If the RPT label should not be used as the credibility factor, then the question begs to be asked,?what does give a piano appraiser credibility? Does one have to be a piano technician for?20 years, (or 10 or 30), or?own a piano retail store,?or be a piano salesman for 1 year, or teach?lessons to 5 year olds? ? According to the article, the requirements to be a "qualified appraiser" the?individual "has earned an appraisal designation from a recognized professional appraiser organization". Do we have one of those in the piano industry? Is attending an appraising class at a seminar or convention qualify as having "earned an appraisal designation", or?should there be more involved?? ?"Has met certain minimum education and experience requirements". What are the "minimum education and experience requirements"???Again, does attending a class or two qualify, or should one know how to completely rebuild a piano before knowing how to appraise one? "Regularly prepares appraisals for which he/she is paid".? Define "regularly".?Someone has to start somewhere, so do the first dozen or so not count? And last, "demonstrates varifiable education and experience in valuing the property".? ? These requirements are so vague, I don't believe there really is a requirement. Again, because there is no?"real" qualification to be a piano?appraiser, it would seem to me that almost anything that might have some sort of credibility should be better than none at all.??I must reiterate, being an RPT by itself does not make a piano technician an appraiser. But what criteria?does? Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: paulrevenkojones at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Oct 21 11:33 PM Subject: Re: Appraising follow up But having that qualification will add to the credibility.? Willem: That's not only the danger but the reality: too many technicians dependent on the "credibility" of the designation offering wholly uninformed and unformed opinions about the value of pianos. Every time a technician suggests, estimates, guesses, opines, or offers an appraisal of value, he/she has altered the values of all other pianos in the market place, sometimes subtly, sometimes not. Then also, the uneducated credibility of the piano-howning public who will be led to expect that the RPT designation by itself "should" signify capability, experience, and assurance. then also, the credibility of the legal system which will come to depend on the RPT designation while the above flaws in the ointment continue to be perpetuated. If after some rather extended experience in the field, and with an ear to the market, someone also has RPT status, then I guess that means something; but for the life of me I don't know what it is. As we kn! how, many new RPT's are dangerous to the field piano technology since many of them mistakenly believe that the designation is the end rather than the beginning. While I certainly applaud those who seek and attain RPT status, its significance is primarily internal, that we, by social contract in our association, wish to provably raise the level of our technical expertise by taking examinations which, as we all know, at 80% are marginal at best. It is perfectly conceivable and, indeed, has been done, to create an RPT within as little as 15 months from a point of total ignorance about piano technology. The RPT designation does not create an appraiser. Or lend credibility to the appraisal, except to the credulous. And we as members of the Piano Technicians Guild need to be extraordinarily circumspect in making the designation carry too much peripheral force or cachet. It will redound poorly on us if we do. Paul -----Original Message----- From: Willem Blees wimblees at aol.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, 21 Oct 2007 8:51 pm Subject: Re: Appraising follow up I'm not suggesting that just being an RPT is enough to be a qualified appraiser. But having that qualification will add to the credibility.?By the same token, an RPT isn't necessarily qualified to?be a concert tuner, but it certainly goes a long way. Which is one of the reasons many universities want an RPT?to be the tech. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: paulrevenkojones at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Oct 21 1:15 AM Subject: Re: Appraising follow up Willem: With all due respect, the designation of RPT is not sufficient to be an appraiser except for, perhaps, some technical purpose regarding qualifications in the eyes of the legal system which may be all you're saying, but if so, then it in insufficient and non-germane to the issue. There are many, many young RPTs, whom I just love to death for becoming so, who are not qualified to appraise because they simply haven't had the experience in the "market-place", nor of the intricacies of the law and tax consequences, properly to bring to bear the results of that experience. Julia herself admits as much, that she's been doing technical work for several years, but does not claim to be an appraiser. To hold out the carrot to aspiring RPT's that they will, simply by becoming RPT's, have the qualification to appraise is nonsense. There are many non-RPT's out there who have years and years of experience whom I would call on in an instant before I would call someone to do an appraisal sim! ! ply because they have the designation after their name and the other doesn't. So, no, not enough said. Paul -----Original Message----- From: Willem Blees wimblees at aol.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:23 pm Subject: Appraising follow up I just got my October Journal, and read the appraising article. A couple of weeks ago there was some talk about this, but?since the series of questions appeared on Pianotech before I joined, I didn't get a chance to add my 2 cents worth. ? The only thing I wanted to add, which?I mentioned in my Appraisal class at the convention, has to do with the qualifications of a piano appraiser. The number one qualification, in opinion, would be an RPT member of the PTG.?There is no other classification in any other profession that comes close to knowing more about the condition of a piano than an RPT. The IRS, much less a court of law,?has no other standard to measure our ability against. I'm not saying there?aren't other people who?can do an appraisal, but an RPT is the only one with credentials. ? 'noug said.? ? Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! ________________________________________________________________________ Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail! - http://mail.aol.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20071022/10cddc1e/attachment.html
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