Steven Keith Ross McCloud, SRA

Steven Keith Ross McCloud, SRA is the principle of McCloud Property Valuators.  Beginning operations in the Houston metro n 2003 as Starett & Associates, the firm restructured in 2022 to McCloud Property Valuators.  Originally learning the business from his father-in-law, Jim D. Jones of J D Property analysts in Findlay, OH in 1994, the industry was only just discovering the digital age, and I had to learn the [appraisal] business the "old-fashioned way" by pulling plat maps and combing through county sales at the courthouse.  It was lessons well learned that continue to be beneficial today in performing assignments in some of the surrounding counties.

Steven has earned a BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and Management from MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS in 1985, and was actively involved in all levels of student government. As student body president his senior year, coincidentally the 1984 election season, a highlight was co-sponsoring a congressional debate on campus along with the Chamber of Commerce and the Olathe Daily News. After graduation and while working full-time, he earned an MBA in Marketing from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO in 1993. The underlying emphasis of both these institutions on individual and corporate social responsibility fits so well with the ideal role of a real estate appraiser in the public trust particularly in light of recent events. In 2008, he earned the SRA designation from The Appraisal Institute. The designation is conferred on those members specializing in the valuation of residential properties in excess of 4,000 hours of experience, 181 hours of tested classroom instruction, and passing peer review for quality and content.

Steven has worked as a staff appraiser with Scott Stephens and Associates of Houston, TX and Bliss Associates of Kansas City, MO; North American Savings Bank FSB as chief appraiser, and Keller & Associates of Lawrence, KS as Residential Department Manager.  I am grateful to these organizations and their principles for the opportunity to be a part their team, and for what I have been able to learn from each of them.

Prior to working full-time in the appraisal industry, Steven worked 13 years in the consumer packaged goods industry in sales and marketing for some of Fortune’s Top 100 companies in the greater Kansas City area and mid-west region. For over three years, he worked as corporate liaison and project manager in new product development.  In 1994, he was an adjunct marketing professor for Findlay University in Findlay, OH, and was a guest speaker at Ohio Business Week in 1995.  He and his wife, Brenda, have been married over 36 years, and have two adult children.