I want to add to the praise for the first AppraiserFest held last week in San Antonio. Kudos to Phil Crawford, Lori Noble, and Mark Skapinetz for a great first event! I’m very glad I made the decision to attend.

I was struck by how positive everyone was at the event. Even though the residential appraisal business is under threat from changing client needs and reduced loan volumes, AppraiserFest speakers gave us many ideas for how to grow our business.

I greatly appreciate that this was an appraiser-centered event with a distinct lack of client presence.

Attendees were younger than typical for industry events, a refreshing change. Also, a larger percentage of attendees were women.

I spent much of my time at AppraiserFest with George Dell and Steve Smith at the Valuemetrics booth discussing data analysis with attendees. Hanging out with George and Steve for several days was like a master’s seminar in appraisal. I’m so fortunate to have mentors so willing to share their experience like these two.

Tom, Ryan, Jamie, and Bill with yours truly at AppraiserFest

Meeting online friends in real life was the best part of AppraiserFest. I was fortunate to break bread with some of the best appraisal bloggers in the country including Tom Horn, Jamie Owen, and Bill Cobb. And Ryan Lundquist, a long-time friend in real life (!), was kind enough to put up with my snoring. Thanks for sharing the room Ryan.

This was my first trip to San Antonio so I had to visit the Alamo and the Riverwalk.

It was great catching up with Diane, John, and Teresa from the Excel class I gave in Portland two years ago. Can’t wait to see you again.

Takeaways:

• Positive vibe throughout
• Great networking with people I actually wanted to meet
• Very professional event with great speakers and topics relevant to my day-to-day business

I will be back next year!