President’s Message

Dear Chapter Members:

A brief note of thanks and well wishes for your support and contributions to the betterment of our chapter and profession this year especially, our Board of Directors and committee members who gave freely of their time during (protracted) merger discussions between Upstate and Western NY/Ontario Chapters.  Your collective efforts to forge a single, unified chapter garnered national attention and thereafter reminded appraisal nation of who we are!  Again thank you!

The Chapter President tasks include ensuring that, dues paying members are afforded opportunities to obtain continuing ed (CE) hours as required. The Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) of the Appraisal Foundation recommended an extension of the ASC mandates for CE while offering reliable, on-line/asynchronous (in lieu) of in person classes while advocating for extensions of con-ed cycles.  When in need of CE therefore, please do not hesitate to visit our Chapter website or reach out to our very knowledgeable Chapter Exec., Ms. Yvette Molinas whose steady guidance this past year is much appreciated.

The socialization aspect of in-person classes and our periodic ‘get togethers’ understandably is missed but foreseeably, will return to one day.  2020 unfortunately has been memorable for the wrong reasons therefore please join me in hoping and praying that, with continued technological breakthroughs including vaccines the scourge of Covid will be forever vanquished.   

Appraisers, lenders, reviewers, developers etc. hereafter are challenged to understand and accurately interpret Covid’s impact on value and market dynamics. I urge all to pay close attention to your respective markets and asset classes you specialize in.  Upstate property values generally are very stable (stubborn in some cases) with most asset classes exhibiting moderate but not dramatic appreciation per my observations (30± yrs. of appraising).  All of us, however, need to mindful of which property types are susceptible to Covid and respond accordingly.

AI has been proactive and periodically, offers webinars on Covid and how to address the pandemic’s impact by property use; their guidance is a valuable resource and I urge all to check in on them periodically and also, our Lum Library with its considerable informational resources.

In closing, thank you again and please know it is my honor to serve as Chapter President and will be my pleasure to continue to serve as Chapter President thru 2021.

Sincerely and best regards,

P. Richard (Rick) Coughlin, MAI

Upstate NY Chapter President

rcoughlin@irr.com