Commission weighs standard review form and higher fees to recruit expert reviewers

The Tennessee Real Estate Appraiser Commission’s Complaint Review Committee spent much of its April 20 meeting discussing ways to make the expert-review process faster and more reliable, focusing on standardized review worksheets and higher pay for outside reviewers.

The committee heard staff explain that complaints are routed through a centralized complaints office, respondents are given 14 days to answer and most matters alleging appraisal-use issues ("nine out of 10," staff said) are sent for expert review. Commissioners and staff said the office aims to present dispositions within 180 days where possible, but reviewer shortages and variable response rates are slowing that timeline.

Commission members and staff said low participation by qualified reviewers has two main causes: the time-intensive nature of an expert review and the fee offered in state solicitations. Staff said past posted fees for residential reviews have been around $600; board members and reviewers present suggested a realistic recruitment range would be substantially higher, with several participants naming $800–$1,200 and a few suggesting $1,200–$1,250 as motivating levels.

"It takes a lot more time to do a proper review than it does to do an appraisal," one commissioner said. "A fee higher than $800—and sometimes closer to $1,200—makes people consider that extra effort."

To reduce barriers for new reviewers, commissioners also discussed publishing an optional, fillable review template and providing redacted examples so prospective reviewers know what the work entails. Staff said two of the four contracted reviewers accept assignments regularly and use proprietary templates; mandating a single template could risk losing those active reviewers, several commissioners cautioned.

The committee asked staff to obtain redacted copies of the templates currently used by active reviewers, to survey current reviewers on what motivates them to accept assignments, and to return with fee and template recommendations at the next committee meeting. The commission did not adopt any immediate policy changes at this meeting.

Next steps: staff will share redacted reviewer templates and present recommended fee-floor options and a draft optional template at the committee’s next convening.