We have been sold a BS concept that bigger is better and it's killing the country so a few can have everything. Homogenizing the real estate market has had a similar stagnating effect on our economy. By establishing value by averaging everyone's effort in an area, it benefits the Walmart volume builders. It encourages them to build as many of the cheapest, bloated boxes as possible without any care for innovation or quality. These giant builder corporations don't want to innovate or design. They are only interested in manufacturing housing. Every time a schmuck like me designs a more expensive house, it will only appraise at the average of what everyone is doing. If my house does sell for more, the cheap guy gets to use my sale as a comp to raise his price. Now I have to raise my price, but the bank limits me, not him because his model is to build the cheapest. El Cheapo gets to go to the bank and get a loan based on the new average I just created, while I get penalized for my effort. This simple concept is at the core of all of our problems and we are letting an opportunity to fix it, just slip through our fingers. -------------------------------------------
Eric Rawlings AIA
Owner
Rawlings Design, Inc.
Decatur GA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-28-2011 11:47
From: Gregory Sandoval
Subject: Impotent Organization in time of Crisis
Mr. Rawlings... I couldn't agree with you more about the issues with our profession due to the total lack of respect our profession has received over the past decades of Wall Street and FIRE (Financial, Insuarance and Real Estate sector) Industry control; "... A "free market" was an active political creation and required regulatory vigilance. Since World War I, the term
free markets has gradually come to mean markets free of public regulation and free of empowered bureaucrats. In the redefinition of free market
self-regulatory organizations rather than oversight and regulation by government implement any structuring or procedures necessary to maintain fair and orderly markets...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIRE_economy. Architecture is not appreciated in the FIRE sector and architects have no voice in the aisles of Congress. We do indeed need the AIA to lobby our leaders and send us AIA memebers to Washington D.C. to protest and be heard.
I suggest that every architect watch the documentary "Inside Job"
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/ as well, once you see how the shadow government of the Fed and large Banks control and manipulate our economy, you will be angered at the greed and lack of empathy toward, not only architects but the American people. These individuals care only about their next bonus and disgustingly high salaries. The stock market is their gambling casino and we are the ones left holding the bag, bailing them out and being stuck with a failing economy, no work and not much future. We can change it but it will take all of us uniting and informing the public.
I also suggest you go online and watch the documentaries and information outlined in the Zeigeist film series.
www.zeitgeistmovie.com These will open your eyes to what is going on with our country and the world economy. It puts into question if the Monetary-Market driven system is sustainable for our planet, let alone our profession and our country's future.
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Gregory Sandoval AIA
SM+a
Albuquerque NM
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-26-2011 07:18
From: Eric Rawlings
Subject: Impotent Organization in time of Crisis
I think a multi-pronged approach is necessary for us to regain a foothold in Residential. Clearly this will double our numbers and our voice in the building industry. Requiring stamps for residential work is not an impossible concept. The home building industry is obviously "lost" without leadership. NY state already requires Architect or Engineer's stamps on houses, so why not the rest of the country? All of these residential designers would have to get licensed to continue practicing, which greatly increases our numbers. Do you think the AIA could imagine doubling membership (fees)? Wouldn't this be a lucrative concept to pursue $$$?
Value is more of a problem than requiring stamps. Appraisal reform is far more important if we ever want to design houses that are valued more per sf than a cookie cutter. As it stands now, there are two categories for home value: New construction and Renovations. Renovations are automatically valued less than New. This makes sense in most situations, except when an Historic structure is being restored. Although in most cases a well preserved Historic structure is considered more desirable, yet trying to get the value to construction cost numbers to work is near impossible because renovations are valued less. Many older homes not protected by historic districts get torn down indiscriminately by mindless cookie cutter builders. Historic districts are often created just to combat this problem, which many of us agree is an aggravating way of getting people to do the right thing.
I have an idea! Why don't we, at very least, petition the banks and appraisers to give more value to unique houses designed by a local, licensed Architect that can verify the fact that the design has only been used once. We could have Renovations $, New mass produced housing $$, and unique Architectural houses $$$. I know for a fact that NO ONE wants to live in the same house as their neighbor. My business exists only because people want unique homes. I have the MLS listings to prove my unique spec houses have outsold all of the cookie cutters in my area. Can anyone else provide similar proof that unique homes are more desirable than cookie cutters? Every unique commodity in this country is valued higher than the equivalent mass produced knock off. This concept shouldn't be that hard to grasp and quite frankly, I have no idea how this country has allowed the banks and appraisers to continue valuing property the same way after their gross misunderstanding of what this commodity is worth. Their failure to recognize economic conditions as a whole while allowing value to skyrocket was quite intentional if you ask me. The more "equity" someone thought they had, the more likely they would "withdraw" it in the form of taking out a larger loan on the house than the bank knew it was really worth. Now they still want their 2005-2006 money for these fraudulent, inflated loans.
Watch "Inside Job" and you will be furious that our profession was devastated by a small handful of greedy b@st@rds! We rely on these people for our profession to exist and there are ZERO checks and balances for them to do the right thing, EVER! They created their own rules, they eliminated their risk while putting us, our profession at risk, they played games with people's lives with no consequence, and worst of all NO ONE WENT TO JAIL???!!!??@$#$%#@!!! There has never been a better time to say, "I told you your system was flawed, now we're going to fix it" (PC version of what I really want to say to them). The more time that passes, the less likely we'll be able to change this moronic system. We should march on Wall Street! Make a news story out of it. The people would be on our side if we could bring these issues to the TV screen. Imagine the Architects, engineers, builders, etc. revolting against the people who destroyed us all! If we make a big enough stink, DC will have to listen, the banks will have to listen. Now this is something the AIA could actually help organize and implement, but I'm sure our fees are better spent on dinners I'll never go to and parties I'll never be invited to. I would love to know my dues paid for thousands of laid off Architects to get free rides to NY for a protest that might actually do something BIG for us.
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Eric Rawlings AIA
Owner
Rawlings Design, Inc.
Decatur GA
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