Why become a Real Estate Appraiser?
posted in Become Appraiser |Thinking it is a bad time to start a new career in Real Estate? Does the Real Estate Meltdown worry you that there will be no appraisal work? I am here to tell you I am making more than ever completing bank owned property appraisals for all the major lenders!
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I love being a real estate appraiser and hope to become a Certified General Appraiser within the next few years so I can start appraising Commercial Properties as well.
A real estate appraiser is ofter referred to as “the eyes and ears of the lender”, making them responsible for obtaining an estimate of market value based on comparable sales within the market area of the subject. If you are honest and ethical, a good problem solver and are self motivated, you can do very well being an appraiser.
This blog is for people interested in becoming an appraiser and also to help Appraiser Trainees find out what it takes to find a mentor and what you might experience when trying to find a mentor to help you gain experience and complete your 2000 hours of work experience to become a fully licensed real estate appraiser. The hardest part at this point is finding a mentor that will be willing to train you for your work experience. If you have a friend in the industry and are willing to work for free, then you have an advantage.
Preliminary results from a nationwide survey by the Appraisal Institute indicate that 34% of appraisers had gross incomes of $100,000+ with 7% of those earning $150,000 to $200,000 and 9% earned $200,000+. Another 13% earned between $80,000 to $100,000. There is a lot of money to be made.
In Southern California, most appraisers charge between $300-$400 for a simple / tract home like appraisal. Lately I have been doing between 7-10 tract home like appraisals a week, plus some more complex appraisals, with a fee of $500 – $1500 each. You can see that this ads up very quickly!!!
I went from barely able to pay my bills, working 80+ hours a week, to making well over $10,000 a month and setting my own hours as a Real Estate Appraiser!!!
By the end of 2009 I hope to have a new record year with over $200,000 in appraisals completed!!!
LOOKING TO GET RICH QUICK?
If you are looking for another get rich quick scheme, this is not for you. This is a professional career that can lead you to financial freedom and incredible wealth! How many people do you know personally that became rich quickly, with little work and without spending a small fortune in educational expenses?
BECOMING AN APPRAISER CHANGED MY LIFE
If you have tried making money online and have gotten nowhere, I know how you feel!!! I finally made the right decision that changed my life!
I spent over 7 years trying to make a decent living online. After thousands of hours of wasted time, living check to check, working all day and night in front of my computer, spending little free time with friends and family, I finally made the decision to change. Don’t get me wrong; I was making some money, but not quite enough to pay the bills or go on a vacation. I thought my working condition was better than getting a dead end crappy job working 40 hours a week and reporting to some lame boss. But I just was not getting anywhere. I was renting a very small house, had a kid on the way and was selling my wife’s car to make ends meet. I had a marketing degree, but entry level jobs were paying only $10-$15 an hour.
A friend said I should look in to becoming an appraiser. It sounded good to me, I was dying to get out of the house and try something new! 3 short years later, I now work part-time, own 2 homes, invest in real estate and make well over $150,000 a year. I set my own hours, spend lots of time with friends and family and still have plenty of time left over to play with all my toys!!!
By the way, if you know anything about the Internet, you are already one step above the competition. I get more than 50% of my orders right off the Internet! At the same time I highly doubt that 5% of the appraisers in my area even have a web site!
Going from computers to appraising was very easy for me. Not only was I sick of working inside all the time, but I also found that it was incredibly easy for me to learn the software packages and online data resources. I am also a fast typist and make few errors, giving me more free time! After getting started doing appraisals, I built my first web site for the appraisal business and quickly learned how to make it the top ranked appraisal web site in Google. This is an ideal profession for computer savvy people looking to make the big bucks.
What is an Appraisal?
A real estate appraisal is performed by a licensed or certified appraiser who develops an opinion of value based upon the highest and best use of the subject property. The highest and best use practice is to determine the value of the land as a vacant property without any improvements. The improvements then are given value depending on the buildings and any additional on site improvements. To determine the highest and best use are based on the four parts to include if the value estimate is physically possible, appropriate for the parcel, legally feasible (due to zoning, etc.), and economically feasible (if the improvements to the site would not cost more than the final estimate of value).
Appraisals are to be provided for a specific client and completed by an appraiser with ample experience in completing the requested appraisal. The appraiser must have experience or be able to obtain the experience to provide the final appraisal report. The appraiser must also be able to define the use of the appraisal in terms of what type of value is to be developed in the appraisal, i.e. market value, condemnation value, quick sale value, etc. Most of the appraisals that are required to be completed by an appraiser is often reported on a standardized form like the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. The majority of the appraisals you will be asked to complete are for purchase transactions, refinances and for estate purposes which can all be completed on the standard Uniform Residential Appraisal Report.
There are minimum appraisal standards and qualifications are provided by The Appraisal Foundation which is chartered by Congress. In additon, The Appraisal Standards board periodically publishes the Uniform Standard of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which provides the minimum development and reporting standards that an appraisal/appraiser must meet. The appraisal Qualifications Board which is also administered by The Appraisal Foundation is responsible for setting the minimum qualification for appraisers to become licensed and certified. The AQB board is responsible for establishing the minimum education, testing, and experience requirements for a trainee to become a lecensed or certified appraiser.
There are some new requirements adopted in February 2004 by the AQB that became effective Jan 1, 2008 that include increased requirements for education, experience, and a new Uniform State Appraiser Examination.
AQB Minimum Real Property Appraiser Qualifying Criteria
(Effective January 1, 2008)
OREA Basic Education College Level Experience
License Levels Requirements Requirements
Trainee (AT) 150 Hours N/A N/A
Residential (AL) 150 Hours N/A 2,000 Hours
Residential (AR) 200 Hours Associate Degree* 2,500 Hours
Certified General(AG) 300 Hours Bachelors Degree** 3,000 Hours
AT Trainees must be supervised by a AR or AG appraiser under the new criteria. The supervisor can not supervise more than three trainees at one time when issuing experience hours to trainees. A licensed appraiser without an AR or AG license can no longer mentor trainees.
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