Home Appraiser Training
Home appraisal may not be a booming occupation in a struggling economy, but property appraiser training certainly provides the knowledge to understand the real estate industry. In addition, home appraiser courses open many professional pathways, including careers in banking, real-estate investment firms and state regulatory agencies. Attendees can take courses online or on site.
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Target Audience
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Home appraisers are not the only group that may attend training. Courses are open to everyone, including people with no experience in real estate or without a financial background. Intellectual curiosity motivates some people to attend a training session, while others view the session as a good way to master the home lending process. Real estate appraisers, residential fee appraisers and certified real estate assessors are among those who benefit from training, according to O*NET OnLine, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational research section.
Academic Requirements
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Training providers may require that attendees fulfill academic criteria, especially for courses leading to professional certifications. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, home appraisers generally possess at least a bachelor's degree. Certification carries professional prestige and improves employment prospects. Being a certified, residential, real-property appraiser (CRRPA) is the minimum qualification for valuing homes with a loan amount exceeding $250,000. There are three conditions for the CRRPA designation: at least an associate's degree, 200 hours of appraiser-specific classroom training, and 2,500 hours of practical experience gained over at least two years.
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Curriculum
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Home appraisers train to understand the financial concepts of real property valuation, including economic trends in the real estate sector and bank lending rates. Equally important, attendees learn how to inspect properties and evaluate living conditions and neighborhood settings. Trainers also share their knowledge of "eminent domain" and the regulatory guidelines that federal and state agencies establish. Eminent domain is the right of the state or federal government to take private property for public. The practice obviously involves owner compensation.
Benefits
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Attendees benefit from training sessions, as they can use their newly learned skills to advance their careers and conform to state laws concerning continuing professional education. Course students with no real estate background can parlay their new skill set into a promising career. As of 2010, home appraisers earned an annual average salary of $39,000,according to the online career resource Indeed. The figure does not include commissions that banks pay when transactions close---that is, when properties are sold.
Tools
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To complete their duties satisfactorily, home appraisers use the tools of the trade. Training sessions explore state-of-the-art equipment and tools necessary in modern-day real estate appraisal. These include appraisal, mapping and comparison data reporting systems; hand-held distance meters; mapping or location-based analysis systems; and ultrasonic distance measuring devices. According to O*NET OnLine, trainees also learn about database user interface and query software, map creation applications and construction management software.
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References
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