*advice Wanted: I Want To Become An Appraiser....

[Keev]

Hello, I have been looking for a career since graduating from a 4 year university in Southern California. majored in Marketing and Demographics, during school and still now I have worked online for the past 4 years, as well as bartended 2 nights a week to make things work. Lately with the economy taking a dump and real estate markets hitting highs and rates are almost as lowas they can go. I have spoke with a regualr at the bar who, good head on his shoulders and he said what about doing what I do, appraiser. Well I went over to his place and sat down with him to fix his computer and got on the topic and gots me asking myself is this for me.

I havea passion for real estate in a investers standpoint, as well as an appraisers. I feel they go hand in hand down the line. But my questions are geared for long term growth in this field.

Will appraisers still be around when the real estate bubble bursts? or when rates go back up? Of coarse they will be around but will they still have good income? This is a biggie for me.. Last thing I need is to get in a career and have it tank and be looking for a career again.


Next I have researched taking the appraiser classes and found http://www.appraiserlicense.com/

From what I understand the process is 1 month for the class, wait a month or longer to get your testing info, take the test, wait again for a couple monthes get your liceanse as a trainee and get going.

If i understand this right after the 1st year / hours You reach the second level, and from there you can go up again a couple levels. At what point does my degree come into effect? If I remember right the guy I was talking to sai if you dont have a degree you can only get so many accredidations. Beyond a pointa degree was needed.


Liceanse transfers: Currently I am located in California, and the girlfriend is back in Philidelphia right now becuase her family decided to jump back there. Since allied schools ie the palce i would take the classes is not accreddited by Pennslyvania would i have to repeat the whole process? Or is there a transfer i could put in for or something ?

Hmmmm some other ones


What is an average appraisers income these days... or should i say without these crazy interest rates. The guy i know was claiming 85k lately with only second level status whatever its called.


If I do this I would like to eventually own a appraiser business and have a couple appraisers under me.... How do I get to this point?


I hope I get some good feedback.....

thisshould help alot of new faces get an idea of what they are getting into.

Kevin
[email protected]

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Newbies

Look in here. This forum has answers to most of your questions for the reading.

If I do this I would like to eventually own a appraiser business and have a couple appraisers under me.... How do I get to this point?

It's a long hard road. :mrgreen:

 

[Keev]

Liceanse transfers: Currently I am located in California, and the girlfriend is back in Philidelphia right now becuase her family decided to jump back there. Since allied schools ie the palce i would take the classes is not accreddited by Pennslyvania would i have to repeat the whole process? Or is there a transfer i could put in for or something ?


anyone wanna help me break i down point for point? I would really appreciate it

 

[Dee Dee]

Keev,

The class time is easy, pretty much a no-brainer. The hard part is that you have to work under a licensed appraiser until you reach the required hours (2000 hrs., I believe) as an apprentice before you can qualify to re-test for your next license level. Most of the new appraisers that I've talked to don't feel comfortable enough to go it alone with only 2000 hours experience, the learning curve is far greater than what you might think, and once you leave from under your mentor's wing you'll have to start from scratch finding your own clients and establishing your own business.

Finding a licensed appraiser that is willing to be your mentor and supervise you can be very difficult, and the pay for the first couple of years (you'll be on a fee split with your mentor) is normally around poverty level if you're working full time. It usually takes an appraiser at least 5 or 6 years to get up to a nice income, but the odds are about 1 out of 10 wannabes who make it that far.

As Lee advised, please read through the various threads in the Newbies/Wannabe's section of the forum. This will give you a good idea what to expect and probably answer most of your questions.

As to the future of the appraisal business....we spend quite a bit of time debating that question, and it seems that the general consensus is that the biz is going to slow down quite a bit as refi's slow down and the housing market stabilizes. How long that might last is anyone's guess.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Keev]

anyone have an idea about interstate liceanse transfers ?

 

[David Bodtcher]

Keev,
Once you become a licenced or certified appraiser, California has reciprocal agreements with other states in which your license can be transfered. Check out california government OREA web site, they will list the states they have an agreement with.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Would recommend you go to the Department of Regulatory Agencies website for California. Look under real estate and then appraisal. You might be required to test in your new state should you move there permanently. Good luck.

 

[Verne Hebert]

Go to work for an assessors office. You get health insurance and some days off with pay. Work there for a couple of years and begin doing your own deals. When you don't need it anymore--move on.

If you find a crystal ball. Call me. I want to borrow it.

Good Luck!

 

[walt kirk]

I would suggest that you contact the PA board, I would assume that a CA license could be transfered to PA but you should check first. As to your question about the need for appraisers after the bubble breaks, I think that there will be a greater need for appraisers to handle the bankrupcy, forclosure and REO cases which will be the result of the break.

 

[DavidBrown]

I have to admit the idea of working at the Assessors office seems like a good idea. It seems that those positions are even more rare than getting an Apprentice position. Any thoughts???