The Reason I Enjoy Teaching

In 2010, Worldwide ERC (Employee Relocation Council) released the new Summary Appraisal Report.  It had significant changes since the last revision in 2001, and I was honored to be one of the five appraisers from across the country to work on this project.

The appraisal industry lacks education on the "relocation appraisal niche" and I decided to write a 7-hour seminar on the subject for state continuing education for appraisers.  My intent was to teach it to appraisers in Illinois through the Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, an organization that I am very involved with.

In January 2011, my seminar was approved for continuing education in the state of Illinois, and I have since taught it in Chicago and Naperville.  In both seminars, which had 30-35 students each time, appraisers came from other states for this education.  It became obvious to me that I had something that nobody else was offering.  At the same time, other chapters of the Appraisal Institute began contacting me to bring my seminar to their states.


Since then, I have taught in Greensboro, North Carolina to 40+ students, East Brunswick, New Jersey to 60+ students, and 45+ students in Saint Paul, Minnesota.  On deck is South Bend, Indiana, then on to Novi, Michigan and Peoria, Illinois.


After teaching each of these seminars, I have received very favorable comments from my students, which certainly makes me feel very good.  But this past week, I received what may be the ultimate compliment from a client who attended my seminar in New Jersey.

"I just want to thank you for  the relocation appraisal seminar, last week in New Jersey. There was an appraiser there, that I met, who I had been dealing with for years.  She said that she got a lot of good insight from your course, when I spoke to her, at the seminar.

I just got an appraisal from her, and  it is so much better than anything she had ever submitted before!  She has statistical data and support for the adjustments made.

Thank you for what you are doing."

This message was perhaps the biggest compliment thus far.  It tells me that I am making a difference, helping to make my profession better, even if it is just one appraiser at a time.  This is the reason I enjoy teaching!


Another client has been helping me to advertise my seminar by sending e-mails out to their appraiser panel.  I told them in my last seminar, approximately 20% of the students have never done a relocation appraisal.  I received this message from him:

"I am very encouraged to hear of any appraiser that is not currently doing relo that is attending these events. As we’ve discussed before, we (as an industry) have to be focused on attracting appraisers to the relo side of the profession. With the changing aging appraiser demographics in general and the limited proportion of that population currently involved in ERC appraisals – we have a two headed monster to tackle over the coming years. 

I am confident with the right approach and industry partnerships, we can tackle the issue and shape the future of the industry. Thank you again for your efforts in getting the ball rolling."

If you are interested in taking my seminar, contact your local Appraisal Institute chapter, and have them contact me for more details.