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PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
PRESIDENTS
MESSAGE
July 1, 2008
Dear Chapter Members:
As
we reach the half-way mark for 2008, it's a good time to take inventory of what
lies ahead for the remainder of the year for our Chapter and its members. Foremost for all of our members is the
continuing education deadline at the end of November. For those of you who have already taken
the necessary hours, you make me sick!
Just kidding and congratulations on planning ahead. For those of you still looking to take
classes, I encourage you to take them through our Chapter; the remaining
education schedule is included in this newsletter. Attendance for our Chapter classes has
been down this year, as it has throughout most of the chapters nationwide. Whether this is a result of financial
hardships in general or competition from on-line classes from other providers
remains to be seen. But I would
encourage you to take the Appraisal Institute offerings whenever possible. I believe that the quality of the course
work and instructors is far superior to that of the competition. If you are going to spend your valuable
time taking education, why not take the best available courses and better
yourself as an appraiser in the process?
I want to
take this opportunity to welcome our newest members to the Northwest Florida
Chapter. Since the beginning of
2008, our Chapter has gained approximately 23 new members! I believe that Nationals aggressive
campaign to add members through discounted dues for Associate Members has been
successful. We would like to see
our membership figures continue to grow.
If you know of anyone who would be a good candidate for membership,
please encourage them to look into joining the Appraisal Institute. The following link will lead prospective
members directly to information regarding the costs and benefits of Appraisal
Institute membership. http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/membership/
I
recently had the pleasure of attending our meeting in Pensacola on the evening
of June 17th. Tom Fruitticher, our
Vice-President and President-Elect, organized and hosted the mixer. It started out on the deck of The Fish
House, which overlooks the water in downtown Pensacola. Unfortunately, lightning drove us indoors
to do our socializing and mixing.
We had a nice turnout of both members and non-members, old school
appraisers and trainees, men and women.
I think a good time was had by all.
It was agreed that a relaxed, social setting was a nice way to reacquaint
ourselves with old friends and it gave us a chance to make new acquaintances
too.
The
Region X meeting was recently held in Austin, Texas in conjunction with most of
the other regions in the country.
Our chapter was represented by Tom Fruitticher and Joel Salley, both of
whom are currently serving as Vice Presidents in our chapter. Based on discussions that Ive had with
them, it appears that the meeting was a great success and they brought home some
insight into issues concerning the state of the appraisal industry. Their summary of the Region X meeting
appears in our newsletter and which can be found elsewhere on our
website.
And
finally, I would like to encourage everyone to participate in the upcoming
Chapter elections. Our nominating
committee has met and a group of nominees was selected for the upcoming chapter
elections. For the first time
in a few years, we have more nominees than number of positions available. This means it is not a foregone
conclusion who is going to fill the available slots on the Board. I want to thank all of our members who
have agreed to serve as an officer or director, should they be elected.
Sincerely,
Robert
M. Kissel, MAI
President, Northwest Florida Chapter of the Appraisal
Institute
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