According to many sources, Texas is coming out of the Great Recession and is leading the United States in the recovery.  While most of us likely do not see a tremendous turnaround happening today, there is little doubt that Houston is one of the better cities to be in comparatively.  The Houston Chapter has been and continues to be a strong force as one of the leading chapters in the Appraisal Institute.
 
We continue to offer courses which are well attended by local, regional and national students.  As a result of our successful education offerings, significant reserves and your dues payments, we are fortunate to be able to offer the first of its kind "2010 Passport to Success". The goal of the passport is to promote designation to our associates and to give back to our designated members.  To date our chapter has awarded over $15,000 in course discounts, free seminars and comprehensive exam subsidies to over 96 members.  I visit most of our local courses and seminars to promote Houston AI.  The feedback regarding the passport initiative is very positive (in almost every class someone from out of town asks me if they can join our chapter!).

This year we received the greatest number of scholarship applications in our history.   We recently awarded a total of $7,800 in AI course scholarships to 19 associates, as well as college scholarships to 6 of our member's relatives.  

We have started our first "Young Appraisal Professionals Group" (YAP) which will hold its first social/networking event on July 21st.  This group was created by associates and is committed to creating awareness of our organization and its benefits, as well as attracting young appraisers to join and become involved with the Appraisal Institute.

Our new Houston Chapter website is up and running and includes information about upcoming events as well as photographs of our recent events.  I encourage you to visit the new site at www.aihouston.com.

The Houston Chapter has been working diligently to assist FACT (Foundation Appraisers Coalition of Texas - www.supportfact.org) in serving as a voice for the appraisal industry in Texas.  I encourage everyone to attend the upcoming FACT Legislative Update and Local Appraiser Panel discussion which will be held in Houston on July 21st at HAR.

The board of directors and I appreciate your input.  If you would like to become involved in our chapter or have any suggestions please do not hesitate to call or email me.  We look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events.  

Sincerely,

Bryan Miller, MAI
2010 Chapter President
 

There is still time to take advantage of the numerous benefits of the AI Houston 2010 Passport to Success.  Click here for a pdf of the passport coupons. We encourage you to take advantage of this year's unique subsidies and benefits whether you are an associate or a designated member there is something for you in the 2010 passport.

The new AI Houston "Young Appraisal Professionals Group" will host its first social event on July 21st from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Benjy's on Washington

Thank you to the following committee members for their assistance in creating this new group and planning this event:

Mike Miggins
Chip Gardner
Jason Easterly
Nick Emerson
Miranda Orr
Scott Hopewell
Laura Smith
Wes McBrayer

We are pleased to announce the release of our new and improved Houston Chapter website at www.aihouston.com

A few of the new site features are:

• Easier readability
• Improved graphics
• Better links to the AI national website and resource information
• Access to the "Find an Appraiser" database
• Information on "Upcoming Chapter Meetings and Events"
• Our education calendar/course offerings
• A new Photo Gallery
• "Passport to Success" coupons/benefits
  

The Houston Chapter welcomes our 12 new associates:

Cora Clemmer
Hubert Clemmer
Tom Collier
Adam Dybala
Christopher Geggatt
Jessica Hutchinson
Samuel Jett
Amber Koenig
Kathryn Koepke
Jennifer Pitts
Juan Plasencia
Ashley Soape

Did you know there are over 300 associate members in the Houston chapter?

Jeff Shillings - Announces
Haginas Chapman & Shillings

We are proud to announce that we are changing the names under which we are doing business from "Haginas & Chapman" and "Appraisal Management Services" exclusively to Haginas Chapman & Shillings.

The company will continue to operate in its current structure and your contacts, email addresses, and our web domain www.haginas.com will remain unchanged.  Our RIMS address for use by our lender clients will remain www.amservices.exactbid.com.  The RimsCentral site used by appraisers will continue to operate exactly as before. 

As always, we will continue to serve you with the same devotion and quality which you have come to expect from us. It will be a pleasure to do business with you in the future.

