Professional Profile: Glenn Desmond - 1974

Name: Glenn Desmond - 1974

Title: President

Company: Desmond, Childs & Adams

Location: Portland, ME

Birthplace: California

Glenn Desmond, 44, president of Desmond, Childs & Adams, Portland, Me., is leading the fight in Maine to educate the public, elected officials and appraisers themselves on the role of the appraiser in society. Desmond, who holds several professional designations including Member of the Appraisal Institute (MAI), Senior Real Property Appraiser (SRPA), and American Society of Appraiser (ASA), is president of the Maine Chapter of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers. Four years ago, he points out, there was no Maine Chapter, and the ensuing years have been spent trying to make the public and other appraisers aware the chapter even exists. Desmond has spent considerable time giving testimony before various state legislative groups trying to correct misunderstandings which have led to licensing proposals of dubious merit, since they have been spawned from ignorance. The battle so far has been more often than not to get attention, but Desmond believes progress is being made through the testimony and through public seminars which the chapter has been sponsoring. The next step is the crucial one, Desmond contends. Although the society encompasses a nationwide membership, the Maine Chapter itself does not include statewide coverage. Through seminars and regular education programs for its own members, the society is bringing its presence to the attention of other appraisers and is gradually broadening its base. Desmond, a California native, settled in Maine on five years ago when he left the nationwide appraisal firm of Marshall & Stevens of Los Angeles to set up his own business in New England. His work with Marshall & Stevens had carried him back and forth across the U.S. as a business valuation expert. Working mostly out of California, he spent a good deal of time on the east coast, eventually taking over the firm’s New England regional office in Boston to get it on its feet. Although he then moved to Chicago Midwest regional office, New England had made its impression and Desmond opted to set up shop here. In April 1969, Desmond opened a one-man appraisal business in South Portland. Two years later, he was able to buy his own building in the city and brought in Albert Childs as his partner. The initial expansion, however, only presaged things to come. Last April, Desmond, Childs & Adams bought its own block in the city of Portland, renovated it and opened offices at 66 Pearl St. Desmond has assembled a staff of 17 appraisers who specialize in valuation problems ranging from real property such as land and buildings to intangibles such as market and tax surveys. Maine’s boundaries have not been able to thwart Desmond’s expanding business because the firm also owns an affiliate appraisal company in Cincinnati, Ohio, enabling nationwide coverage. With this setup, Desmond, Childs and Adams offers its clients an all-inclusive type of appraisal activity. The Principia College (Ill.) graduate proudly points out that his staff, many of whom are designated by the Society of Real Estate Appraisers, can do the most sophisticated industrial study, market feasibility, return on investment, detailed-building costs and even computerize their results. Their multi-operations capability enables them to service a client with business dealings anywhere in the nation. But, most importantly, Desmond contends is the fact that his own people specialize, even to the fact of having a forestry expert, allowing a client to find the kind of expert he needs for his problems. Despite his own professional designations, Desmond still enrolls in a continuing series of real estate appraisal courses to keep on top of current changes. Desmond and his wife Marilyn have two daughter, Carol, 12, and Donna, 10. Away from the office, he is an avid sailor near his home in Yarmouth on Casco Bay.