VALUATING THE CRISIS

Tuesday night, the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the Appraisal Institute played host to the national organization’s 2011 president,Joseph Magdziarz, who chairs the exec committee and policy-making board of directors for the global group (that’s 24,000 members in 91 chapters). After coming from Illinois to conduct an all-day seminar about the lending world in crisis and what appraisers need to know, Joe Mags (as he’s affectionately known) joined chapter members at a cocktail reception in his honor. (Afterseven hours of teaching on that subject, we’d need a drink, too). With him is the chapter’s prez, Metropolitan Valuation Services’Steven Schleider, who tells us that its next event on April 4 will be an international panel of pros discussing The Basel Accords’ global impact on banking, mortgage lending, and real estate valuation.