Monday, July 4, 2011

AMC Independence Clipped in Florida - July, 2011

Despite the efforts of the Florida Legislature and Appraisal Management Companies, the regulation of Appraisal Management Companies became effective July 1, 2011. The Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board posted the following on their site:

Regulation of Appraisal Management Companies – Effective July 1, 2011


On July 21, 2010 President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act requires State regulatory agencies to regulate Appraisal Management Companies (AMC). Florida’s regulatory program for AMCs was created in 2010 when House Bill 303 was signed into law. It became Chapter 2010-84 and amends Section 475, Part II, Florida Statutes..
The Department of Business and Professional Regulation has added information about the registration and regulation of Appraisal Management Companies to their FAQ site.

FS 475.6235 states in part, A person may not engage in appraisal management services for compensation in this state advertise or represent herself or himself as an appraisal management company, or use the titles appraisal management company, appraiser cooperative,appraiser portal, or mortgage technology company, or any abbreviation or words to that effect, unless the person is registered with the department as an appraisal management company under this section. However, an employee of an appraisal management company is not required to obtain a separate registration.
Additional guidance answers the question: Should I close my business while waiting for my license to be issued?


As of July 1, 2011, it is essential for an appraisal management company to immediately file an application to register with the Department; however, you can continue to operate while the Department and/or the board is considering your application for approval. Once approved, you will receive your license in the mail. An application that is denied must comply with the terms of the Final Order issued by the board.

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Real Estate, and the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board continue to develop the program to meet the needs of our customers. Please refer to the FAQs for AMCs and check back for more information weekly.
As of today online registration is not available. A printable application is available HERE.

There's bound to be some growing pains, but the regulation of AMCs is great for Florida consumers and real estate appraisers. Thanks to the Director of the Division of Real Estate, Juana Watkins, and her staff for putting in the extra hours to make sure the information and applications were available on the effective date of the law. Great Job!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will now start asking AMCs for their license information and request updated license information every year.
-Florida Appraiser-

Jonathan Miller said...

Frank - thanks for sharing. Great quote in Valuation Review! “The AMC cannot exist without the appraiser. Appraisers exist just fine without AMCs,” said Frank Gregoire, president of Gregoire and Gregoire Inc. based in Tampa Bay, Fla..

FAREA.org said...

Frank
Great news on the AMC registration. I had talked to some friends of mine during the session, and based on the lobbying the Florida Realtors were doing to postpone the effective date of registering Appraisal Management Companies until 2014, it looked like this day would never come. There was good article about it in the SaintPetersblog.com "Why Florida Realtors were a big winner this legislative session" posted by Peter Schorsch. I was just wondering if you new why the delay of the registration until 2014 was such a priority for the Florida Realtors.

FAREA.org said...

Frank
Great news on the AMC registration. I had talked to some friends of mine during the session, and based on the lobbying the Florida Realtors were doing to postpone the effective date of registering Appraisal Management Companies until 2014, it looked like this day would never come. There was a good article about it in the SaintPetersblog.com "Why Florida Realtors were a big winner this legislative session" posted by Peter Schorsch. I was just wondering if you new why the delay of the registration until 2014 was such a priority for the Florida Realtors.

Frank Gregoire said...

To clarify, Florida Realtors DID NOT lobby to postpone the effective date of the registration and regulation of Appraisal Management Companies.

Florida Realtors worked to remove the delay language from the House and Senate bills, but were not successful. Fortunately, the bills with the delay language failed to pass.