Some interesting ASC licensing stats for 2025

[Zoe]

More than technology. Those with an agenda ignore the pernicious influence of AMC’s in the formerly viable fee appraisal business.

That is what lobbyist get you.

 

[George Hatch]

More than technology. Those with an agenda ignore the pernicious influence of AMC’s in the formerly viable fee appraisal business.

I would argue the combination of technology and the legally mandated reduction in the number of points-of-purchase enabled the AMC users to exploit their increased access to the larger number of SFR appraisers.

(More supply + less demand during a slow RE market) * easier mass shopping = crab bucket competition and lower fees.​

The CGs can be considered the control group. Same technology and the same easy shopping for fee and the same prohibition against using MB-engaged appraisals. The only difference was the lack of gross oversupply for the lenders and AMCs to exploit, despite the technology making it easier for them to shop for fees. The CG fees still dropped via competition but not enough to starve any of them out of business. As demonstrated in the numbers: 3489 in 2001 reduced to 3174 in 2018. Barely -9% and at least some of that might be primarily due to age, not starvation.

In yr2000 fee appraisers made cold calls and sent faxes to individual loan originators. Contacts maintained in a rolodex. Calls received on an answering machine or by a live admin asst. Or on a beeper. It was one step up from going door to door. The internet, email and the online databases of appraiser contacts changed all that. The inefficiency of selling appraisal services in person was always going to be outcompeted in the market by the increased efficiencies of using email and portals. That much was inevitable no matter what.

Then DF amplified the effects of an internet-enabled marketplace by reducing the majority of the eligible purchasers of appraisals to just the lenders and their designated AMC lackeys. Appraisers are now marketing to maybe 1000 potential buyers instead of 100,000 outside brokers.

We can say that DF didn't have to happen, and that fee appraisers could still be free to sell appraisals door to door but the impetus for DF was the same as the impetus for FIRREA wherein the regulated lenders were prohibited from using appraisals that were engaged or controlled by the outside and in-house loan originators. DF just brought the SFR trade under similar restrictions that had already existed for many years on the FRT side.

 

[glenn walker]

Now the question begs how many in California are say 65 to 70 and not really working but waiting for license to expire?

I know more guys over 60 than under and the California VA panel look and appear to be 70 plus when i meet them at a property. i was afraid they may fall down the stairs or die inside then i gotta drag their body out so i don't have a stigmatized property. Lmao

 

[George Hatch]

When I was teaching live classes we had a couple VA appraisers who were literally toting their oxygen bottles and being driven around by a younger family member. And a few of the reviewers, too.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Lots of 2 and 3 license appraisers are border appraisers. I license in 2 states and do more work in OK than my home state. Above 4 you are a specialist or an AMC reviewer I bet.

Or AMC appraiser for hybrids.

 

[CGinMN]

Great work. I tried doing this a few months ago but quickly found out I don’t have the database skills. You are missing Texas in the top 10. 60,000 appraisers is a lot less than the often cited 80,000 number. It would be nice if the ASC database had cleaner data to work with. Even they don’t know how many appraisers there are, I have asked,

 

[Alsie35]

I decided to pull down the ASC appraiser licensing data which has exactly 91,291 records and analyze them. As you all are aware of by now, government data is really messy and varies wildly. So I converted the CSV into SQL and spent some time deduplicating and cleaning it up then splitting into appraisers and licenses (as many are licensed in multiple states). The data is nowhere near perfect, but thought y'all would still find it interesting:

General Statistics​

• Total Appraisers: 61,379
• Total Licenses: 91,273
• Average Licenses per Appraiser: 1.49

License Distribution​

• Certified Residential: 44,516 (48.77% of all licenses)
• Certified General: 40,225 (44.07% of all licenses)
• Licensed Residential: 6,532 (7.16% of all licenses)

Multiple Licenses​

• Appraisers with Multiple Licenses: 12,582 (20.5% of all appraisers)
• License Count Distribution:
  • 1 license: 48,797 appraisers (79.5%)
  • 2 licenses: 7,654 appraisers (12.5%)
  • 3 licenses: 2,227 appraisers (3.6%)
  • 4 licenses: 894 appraisers (1.5%)
  • 5+ licenses: 1,807 appraisers (2.9%)
  • Maximum licenses for a single appraiser: 51 (4 appraisers have this many)

Geographic Distribution​

• Top 10 States by Appraiser Count:
  1. California (CA): 6,686
  2. Florida (FL): 4,653
  3. New York (NY): 2,287
  4. Illinois (IL): 2,242
  5. North Carolina (NC): 2,159
  6. Georgia (GA): 2,143
  7. Pennsylvania (PA): 1,989
  8. Ohio (OH): 1,950
  9. Colorado (CO): 1,881

How many active licenses did you find in TX? I was surprised not to see TX in your top 10. Or is there a mistake afoot? There's no way TX is not in the top 10.

Edit: I found an article from 2019 stating there were 5252 active appraisers in TX.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I would argue the combination of technology and the legally mandated reduction in the number of points-of-purchase enabled the AMC users to exploit their increased access to the larger number of SFR appraisers.

(More supply + less demand during a slow RE market) * easier mass shopping = crab bucket competition and lower fees.​

The CGs can be considered the control group. Same technology and the same easy shopping for fee and the same prohibition against using MB-engaged appraisals. The only difference was the lack of gross oversupply for the lenders and AMCs to exploit, despite the technology making it easier for them to shop for fees. The CG fees still dropped via competition but not enough to starve any of them out of business. As demonstrated in the numbers: 3489 in 2001 reduced to 3174 in 2018. Barely -9% and at least some of that might be primarily due to age, not starvation.

In yr2000 fee appraisers made cold calls and sent faxes to individual loan originators. Contacts maintained in a rolodex. Calls received on an answering machine or by a live admin asst. Or on a beeper. It was one step up from going door to door. The internet, email and the online databases of appraiser contacts changed all that. The inefficiency of selling appraisal services in person was always going to be outcompeted in the market by the increased efficiencies of using email and portals. That much was inevitable no matter what.

Then DF amplified the effects of an internet-enabled marketplace by reducing the majority of the eligible purchasers of appraisals to just the lenders and their designated AMC lackeys. Appraisers are now marketing to maybe 1000 potential buyers instead of 100,000 outside brokers.

We can say that DF didn't have to happen, and that fee appraisers could still be free to sell appraisals door to door but the impetus for DF was the same as the impetus for FIRREA wherein the regulated lenders were prohibited from using appraisals that were engaged or controlled by the outside and in-house loan originators. DF just brought the SFR trade under similar restrictions that had already existed for many years on the FRT side.

The difference for CG is not the supply or tech. The only real difference is banks holding the paper and banks not holding the paper. That difference is reflected in engagement practices.

 

[Non Sequitur]

When I was teaching live classes we had a couple VA appraisers who were literally toting their oxygen bottles and being driven around by a younger family member. And a few of the reviewers, too.

We’ve always been a profession full of people at retirement age, here’s a photo on eBay:

 

[Non Sequitur]

Press photo from 1972, new IFA officers: