§15.1 - History and Development

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§15.1 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Real estate appraisal as a disciplined science and art had its start in 1932 with the formation of the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers (AIREA). AIREA was formed to associate, educate, and regulate appraisers. The Society of Residential Appraisers was formed in the 1930s and its early members were appraisers for home savings and loan associations. The members of the AIREA had the designation MAI, and the members of the Society of Residential Appraisers had the designation SRA. In subsequent years, both institutions created additional designations, intended to differentiate between residential and commercial appraisers. These two major appraisal organizations have since merged, and the succeeding organization is known as the Appraisal Institute. The Appraisal Institute educates its members through published textbooks, intensive courses, seminars, and examinations. The Appraisal Institute regulates its members through established ethical standards, rules, and procedures. It confers the MAI designation on appraisers with the experience and education to appraise all property types and the SRA designation on those appraisers generally confining their practice to residential property with four or fewer units.

Total self-regulation of the real estate appraisal industry ended in 1989. Title XI of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA), Pub. L. No. 101-73, 103 Stat. 183 (codifed in scattered sections of 12 U.S.C.), requires the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Office of Thrift Supervision to adopt regulations on the preparation and use of appraisals by federally regulated financial institutions. Under FIRREA, real estate appraisals are to be in writing, performed in accordance with the Uniform Standards of...