Sincerely,

Jeff A. Shillings, MAI
President
Haginas Chapman & Shillings
Real Estate Appraisal and Compliance Services

Congratulations to George Ford Bradley
who recently received his MAI Designation
 
(Ford Bradley accepting his MAI certificate from AI Houston Chapter President, Bryan Miller, MAI)

Ford graduated from Texas A&M in 1992 and began his full time appraisal career shortly after with his father Bob Bradley, SRPA. Ford took his first class from Frank Lucco and Kathy Coon in 1993 and the pathway to designation had begun. He received his SRA designation in 2002. He is married to Ami Bradley and they have two children, Beau (5) and Elle (2). Ford has been active with the Appraisal Institute as a PR chairman, Residential Admissions Chairman, and various committees through the years. He looks forward to continuing his involvement now as an MAI.

At the May 18th General Business Meeting the Houston Chapter membership voted on the 2011 slate of officers which is listed below:


These members will be installed in December 2010.  

The Foundation Appraisers Coalition of Texas (FACT) has recently hired a new executive director and will be holding legislative updates and local appraiser panel discussions in five Texas cities.  FACT's legislative consultants will be presenting and there will be a Q&A session as well.  The Houston event will be held on July 21st at HAR. The event is good for 2 hours of ACE credit.  The Houston Chapter will be sponsoring the snacks and drinks for this unique event.  To register visit their website at www.supportfact.org.

AI Houston sent 6 Houston members to the Leadership Development and Advisory Council in Washington DC from May 5th to May 7th.  The LDAC attendees were:

Leeland Conn, MAI
Mike Brakefield, Associate
Katherine Doggett, Associate
Mary Beth Miller, MAI
Buddy Trotter, MAI
Frank Waltman, MAI

The Houston Chapter also sponsored a break during the conference.

The following LDAC recap was written by Frank Waltman, MAI:

Looking down over Washington Mall while flying back to Houston I recall the events of the past few days as a participant in the 2010 Leadership Development and Advisory Council.  It was the culmination of ideas from 108 associates and designated members representing Chapters nationally and internationally.  Attendees included current president Leslie Sellers, immediate past President Jim Amorin, President Elect Joseph Magdziarz, and others who are in positions to take information gained and make a difference.  This all encompassing brain trust of appraisers with varying backgrounds and experience was tapped for recommendations and solutions to questions that will define where we will go and how we will grow as an organization going foreword.

One hot topic was on how to help candidates get over the biggest hurdle to becoming designated, writing "the demo".  Due to the urgency of adding more designated appraisers, I anticipate some well founded solutions to this problem to be announced soon.  We also discussed the fortunate opportunity that associates in our Chapter have for free courses through "Passbook to Success" introduced by Bryan Miller at the beginning of this year.  Other excellent ideas were also discussed which will be implemented by our Chapter in the weeks to come.

The Houston Chapter's lobbying efforts included meetings at the offices of Senators Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn in addition to House Representatives John Culberson, Michael McCaul, Michael Burgess, and Kevin Brady.  Other LDAC participants from other states met with their respective state representatives.  Our goal was to have the congressmen vote to retain the appraisal reform provisions in addition to not raising the threshold for commercial real estate appraisals in two financial reform bills (H.R 4173 & H.R. 3854) in an effort to prevent even looser underwriting requirements than those which existed prior to the financial crises.  Our timing was perfect since the Senate was voting on financial reform issues the week we were there.

The following recap was written by Ford Bradley, MAI:

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett was our guest speaker at our May 2010 business luncheon meeting.  Judge Emmett talked about the future of Harris County and some key issues which facing real estate, the county and region.

He considers Houston to be a gateway port for the world with India and South America becoming our leading trade partners in the coming years.  He predicts that a regional port authority may be necessary to handle the increased trade.

Local transportation issues include the Hempstead Highway toll road project and rail service to commuters in West Houston and beyond.  Judge Emmett believes that these projects will someday be a necessary transportation option to Harris County residents.

He touched on future plans for the Houston Astrodome during a question and answer session.  These plans include a possible referendum for voters to decide on the dome's future.  Current possibilities include a change in use to a learning center for the city's school children and a location for the city's festivals.  

He also covered topics regarding hurricane preparedness such as working closely with the Galveston mayor and other emergency organizations to ensure safe evacuations in the event of a future storm.

Judge Emmett is aware of the significant population growth and challenges that it brings to the region and is working towards long term solutions and proactive government involvement.