RP131 Efficient Appraisal Practice: How Does an Assistant Fit In?

Joshua Walitt is the principal consultant for Walitt Solutions. He provides short- and long-term consulting services related to compliance, valuation, education, review and investigations. Clients include lending institutions, appraisers, appraisal management companies, attorneys, education providers and federal and state regulators.

With over 20 years of experience, Walitt’s skillset includes appraisal, banking, regulations, policy, instruction, licensing and enforcement. His core goal is to foster a clients’ efficiency, accuracy, compliance and growth through appropriate methodology and technology, sound reasoning, communication skills and proper oversight.

Walitt has extensive background in education, mentoring, and learning platforms. Routinely, he designs and customizes seminars, webinars, and continuing-education courses for education providers, state associations, and other clients. His services include providing mentoring and coaching to appraiser teams related to appraisal methods, appraisal standards, analysis techniques, and workflow. His materials are designed for various delivery methods and media, including live, online, and recorded.

Walitt provides "training-the-trainer" services to education provider clients to promote consistent student experiences across instructors. Walitt has developed job aids in the forms of checklists, quick reference, manuals, and workflow documents for various clients. He regularly uses a "go to the source" approach when designing education materials and presenting classes, often incorporating industry guides, handbooks, and publications as part of his presentations.

He writes for industry publications and speaks at events such as the Appraisal Institute’s Annual Conference, Appraisal Summit and Expo, Valuation Expo, Appraiser’s Conference and Trade Show, Association of Appraiser Regulatory Officials, and other client and industry conferences.

He is considered a subject matter expert on collateral valuation methods and compliance with standards and regulations. Walitt has been engaged for special projects related to property data collection (PDR and PDC), forms design, appraisal and review forms design, appraiser software, and UAD support.

In 2013, he was the appraiser member of Colorado’s AMC Rulemaking Taskforce. In 2015, Walitt designed the Market Machine, a market analysis and modeling tool used by appraisers throughout the United States. He has also provided valuation consulting for domestic and international applications. Walitt has been recognized as an expert witness in local and federal court.

He is the 2023 President of the National Association of Appraisers after serving as the 2021 and 2022 President. Walitt is an AQB Certified USPAP Instructor, holds the SRA & AI-RRS designations with the Appraisal Institute, is a member of the National Association of Appraisers (MNAA), holds a Certified Distance Education Instructor (CDEI) certificate, served on the Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers and is an Appraisal Institute approved instructor.