Annual Summer Planning Meeting a Big Success!

Garrett, Kathi, & Greg

The new San Diego ASA chapter board, volunteers, and Executive Assistant Jan Giamanco gathered at the Harbor House Seafood Restaurant on July 24th for the annual planning meeting.  Everyone enjoyed the traditional alfresco meal on a glorious sunny day with a fabulous view of the San Diego Bay. 

After lunch President Pamela Bensoussan, ASA, opened the meeting with a solicitation of ideas for educational programs for the coming year.  SD ASA always aims to seek programs that balance discipline specific topics with those that are profession-wide (programs that address either appraisal principles & practices or business management techniques).  In addition to regular monthly meeting programs, Bensoussan also formed a committee to investigate topics and formats for longer format seminars targeting professionals that use appraisers, such as lawyers and insurance claims adjustors, or seminars that meet appraisers’ educational goals.  This new committee will not only work to present seminars that enhance our educational offerings, but serve our public relations goals.

Pamela Bensoussan, President and the Board appointed a new monthly meeting Program Committee at the annual Summer Planning meeting.  Members are Kathi Jablonsky, Candidate & ISA CAPP, personal property; Rick Engstrom, ASA, AI, real estate; and Greg Tesone, ASA, business valuation.

If you have an idea for a program at our monthly meetings, give one of them a call.

It’s that time of year again. There’s something about the month of September that says it’s time to get down to business. A holdover from school days or parenting days, Labor Day celebrations remind us that summer relaxation is over and (school/appraisal) work starts up again in earnest.

I find that in September — even more than January — I am motivated to focus on things like improving work efficiency and, my biggest problem of all, managing time well. That means avoiding those back-to-back inspection schedules and learning to “just say no” to assignments that exacerbate the work load. It’s time to shed the “feast or famine” mentality about my appraisal practice and learn to pace myself. Let clients know up front what a realistic turn-around time is for a lengthy report. Scheduling those inspections and due dates farther apart might mean losing a few jobs but gaining a more balanced life.

September has also been a time for our local ASA members to re-focus after the summer break and find ways to improve our chapter’s relevancy. The July chapter planning luncheon usually produces constructive ideas for programming and then we go dark in August. Suddenly in September we must think about all those ideas that were floating around the July luncheon table.

This summer, I am happy to report our summer planning was well attended and it was terrific to experience the enthusiasm around the table. Not only were there many interesting program ideas, but suggestions were made about changing our monthly meeting format and adding discipline-specific seminars.

One idea is to re-introduce the concept of Chapter Discipline Chairs. These chair persons would give monthly reports or write newsletter columns on topics that are relevant to their discipline. Regular reports would help us all stay in the loop and chapter members could email news items directly to their Chairs from the website.

The focus of our September meeting will be to continue the dialogue we started in July. Plan on participating — bring your own suggestions about ways to improve the chapter. Share your meeting topic ideas. Meet your new Discipline Chairs. Ask questions — get to know and learn from your colleagues. We will also learn about ASA’s plans for unification — the merger with other associations — and how it will impact members. As always we like to provide some practical information to take away from the meeting so we will learn some tips on Errors & Omissions and liability insurance for appraisers.

Over the years I have often heard expressed that “favorite” meetings were those where members shared their unique appraisal experiences with each other. The collective experiences, knowledge and professionalism of our members — these are our chapter assets. I haven’t met an ASA member yet who is not interested in improving the profession as a whole, as well as his or her own practice. After all, that’s what we all have in common. See you on September 18!

Pamela Bensoussan, ASA San Diego Chapter President

Applied for Advancement to ASA

We have been informed by ASA headquarters that Robert A. Johnson, Candidate, has applied for advancement to ASA Accreditation. Robert is a personal property appraiser with a specialty in automobiles and has been a long-time chapter member. We wish him all the best during the advancement process!

New Candidate Member

Mr. Enrique Mayer has fulfilled the requirements to become a Candidate member of ASA.  Congratulations Enrique!

Art & Antique Investment Funds are BACK IN PLAY !

On July 12th the New York Times ran an article about ‘Hedge Funds Diversify into Exotic Assets’ listing several new companies that invite wealthy investors to partake in potential profits in funds that accumulate art & antiques.  Some of the funds plan to specialize in such things as photographs, autographs and wine.  All are worthy things if, as an individual, you love them and make discriminating choices that suit your needs. 

In over 35 years appraising, I have seen these types of ‘investment vehicles’ come and go.  It always signals to me we are in an economic time of too much money seeking a status symbol investment.  Sort of like a man seeking a ‘trophy wife’.  This does not usually end well. 

The first clue is that no accredited, impartial appraiser is involved in the selection or valuation of these ‘assets’.  You don’t really need another clue.  Am I the only person alive who remembers the disastrous British Railways Pension Fund investment in art?  Their net return was 13.1%, and it was only a fluke that they didn’t lose a ton of money.   The real tragedy was that they weren’t investing rich people’s toy money, but gambling on the brakeman’s pension. 

