MAI - Is it worth it?

[tsiegel]

Unless one is a total nimrod and totally incompetent, you will be busy now as a CG. The MAI won't necessarily bring you more work but certainly different work. Upgrading to the designation should result in an upgrading of the type of work you are solicited for.

This is the best selling point for the designation that I have heard (read) so far.

 

[PL1957]

Unless one is a total nimrod and totally incompetent, you will be busy now as a CG. The MAI won't necessarily bring you more work but certainly different work. Upgrading to the designation should result in an upgrading of the type of work you are solicited for.

I've done a fair amount of court work both before and after getting my MAI. Before designation, I'd have to spend a significant amount of time being asked about my qualifications before being accepted as an expert. After getting the MAI, the questions stopped and the stipulation of expertise started.

 

[Point Pleasant]

I'm a recently designated MAI. I work in a large U.S. market and I've been here since graduating college in 2004. My first job was w/ an MAI w/ a small shop (just him and his wife). He did primarily litigation work, though occasionally he'll do some other things. I worked for him for about two years before moving on to a small national firm (if that exists). The workload there was almost solely production bank work. I now work for one of the large national firms.

Was it worth it for me to get the MAI? I'm not really sure. The way I look at it, no bank is going to hire a non-MAI firm for any kind of large project. But as long as the boss has an MAI, he can bring the work in and other appraisers can complete the work. This is typical of national production shops, as I'm sure everyone is aware. It doesn't matter to my boss if I have an MAI or not. I'm not really going to bring in much additional work that he couldn't already bring in. So as long as I want to work for an MAI firm for the rest of my life, I don't need to be designated.

I have frequently made the argument that my bosses haven't really wanted me to be designated. Sure, it adds some stature to their staff and they can say they have a few different MAI's working for them, etc. But it also empowers me. It probably makes me more difficult to deal with. I'm going to want more money, I'm going to have stronger opinions, I'm going to have something to say about how the younger appraisers are being trained, etc. So my bosses always encouraged me to take classes, take the comp, complete the demo and become designated. But I also thought they realized it wasn't in their best interest for me to actually get the designation. If I were running my own shop and had a few junior appraisers working for me, that's certainly how I would feel.

So was it worth it for me to get it? I don't know. If I wanted to go open my own shop, I would absolutely need it. No one is going to hire me without it. If I did get any jobs w/o the designation, they would kill me in review and find a reason not to hire me again. If you don't want to run your own shop, I would say you don't need it. But I'm sure most people on this site are running their own shops.

So what do you want to do w/ your career? If you're running your own shop, or you're planning to in the future, I would think you'd have to have it. You certainly would in a large market like mine.

 

[tsiegel]

If I wanted to go open my own shop, I would absolutely need it. No one is going to hire me without it. If I did get any jobs w/o the designation, they would kill me in review and find a reason not to hire me again.

I opened my own shop, don't have a designation and have plenty of work. The reviewers like me and my work and I am asked to do larger projects in this market regularly.

That being said, this is not a large market. I still challenge most of these points as seeming speculative and fear based.

 

[Point Pleasant]

I'm telling you what its like in my market. I'm not speculating on anything. I can guarantee you that no lending institution in my region is going to hire Joe Blow Appraiser (non designated) to appraise a downtown office building or a proposed festival shopping center. It's just not going to happen. Maybe this isn't the type of work you're looking for and maybe this isn't the work in your market. I hear ya. But that's my market.

 

[John Glass]

I spent a long time in a large market and about a year in a small market, so far. There is more competition in a larger growth oriented market. I still think the work product is the final determining factor in a success rate.

The designation will open more doors, allowing the appraiser to be more selective, but the work product will keep it open.