PROFILES:
E-Demo Offers New Path to Designation
By Ken Chitester, Appraisal Institute director of communications
Chris Baker was, by his
own description, “a
fence sitter” when it
came to seeking his MAI
designation. Despite
successfully complet-
ing the comprehensive
exam five years ago, the
41-year-old appraiser
from Birmingham, Ala., found himself con-
tinuing to put off the required demonstra-
tion report.
Then Baker, who earned his SRA desig-
nation in fall 2008,
had a conversation
with long-time
mentor and Ap-
praisal Institute
Vice President Joe
Magdziarz, MAI,
SRA, and learned
about E-Demo, a
new path to the MAI designation. Magd-
ziarz, who had taught Baker in several
Appraisal Institute classes, said: “I told Chris
they were looking for ‘guinea pigs,’ and
that if he’d make a hard, sincere effort, he
could do it.”
“As soon as he heard of E-Demo,” Baker
recalled, “he said, ‘You have to be the
first guy through.’” From a pool of nearly
40 pre-qualified applicants, nine Associate Members were chosen last spring to
participate. In May 2009, Baker indeed
became the first to earn his MAI designation through E-Demo.
one-on-one feedback from an Adviser,
E-Demo consists of the same report sections as the traditional demo, but requires
applicants to pass each section before
advancing to the next.
“That’s the greatest thing about this
program: You don’t have to eat the whole
sandwich in one bite,” Baker said. “You can
see you’re completing this thing. That’s a
really, really great feeling.”
Created by the Appraisal Institute’s
Admissions & Designations Qualifications
Committee, the Appraisal Demonstration
Report Alternative Project Team (ADAPT)
submitted a report in November 2008
to the Board of Directors, who approved
beta testing of E-Demo.
“E-Demo was designed to be Web-based, segmented and interactive,” said
ADAPT Chair Sara Stephens, MAI. “It
provides progressive feedback, and it’s
flexible, relevant and rigorous.”
Assigned Advisers provide E-Demo applicants with guidance on their submission
segments. While mentoring was often a
part of previous MAI demo report submissions, the process is now formalized, with
trained Advisers assigned to each Associate Member. Mike Cummings, MAI, and
Mike Miller, MAI, SRA, served as Baker’s
Advisers. “Miller’s willingness to co-operate
with me and work with me, the insights
he gave, were profound in a lot of areas,”
Baker said. “He really propelled me
through the process.”
Furthermore, Baker’s demo was graded
in three weeks; grading traditional demos
usually takes longer. “I don’t see why
anybody would do anything but E-Demo,”
Baker said. “It will really, really help you
quickly pull your demo together and
complete it. … It was really a hyper-speed
rate of learning.”
And why the rush? Well, within two
days of earning his coveted MAI designation, Baker received two assignments
worth $40,000.
“Were it not for the designation, I
wouldn’t have gotten the assignments,”
Baker said. “You don’t realize what you’re
missing until you get it. You can think
you’re doing well, but the amount of opportunities you’re going to get because of
the designation is unbelievable.”
If E-Demo sounds good to you,
you’re not alone. Already, more than
30 pre-qualified Associate Members
are lined up to fulfill their MAI demo
report requirement through the new
process. Find out more on page 40.
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