Art and antiques are objects of personal desire and pleasure.  The art and antique market does not appreciate on any rational basis.  Van Gogh died a pauper, and Wieghorst, the famous painter of the American West, went in and out of favor between presidents Reagan and Clinton.  Art and antiques have no intrinsic economic energy, and they are subject to volatile market trends.  The fund managers hire ‘asset directors’ who are themselves dealers in the market place.  It’s Golden Fleece time when you hear about these ‘investment products’ coming back into the market.

Georgie Stillman, ASA

Greg Tesone, ASA - Career & Life - Growing & Changing Together

Congratulations to Greg & Jean
on the July birth of Samantha!
We wish you much love, joy, and happiness.

 

Greg has also just formed Center Point Business Valuations, a full service Business Valuation firm based in San Diego.

We wish you all the very best in your new business venture!

Greg has nearly a decade of business valuation experience. Prior to forming Center Point, he was President of Equity Valuation Group, managed ValueNomics’ San Diego office, and was an analyst with a Southern California-based investment banking company. He is a graduate of San Diego State University business school with an emphasis in finance.

Will Return of Cultural Patrimony Nullify Donor’s Tax Deduction?

by Georgie Stillman, ASA

Yet another episode in the repatriation of looted antiquities is in the news. This one involves millionaire Maurice Tempelsman, the long time companion of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. On September 1, 2007 the New York Times reported that in 1980 Tempelsman purchased two 6th Century BC acroliths (statues with marble or stone head, hands & feet, with a wooden torso) for a reported $1 million USD. In 1988, when the artifacts were exhibited at the Getty, the Italian government claimed the marbles had been illegally dug up from the ancient Greek settlement of Mortgantina in Sicily, and began negotiating with Tempelsman for their return. The NYT article goes on to state “Forbes magazine has reported that a deal was reached in which Mr. Tempelsman would give the acroliths to an institution, which would return them to Italy after a specific period.” The acroliths have been on exhibit at the University of Virginia Art Museum for the past five years, and now the Italian press reports an unconfirmed rumor that the marble pieces will go back home in 2008.

It can be safely assumed that Tempelsman took a hefty tax deduction if he "gifted" the antiquities to UV. If the marbles are returned to Italy, will the IRS take another look at the donation tax deduction?

Consider the following...

• If Tempelsman knew of the Italian claim to the marbles as early as 1988, and
• If a "deal" was struck to "launder" the antiquities through an American non-profit institution significantly reducing or erasing any monetary loss to him due to the counter balance of the tax write-off.
• Should the donation deduction stand?

This type of tax deduction for charitable donation is allowed so that the American public can enjoy artworks that might otherwise be sold and dispersed to private or foreign collections. If the Tempelsman donation was made to facilitate a face-saving, tax saving return of the antiquities to the rightful owners in another country, how does that jive with the intent of the tax regulations? And what do us ordinary tax payers get for it? Stay tuned for further details, and see if the IRS follows the money.

The Internet as an Appraisal Research Tool

by Kathi Jablonsky

The June chapter program was comprised of two parts including professional search tips by a librarian, and a roundtable discussion of our favorite research websites.

Part one was presented by Sarah Way, Lead Librarian at the Chula Vista Public Library. Sarah gave us a PowerPoint presentation for beginners and advanced Internet users alike, including the following topics:

• Common Search Engines including individual and meta search sites
• Using Wikipedia
• Checking the authority of sources
• Decoding domain names and Internet addresses
• Search tips including Boolean, quotations and truncation
• Library resources in the San Diego metropolitan area

Chula Vista Library
San Diego Public Library
San Diego County Library
UCSD Libraries
Librarians' Internet Index

Part two was moderated by Pamela Bensoussan, who arranged for us to go live on the Internet using Wi-Fi, while displaying websites up on a large screen. A roundtable discussion followed, as we went around the room and named our favorite research websites. Some of the mentioned sites are free, and some require a subscription.

Antiques & Art

Maine Antique Digest, Go Antiques, Prices for Antiques, Ruby Lane, Replacements, Gordon's Art, Art Fact, Art Net, JSTOR, The Getty, The Spencer Art Reference Library Research Guide Series, American Cabinet Makers Database, Political Graveyard

Books

Book Finder, Alibris, Abe Books

Business Valuation

BV Market Data

Jewelry and Gemstones

PalaGems, Auction Market Resource, Gemology Online

Real Property

Zillow, Loop Net, Sandicor, Costar

Kathi Jablonsky also presented a list of silver research websites, and explained how she organizes her list on a spreadsheet using categories and key words.  Some favorites were:

Silver Collecting, Modern Silver, Silversmiths, 925-1000, ASCAS, The Silver Institute

Members and guests in attendance commented that the program was informative and fun. Most came away with increased confidence in how to search the Internet, and narrow down the massive amount of on-line information available to appraisers today.

For details about the ASA San Diego Chapter, contact information for Chapter Officers or to locate/contact an ASA designated appraiser to meet your needs, please visit our web site at SanDiegoAppraisers.org For details about the ASA San Diego Chapter, contact information for Chapter Officers .

This newsletter is published as a service to the ASA Members and the community it serves. If you would like to receive this publication, please contact Jan Giamanco- 619-501-5444 - Email.

Newsletter Editor - Georgie Stillman, ASA

Newsletter Published by Jan Giamanco of G-Force Services