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The 2007 October Research National Appraisal Survey is the result of an electronic survey soliciting voluntary participation from certified residential and/or licensed appraisers throughout the United States. No other pre-qualifications such as years of experience or number of clients per a specified time period were used to qualify the participants.
The percentage of respondent appraisers from each state is structured to be proportional to the number of appraisers residing in each state as verified through comparison to the Appraisal Subcommittee National Registry. It is important to note that all appraisers represented in the Appraisal Subcommittee National Registry may not be actively practicing their trade.
To reach those appraisers actively practicing in their trade, invitation letters to six of the top appraisal organizations were sent requesting promotion to their membership to participate in the survey. October Research would like to acknowledge and thank the Appraisal Institute and other industry organizations that solicited their membership to actively participate in this national survey. The Appraisal Institute's membership base represents approximately 20% of the total United States appraisal population. The combined membership base of the six contacted appraisal organizations represent approximately 32% of the total United States appraisal population.
Subscribers to Valuation Review, the only independent and full-time newsroom that delivers mission critical information for lenders, secondary market executives and appraisers nationwide, were also contacted via e-mail communications and Web advertisements to participate in the survey. Valuation Review's subscriber base represents 26 U.S. states, with 75% of the circulation for e-news briefings and 55% of the print subscriber and readership base representing appraisal and valuation firms.
This survey is limited by the voluntary nature of the survey and each survey volume's response rate. Each survey respondent is restricted by a unique identifier which permits one one completion of the survey for each volume. Volume I of the survey was conducted during the second half of 2006. The surveys for Volume II and Volume III will be conducted in 2007.
The Volume I: Appraisal Business Practices survey was completed by over 1,200 certified residential and/or licensed real estate appraisers, with participation from a statistically proportional cross-section of the appraisal industry, representing all 50 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The percentage of participants from each state was proportionally to the number of appraisers resident in each state as verified through comparison to the Appraisal Subcommittee National Registry.
Of the six professional appraisal organizations contacted for participation, five organizations are represented by respondents for a survey response rate of approximately 3.3%.
Nine professional organizations are significantly represented in this survey with a membership reponse rate of approximately 1.7%. The combined membership of these nine professional organizations represent approximately 53% of the total United States appraisal population.
The survey and data collection were conducted through the use of an independent, national survey vendor. Respondents were asked to answer 31 multiple choice questions/"check all that apply" and two open-ended questions. Survey questions which requested a multiple response, based upon percentage of business, required the overall answer percentage to equal 100%. Percentages for multiple choice questions that asked the respondent to “check all that apply” were derived by dividing the total number responses for each choice into the total number of respondents answering the question.
Based upon the total population of more than 1,200 respondents, the overall margin of error for multiple choice questions is +/-3.2% The margin of error for "check all that apply" questions is slightly lower at +/- 2.8%. Appraisers were not required to respond to all 33 questions. The margin of error may vary by question as the error rates may be higher for questions where fewer people responded.
A major state university's statistical consulting service reviewed the first survey volume's overall study findings to assist in the final conslusions of this survey's methodology.
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