Real estate appraiser as a side job or not worth it?

[JJA]

I’m looking for some honest advice and opinions to see if this would be the right profession for me to get into. I work in a family catering business and enjoy it but I was looking at maybe venturing into becoming a real estate appraiser as well. I live in MN so the winter season is always a lot slower when it comes to catering because people just aren’t planning as many events, so I figured an appraiser job would help keep me busy during the slower time. From what I’ve read it’s a profession that can be done part time. I like to keep busy so I wouldn’t mind balancing both careers if that’s possible to do. I’ve always had an interest in real estate so I think I would find it fun and interesting. Is this something worse pursuing? I’m aware of the coursework and training needed. A licensed residential appraiser is the highest level I’d shoot for. A few questions I have:

Once you complete the coursework and become a trainee how hard is it to find a certified appraiser to work under to complete the 2,000 training hours?

Is the training all done physically with the appraiser at an office or is a lot of it done at home on my own time?

Would it be pretty easy to get hired on as a licensed residential appraiser at a company?

Are most of you driving into an office everyday or can a lot of the reports be completed at home?

When working for someone can I truly treat it as a part time job or isn’t that possible? Online makes it sound like that but I don’t know what to believe.

Thanks for the help, I figured this would be a good place for honest info. I know the main goal people have for this profession is to work independently but I’m more interested in working for a company as a side job to keep me busy. On the other hand I’m wondering if it would be worth it to go that route.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Once you complete the coursework and become a trainee how hard is it to find a certified appraiser to work under to complete the 2,000 training hours?

extremely difficult

Is the training all done physically with the appraiser at an office or is a lot of it done at home on my own time?

Both

Would it be pretty easy to get hired on as a licensed residential appraiser at a company?

Quite the opposite

Are most of you driving into an office everyday or can a lot of the reports be completed at home?

Depends upon who hires you but working at home is common

Online makes it sound like that but I don’t know what to believe.

You can trust on line advice (like this) about as far as you can throw it. Unless you know an appraiser who will help you I would not even start to begin a career as an appraiser-especially part time. It is a good 3 years work all in all then another couple to actually make money. And many banks require 3 years experience to even work for them. Getting "2000" hours of experience within the confines of a state board's rules might mean 5000 hours of actual time you spend. (Some states, for example, do not allow drive time to be included and most require a log of hours. If you did 100 appraisals and spent a day on each, but drive time was 1 hour to get comp photos, go to a courthouse or city office, if needed, and drive to inspect the property, you might only earn 6 or 7 hours "time".

 

[Trihard]

If by some miracle you do find a paid apprenticeship at an appraisal office they will most likely not want a part time appraiser since they are investing a lot of time and money into you. Appraising is a career that can pay very very well but it is not a side gig like flipping eggs at Denny's.

 

[JTip]

It is a great side job (PT) after grinding for a minimum of one decade full time.

Get certified, get clients, do several thousand reports, cherry pick your clients/assignments to maintain a PT/side job position. Yep, at least 10 years.

 

[Fernando]

The advices above are true. Homeowners would ask me how they can become appraisers because they think it's a easy money making job.
The hard part is getting the license especially the Certified one.
If I had to do it again, I would go into another field because I don't want to go through what the trainees have to go through.
However, once you get your license and have an idea what you're doing, appraising is a great for part time or full time.

It's your business and you can work as hard or easy as you want.
Bad part is working with lenders, my work level depends on the economy having its highs and lows and depending on what fees lenders willing to pay..
It was flexible when I was raising my children having to make appts around their schedule.
It's flexible in that as long as I can meet my overhead, I can continue appraising forever as long as I'm physically and mentally possible.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Given the circumstances you mentioned, setting up your own business is not likely a realistic option. The reason is that steady clients don't typically want to deal with a part timer that cannot provide steady services. It might be workable if you are affiliated with a firm, and they can funnel work to you.

 

[KYLECODY]

extremely difficult

Both

Quite the opposite

Depends upon who hires you but working at home is common

You can trust on line advice (like this) about as far as you can throw it. Unless you know an appraiser who will help you I would not even start to begin a career as an appraiser-especially part time. It is a good 3 years work all in all then another couple to actually make money. And many banks require 3 years experience to even work for them. Getting "2000" hours of experience within the confines of a state board's rules might mean 5000 hours of actual time you spend. (Some states, for example, do not allow drive time to be included and most require a log of hours. If you did 100 appraisals and spent a day on each, but drive time was 1 hour to get comp photos, go to a courthouse or city office, if needed, and drive to inspect the property, you might only earn 6 or 7 hours "time".

Come on Terrel. Throw him a bone, hes not in Arkansas and future competition, hes in Minnesota..)

You are right though. Tough to get going in it, no work unless you want to be certified. Very hard to find a mentor as people don't want to train future competition.

To the OP, that being said...it would be a great pt job if you can put in the time and get to that point. I wouldn't discourage you from taking a shot if you have a long timeline. If it doesn't work you're just out some education money and time..Worth a shot but no guarantees anywhere. Good luck.

 

[George Hatch]

The complication in the plan is the assumption that the market for appraisal services is steady or predictable. Turning an assignment down when times are good can sometimes result in getting passed over during hard times in favor of the competing appraisers who did take that assignment when they were busy.

Balancing and stabilizing your work flow is much trickier than it looks.

 

[KYLECODY]

If by some miracle you do find a paid apprenticeship at an appraisal office they will most likely not want a part time appraiser since they are investing a lot of time and money into you. Appraising is a career that can pay very very well but it is not a side gig like flipping eggs at Denny's.

Do you ever wonder if a short order cook explaining his job says "Being a part time cook is great but its not a side gig like a real estate appraiser?"

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Come on Terrel. Throw him a bone, hes not in Arkansas

OK. With the PAREA program, one may be able to qualify quicker than traditional means. Secondly, classes, especially on line, are pretty cheap. So you can get the preliminaries fairly low cost. The software? for you own benefit, Homputer is the cheapest and not bad. I drove for many miles to get my initial classes, had to pay motel bills, etc, but now you go online and take courses. And, you don't need to take the courses first, if you can find someone to let you tag along and get the experience. The rest is difficult. As for Arkansas, NW Arkansas is growing fast and would be above average in available opportunities to find a mentor and experience. I get folks calling me all the time.