done by professional appraisal organizations, by the research and techniques developed by members of professional groups, and they enjoy the standards of pay or fees that others have established. They are free loaders.

Human nature won’t change, so there is probably nothing we can do about this attitude of some appraisers, but we can do something about our own attitudes, our own approach to the problem of enlarging and increasing our professional expertise.

Instead of worrying about what “they” do out there, if each one of us will strive to improve his or her professional qualifications this coming year, by attending meetings, seminars and courses, we will discover that opportunity is right there knocking at our own front door. It’s strange, but every time you improve your techniques or capabilities, you find a need for them; you discover a market for your added skills, and a market that will pay for your professional services.

There are opportunities galore for the well-qualified, well-prepared, educated professional appraiser. He or she will find all of the “opportunities” he or she can handle, and then some. Just look back at our recent recession: A lot of “appraisers” dropped out of sight, but the qualified, the designated appraisers, kept right on working.

Opportunity: It’s right there in front of all of us, just waiting to be taken advantage of. And the key to success is preparation, education, and professionalism. Opportunity isn’t an accident, it isn’t luck; opportunity is the result of good hard work.