Please tell me about your field if you are a real estate appraiser in FL?

Question

I am wondering about requirements. I read somewhere there are tests, and internships required. How hard is it to get an internship? Is the job worth all the requirements to get there?

Answer 1

You need 90 hours of core appraisal education, 15 hours of which must be the "Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice." That is 75 hours of core education, and 15 hours of USPAP. This is consistent with the Appraisal Foundation's Appraiser Qualifications Board requirement.

On completion of your education, you will need to complete 2,000 hours of work experience as a trainee under the supervision of a licensed appraiser before you can sit for the residential appraiser exam.

You should identify an appraiser who is willing to be your supervisor before you spend the money on appraisal courses. You can download a list of licensed appraisers in FL by going to the Appraisal Subcommittee website. At the site, there is a National Registry tab. After clicking the tab, select "custom" inquiry. This will bring you to a filter that will allow you to select licensed FL appraisers. Be sure you choose the "active" appraiser filter. The site then downloads the appraiser list into an Excel spreadsheet. Getting a supervisor can be harder than taking the classes and passing the exams.

On the Appraisal Subcommittee site, there is a tab for selecting state licensing offices. Click on FL's, and review the educational and experience requirements. Also, find a local school that offers the core education.

Appraisal trainees make money according to their agreement with their supervisor. Often it is a low wage or percent of appraisal fee. Once your licensed, appraisers make between $50,000 and $75,000 a year.

Appraisers get to arrange their schedules around family schedules, and can easily work from a home office.

Answer 2

You may want to place some calls to some licensed appraisers in your area to see if they'll share their thoughts on the field. Chat with them about the pros, cons, licensing options and requirements and what day-to-day work is like for the appraiser.

Regarding the education and experience, it depends on the license level you want to go for.

Registered Trainee Appraisers must fulfill 75 hours of education (15 of which must be ethics) and apply for a license with the State of Florida.

State Licensed Appraisers can appraise any non-complex 1-4 unit residential properties with a transaction value of less than $1,000,000. Most states require 90 hours of education (15 of which is ethics) and 2,000 hours of education (accumulated over a minimum of 2 years). After looking at Florida's appraiser requirements, it appears they do not offer this license level.

Certified Residential Appraisers can appraise all residential properties. The current requirement for Florida is 120 hours of education (15 of which must be ethics) and 2,500 hours of experience (accumulated over a minimum of 2 years). In addition, you must pass the Certified Residential examination and apply for a license with the State of Florida.

Certified General Appraisers can appraise all types of real estate. The current requirement for Florida is 180 hours of education (15 of which must be ethics) and 3,000 hours of experience (accumulated over a minimum of 2.5 years). In addition, you must pass the Certified General examination and apply for a license with the State of Florida.

If you're starting from scratch, you need to be aware that the requirements for real estate appraisers are changing nationwide effective January 1, 2008.

*Trainee: Education requirements will remain unchanged
*State Licensed: Education requirement will be increased to 150 hours
*Certified Residential: Education requirement will be increased to 200 hours, new college level requirement of an Associate Degree (or in lieu, 21 college semester hours in courses covering specified topics).
*Certified General: Education requiement will be increased to 300 hours, new college level requirement of a Bachelor Degree (or in lieu, 30 hours in courses covering specified topics).

For more information, I highly urge you to visit the following websites:

Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation
http://www.myflorida.com/dbpr/re/freab_welcome.shtml

Appraisal Foundation (2008 Education Changes)
(http://www.appraisalfoundation.org/s_appraisal/sec.asp?CID=98&DID=133)

Regarding the internships that you heard about, you will need to work under a licensed appraiser in order to obtain your required hours of experience. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of resources for Florida since I don't reside in that state. You could do a license search on the Florida Dept. of Business & Professional Regulation's webpage (https://www.myfloridalicense.com/licensing/wl11.jsp?SID=) to search for licensed appraisers in your area.

It may be hard to find someone willing to train...most appraisers that I know say that finding a mentor is by far the hardest part of getting their license. It takes a lot of time and energy to train someone to be an appraiser and the mentor can sometimes loose money on the endeavor. Many licensed appraisers out there are either unwilling or incapable of the task. The best you can do is send out letters and resumes to various appraisers in the area and hope for a response back. You may want to try focusing on appraisal firms versus appraisers who work solo...companies are more likely to take on trainees.

Best of luck!