How to Get a Career in Appraising
Working in the field of real estate appraising takes a significant amount of time and commitment. Thousands of hours of on-the-job training and work experience in addition to hundreds of hours of classroom training are required to earn appraisal licenses. You must also pass exams for each license you want and complete continuing-education courses each year.
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Instructions
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Earn a bachelor's degree, and take courses in finance, math, computer science, economics, real estate law, business and English to give you a good educational foundation for learning how to appraise. Many appraisers hold bachelor's degrees. Those that don't have a bachelor's hold at least an associate degree or 21 hours of college-level credit if they have the Certified Residential Real Property Appraiser certification.
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Complete an appraiser training course. These courses are available from a variety of organizations affiliated with real estate and appraisal, and many of them are available online. At least 15 hours must be in Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice. These standards are set forth by the Appraisal Standards Board of the Appraisal Foundation, an agency authorized by the United States Congress. Your state licensing agency will require a certain number of education hours before you can get a state appraiser's license. For example, if you want to get a Certified Residential Real Property Appraiser certification, you must have 200 hours of appraisal education.
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Work for an appraisal company to get on-the-job training and experience. You typically must have a minimum of 75 hours of appraisal education before you can find a job as a trainee. This is necessary to get your state appraisal license. If you want to earn the federal Certified General Real Property Appraiser credential, for example, you must have 3,000 hours of work experience that spans a minimum of 30 months.
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Apply for the licenses you need to practice in your state. You must have the federal licenses of Certified General Real Property Appraiser or a Certified Residential Real Property Appraiser credential in addition to a state Licensed Residential Real Property Appraiser credential, which both require you to take an exam. The state license requires 150 appraisal education hours and a minimum or 2,000 hours of work experience and job training lasting at least one year. You must pass an examination in your state to earn your state license as well. States also have other appraisal credentials you can earn, depending on the type and value of the properties you want to appraise.
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Earn the required amount of continuing education credits required for your particular licenses each year. In Colorado at time of publication, appraisers were required to complete 42 hours of continuing education every three years and the seven-hour USPAP course every other year. Any course you take for continuing education or for initial licensure must be approved by your state's appraisal licensing board.
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Join a regional or national appraiser organization. Being a designated member is a way to demonstrate your experience and education to clients and employers. You may have to have five to 10 years of education and experience to earn a designated member status. Trainees also can join appraisal organizations. The more education and experience you possess and the more knowledge you have of a specific real estate market, the higher the fees you can charge if you are an independent appraiser and the higher you can climb in appraisal companies.
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