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We Will Always Need Appraisers: Josh Walitt on Valuation, Technology, and Adaptability
by Isaac Peck, Publisher
To thrive in today’s appraisal landscape, adaptability matters more than ever. Markets shift, technology evolves, and clients’ needs change. Appraisers who recognize the versatility of their valuation skills—beyond traditional lender work—are better positioned to diversify, grow, and remain relevant in a changing industry.
Joshua Walitt is the very picture of adaptability and change. Originally a banker, Walitt did a mid-career jump into appraising after realizing that banking wasn’t for him. Since making that choice, Walitt hasn’t just followed his industry; he has set the pace for it.
Walitt has become a sought-after expert on compliance, real estate, and valuation, as well as a reviewer, a national speaker, an educator, and an expert witness. His company, Walitt Solutions, provides consulting services to lenders, appraisers, management companies, technology companies, education providers, and regulators. Working RE recently had the opportunity to ask Walitt what his journey has been like, and how he sees the future of the appraisal profession.
From Banker to Appraiser
In his previous life, Walitt climbed the banking ladder one step at a time, starting out as a teller for the drive-through of the bank branch he worked for in college. Over time, he became a supervisor, then a manager, then a branch manager. “And I was really just wondering in the back of my head: Am I going to do this for 40 more years? I couldn’t see myself staying there. I probably could’ve moved up, but it just didn’t feel like the right role for me,” Walitt recalled.
After talking to a friend who was an appraiser, Walitt agreed to go on a couple of visits as a trainee. The entire experience felt like stumbling into a profession, he said, adding that he started self-educating, studying everything from compliance to the technical aspects of the appraisal profession. There was one part of the job he found particularly rewarding: “I have always enjoyed sharing information with people,” Walitt said. But he was also interested in the legal and legislative aspects of compliance. “Dodd-Frank sparked my interest in the compliance side of it. That’s when I really started digging into interagency guidelines, looking at the different layers in appraisal and lending. The layers never end,” he mused.
After a few years working as a staff appraiser for an AMC (and becoming one of the top producers at the firm), Walitt began to realize that the skills he had developed “could move beyond this one company. Maybe I could be helping appraisers. I could work with lenders, AMCs, regulators—so I made the decision to start my own consulting firm and just jumped in,” he said, adding that this happened in 2019, “right before COVID-19. So it was an interesting time to start a new business.”
As anyone who has made such a jump knows, going out on your own, particularly for a consultancy that is dependent on other businesses, can be pretty scary. But Walitt told me he launched Walitt Solutions with some naivete. “I didn’t know it was gutsy. Maybe I was being naive about the whole thing and how I entered into it. I knew I had a few clients right away that would sustain me. I also went back to appraising for three or four months. I knew that I’d have a little bit coming in from there,” he said.
Initially marketing his services by word of mouth and social media, and unable to attend conferences because of COVID, Walitt relied on his faith that people knew who he was and what he could do. The stark contrast of being a one-person operation after so many years working in teams sparked Walitt to make phone calls and maintain his business contacts, which helped with his growth. Eventually he was able to add an assistant.
Now, Walitt Solutions is a five-person core team, along with additional contractors, offering specialized services for clients across the real estate ecosystem. “We consult with a lot of AMCs, appraisers, lenders, all these different client types. If we have a service that helps a certain type of client to perform their work more correctly, more efficiently, then the entire ecosystem is a bit more successful,” Walitt said, adding that the company does consulting on policies and procedures, and offers internal assessments and audits. “We do coaching for appraisers, technical appraisal methods, or workflow in their offices, help with bringing trainees on, or complaint assistance. I was just on the phone this afternoon with someone who had a state board complaint,” he said.
Walitt Solutions works with appraisers, state regulators, banks, AMCs, and other clients. For appraisers specifically, Walitt says his team helps with response letters, among other things, helping craft careful responses to requests for reevaluation, or other complaints. “We act as devil’s advocates,” Walitt explained. “By reviewing the report and workfile the way a regulator would, we can usually identify the issues an investigator is likely to focus on before an interview ever happens.”
For regulators, Walitt Solutions helps states handle their backlog of complaints against appraisers. “There are hundreds of complaints [being investigated] in some cases. The team evaluates those and takes a look at what’s going on. Sometimes it is the full investigation piece, sometimes merely the intake,” he said. Walitt Solutions trains regulators too: his company offers training onsite or in virtual classrooms on needs like investigation, intake, disciplinary actions, and mock hearings.
