The changing composition of your overall client base: there was a time not so very long ago when the appraisal industry was reliant on the mortgage lending business. By the middle of the last decade, however, a number of crosscurrents began to buffet that type of work, namely, competition from other appraisers and technology.
Albert W. Franke, III, SRA, came to work at the decades-old, family appraisal business about 12 years ago. Today, the business is called Albert W. Franke Associates Inc. and Franke III is president, but that's not the only change. Nine years ago, the New Haven, Conn., firm went back...

Challenging times impact the financial services industry in a slowing economy.
Prior to the destruction of the World, Trade Center, the financial services industry was already experiencing a slowdown. The bust of numerous Internet start-ups in late 2000 and early 2001 led to less interest in the industry from venture capitalists, which in turn, dried up the lucrative business of...

Appraisal report "retypes" spark commentary.
Recent comments by an officer of leading provider of valuation-related software regarding the practice of readdressing appraisal reports have pointed up misunderstanding even in the appraisal community about such practice. During a March teleconference Anthony Merlo, executive vice president of eAppraiseIT, commented to the effect that because "new" USPAP...

Egads! The S&L scandal lives!
Why the government's S&L supercops still let the bad guys break the banks "Beginning today ... those who loot [the savings and loan system] deserve-and will receive-swift and severe punishment. " Perhaps it was the light in the Rose Garden, but for a moment back...

Soldiers of fortune.
0 The RTC's "Operation Western Storm," a mission to find 7 billion misplaced dollars, was a major victor--for slapstick To find 800 accountants, the Task Force turned to temporary employment agencies, which produced, among others, a recent high school graduate with no accounting training and a...

Banks poised for consolidation.
Banks Poised For Consolidation State of the Industry: "Even though 1990 was a poor year for the banking industry, the industry was not as bad off as was commonly perceived. We tracked 245 bank holding companies of which roughly 83% reported profits last year. The net income for those...

Real estate revives, 20 great mutual funds and how to shelter life insurance benefits.
Real estate revives, 20 great mutual funds and how to shelter life insurance benefits. REAL ESTATE ROARS AGAIN. The Federal Reserve Board started loosening the strings on money last year, so get ready for a real estate revival. Over the past four years, the Fed pursued...

Fat-Cat Theocrat Funds Creationism Crusade.
Anti-evolution crusader Phillip Johnson, dedicated his 1997 book, Defeating Darwinism by Opening Minds, to "Roberta and Howard, who understood `the wedge' because they love the Truth." The mysterious reference is apparently a note of thanks to Howard F. Ahmanson Jr. and his wife Roberta, a wealthy and...

Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis.
For a variety of reasons, Big Money Crime by academics Kitty Calavita, Henry N. Pontell, and Robert H. Tillman is a curious book. For one thing, it brings to mind another scholarly tome from a few years past, in which the authors concluded that Hitler might, just might --...

Reflecting the Muir image.
More than a century has passed since the birth of what we now consider the "conservation movement" led by famous naturalist John Muir. Resource management such as timber and land conservation was as timely then as it is now, and the successful avenues for resolving conflicts are still relevant....