Property assessments are a whole different animal from MS AND are required to be done by licensed and approved appraisers if the mortgage loan is to meet most lender standards. It is appraisals that are the focus of most such legislation. Only NV has a really restrictive MS requirement for the MSCs to have a NV PI license and to use only shoppers who have gotten a NV work permit to work for them.
BPOs, or Broker Property Opinions, are not done by MSers. They are performed under state regulations by licensed real estate agents and brokers. In some states additional training it required of agents and brokers who do BPOs, but not in most. BY LAW most states require that any BPO state, prominently, that it is NOT an appraisal and should not be relied upon as an appraisal.
Laws about property appraisals and BPOs are not addressing what MSers do. Have any of you ever seen an MS assignment that required a BPO to be prepared by someone other than a licensed real estate agent or broker? If MSCs were evading the Real Estate and Appraisal Laws, that is what they would be asking for, according to the OP.
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