President's Message
02/25/14
February 25, 2014
Dear Colleagues,
I can hardly believe we are already approaching the end of February. The winter months have been busy working to implement plans that were laid out at the installation. We are off to a good start with seven members receiving designations already this year.
Congratulations to our most recently designated members.
Sarah MaRous McGurn, earned her MAI
Mark Whitsitt, earned his SRA
Andrew Hartigan, earned his MAI
Stacy Letton, earned her SRA
Michael Gilligan, earned his MAI
Timothy Fitzgibbons, SRA earned his MAI
George Sikorski, MAI earned a chapter first, his AI-GRS
In December we welcomed a new Chapter Administrator, Mary Jane Lukas. Mary Jane comes to us with a background in human resources and customer service with experience in working with students. We are delighted to have her working on behalf of the Chapter. If you have not done so already, please stop in and introduce yourself the next time you are at the Chapter.
This month, the Chapter has been actively looking into recommendations to send to ICAP regarding potential changes in current statues which affect our profession. Last week we sent a letter of our recommendations to ICAP. (See copy below)
Upcoming events include 3 more USPAP classes in March and an evening event in Bloomington on March 12th discussing "The Fracking Process". The presentation includes oil/gas well construction, a brief history of horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing process, seismicity, results on contamination studies in U.S. and where shale oil/gas resources may lie in Illinois. If you think there is a possibility of running across Fracking in a future assignment, I strongly encourage you to attend this event. On March 27th, we are also offering Appraising Condo, Co-ops & PUDs, presented by our own chapter member, Maureen Sweeney. Please VISIT www.ccai.org for more upcoming education offerings.
From our new fun committee, the Chapter will hosting a Heaven on Seven cooking demo with Jimmy Bannos. This event is sponsored by Byrnes & Walsh. Please call Mary Jane Lukas to sign up.
I look forward to seeing you at our next Chapter Event.
Regards,
Sharon Bagby, SRA
2014 Chapter President
February 18, 2014
Attention: Illinois Coalition of Appraisal Professionals (ICAP)
Rich deVerdier, President
ICAP Leaders and Representatives
As the Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute (CCAI) strives to serve the needs of all of our members, we bring our recommendations for improvement to the state statues to you for your consideration. We have outlined principal areas of concern and ask that you consider these for implementation through your legislative efforts. We know the biggest challenge you are faced with in proposing new legislation is to try to find that delicate balance between correcting the unintended consequences and keeping important regulations in place. Several CCAI BOD members have suggested recommendations for your consideration. All of these suggestions will be passed along to you through our ICAP-GRC representative, John VanSanten.
There are issues of concern from both our commercial and residential appraisers. The recommendations summarized below, represent the direction a majority of the CCAI board members want their ICAP representatives to move. The recommendations are not presented in order of importance but numbered simply for identification purposes.
CCAI Recommendations to ICAP include:
- Support (with amendments) the re-write of the Licensing Act as proposed by IDFPR.
- Propose language to the Administrative Rules that will define how Appraisal Firms, required to register as an AMC based on ownership, can operate as an, "Appraisal Firm".
- Propose amendments to the definitions in the both Acts, that provide a clear distinction between an Appraisal Management Company and an Appraisal Firm.
- Address the issue of Broker Price Opinions (BPO) which continue to deepen their infringement into the appraisal profession.
a. Push to correct any legislation that refers to Broker Price Opinions as estimating market value.
b. Limit brokers ability to receive compensation for Broker Price Opinions other than through commissions for listing or selling of real estate.
Thank you for your time and consideration to our needs. I hope these requests will convey the concerns of all appraisers and that you are able to formulate solutions.
Respectfully,
Sharon L. Bagby, SRA, President 2014
Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute