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Beyond Just Business
In 2018, Walitt became an AQB Certified USPAP Instructor. “I was lucky that another USPAP instructor was kind enough to let me share a few classes with her,” Walitt recalled. This allowed him to gain a reputation for teaching, as an instructor who knows his standards. Walitt said he enjoys teaching. “I had the best compliment ever in Las Vegas when someone said at the end, ‘I never thought I would use the words fun and USPAP in the same sentence. But this was fun.’ That’s really what you want—for people to learn something and to have fun,” he said.
Among the courses he teaches is valuation independence training, which educates appraisers, lenders, and AMCs on maintaining objectivity and compliance during the appraisal process. Federal regulations require that appraisers must be free from coercion, influence, or conflicts of interest. The training covers prohibited practices, permissible communication, handling reconsiderations of value, and documentation requirements. It’s often required by lenders or AMCs as part of internal compliance programs, even if it doesn’t count for CE credit.
As an instructor, Walitt enjoys asking students what their takeaways are from his courses. “Every class isn’t going to lead to breakthroughs, but I’ve enjoyed that,” he said. He teaches non-lending classes too, classes just designed to help appraisers in their work life. “It sounds so dry, and people tell me it sounds boring, but we have a lot of fun in that class. So much discussion base. It’s a really good one.”
Technology and Diversification
When I asked Walitt what the future of appraising looks like, he did not hesitate. “Technology,” he answered. “I don’t know any way around giving an answer without technology coming into it. We’ve had inspection apps for decades. But I think now, the importance of learning and using those is really coming to the forefront. A lot more data collection will be necessary for appraisers. Technology is forcing us to change. We’ll see a lot more velocity, consistency, and repeatability. And not just in the inspection,” he said.
Walitt told me that he believes technology can improve both speed and accuracy. It also allows more work to get done with fewer operators, a virtue that Walitt thinks will come in handy if retirement rates outpace the introduction of new appraisers into the market. “If people retire, there will be a lot more business opportunities,” he said. On the other hand, technology can also help appraisers find other work when they can’t find enough appraisal work.
Many appraisers tend to think of their work narrowly, focused solely on completing forms like the URAR for residential mortgage lending (and today’s new UAD 3.6). Walitt explained that there’s a much broader range of opportunities where appraisal knowledge is valuable, even outside traditional appraisal assignments. “What I’m doing isn’t always appraisal work, but it’s because I’ve had experience as an appraiser,” he said. Skills in valuation, market analysis, and property assessment can be applied in consulting for investors, relocation services, assessor’s offices, or legal contexts like divorce and assessment appeals. In some cases, appraisers may serve as consultants or expert witnesses without issuing a formal appraisal report. The key is recognizing that the core skillset—critical thinking, market insight, and valuation expertise—is portable. It takes time and effort to build a presence in nonlender work, but the payoff is flexibility and professional growth. According to Walitt, appraisers who open their minds to these possibilities often find more opportunity than they expected.
Meanwhile, Walitt is developing an exciting new platform designed to build community among appraisers. “Many appraisers are the lone wolf model. We have some appraisers that go to conferences, what happens between conferences? Some people go to physical classes. Some people attend Zoom. There’s not much connection between appraisers,” he said.
The Future of Residential Valuation
With a wide network of videos, blog posts, and human contacts, Walitt is a presence across the entire appraisal profession. Living in Colorado, he has also served on a local Board of Equalization, resolving disputes between homeowners and assessors. All of this human contact has given Walitt a different view of the future than those who see incoming technologies as more disruptive than constructive. He believes that so long as there is property, people will need human valuation experts.
Walitt told me he was “optimistic about the future of the valuation profession. There’s always a need to know how much a property is worth. At this point in time, we don’t have machines that can replace human judgment, we’ve got a good place for it. With technology, it will look different. Think about the two-minute checkup from your dentist or going to the optometrist and someone remotes in to control the equipment that works on your eyes. We never imagined that we would have that technology, but we do. It’s becoming different, and it will be different,” he said.
The tools will change, the workflows will evolve, but the need for human judgment in valuation isn’t going anywhere.
About the Author
Isaac Peck is the Publisher of Working RE magazine and the President of OREP Insurance, a leading provider of E&O insurance for real estate professionals. OREP serves over 10,000 appraisers with comprehensive E&O coverage, competitive rates, and 14 hours of CE at no charge for OREP Members (CE not approved in IL and AK). Visit OREP.org to learn more. Reach Isaac at isaac@orep.org or (888) 347-5273. CA License #4116465.
OREP Insurance Services, LLC. Calif. License #0K99465