How Does a Real Estate Appraiser Spend a Workday?

General Duties

A real estate appraiser's workday will depend on the kind of license he holds. A licensed or certified appraiser can appraise any residential property regardless of value and some commercial properties up to a certain amount. A general appraiser is not limited by value and can appraise anything from a manufactured home to a shopping mall. Some states still have licensed appraisers, but others have discontinued this level and require certification. The requirements vary by state, but most require a set amount of state approved classes, state exam and an apprenticeship under a certified or general appraiser. All levels must take an exam to receive a license and take continuing education before renewal time, usually every two years. The appraiser's workday will also depend on whether he is employed or self-employed.

Self-employment

The self-employed appraiser must find her own work. Besides working on appraisals, her day may involve calling on banks, mortgage companies and any lending institutions that provide real estate loans. Along with marketing and advertising, she must attend to bookkeeping, invoicing, scheduling appointments and making collection calls if needed. She must take care of all her expenses like office equipment, licensing, continuing education classes, errors and omissions insurance, travel, multi-listing service (MLS), appraisal software, maps and even copies of court house receipts. Documentation is important for taxes and she will need to send in quarterly payments to the Internal Revenue Service. While these are not all a daily task, they factor in to the business.

Employment

The employed, or staff appraiser, is not usually encumbered by basic office procedures. He may even have his appointments set for him freeing him to focus just on appraising. While he will have a boss to answer to, he may not have to deal with the banks and real estate agents, saving him valuable time. Some employers provide their appraisers with cars and credit cards for business expense as well as pay all their education and licensing fees. Their computers and office equipment are provided. The employed appraiser doesn't make as much per appraisal, he may even be salaried, but it's possible he can come out even or ahead of the self-employed appraiser because of all the benefits.

The Inspection

Perhaps the most important part of the appraisal is the inspection. The lender or employer will tell the appraiser what kind of appraisal they need. A drive-by means she drives to the property and inspects what she can see from the road. A full appraisal will require her to go into the home and inspect it. She will check to see if everything is working properly, if there is any damage, measure square footage and sometimes measure individual rooms. She assesses the overall condition of the home and also makes note if there are exceptions that will affect the value. For example, granite counter-tops may help the value while only having one bathroom may hurt it. This will depend on the comparisons, also called "comps" and the neighborhood the home is in.

Completing the Report

Once the inspection is done, the appraiser will use a multi-listing service or court house records to find comparable homes. He will look for homes that are as close in age, size, neighborhood and price as he can. It will rarely be a perfect match so he has to make adjustments. For example, if the subject has a swimming pool and the comp doesn't, he determines the difference in value and makes an adjustment. After he has driven to all the comps and taken pictures, he'll return home or to the office and complete the report by entering all the photos and information into his appraisal software and determine a value for his subject.