Any Suggestions On How To Find A Mentor?

[WillWorkForTraining]

What? The AQB has greatly REDUCED the educational requirements to become an appraiser! It is easier now than it has been in over 10 years!. Easier than ever to get in but you still have to fins a supervisor that NEEDS HELP and has enough money to PAY the TRAINEE.

Correct!! And if you can’t get mentorship hours all of that means NOTHING.

 

[WillWorkForTraining]

I agree here on the cost. And I’ve said in the past that there should be options for appraisers to offer internship type of opportunities that are basically people working for free. As for your time, you should be allowed to count it against CPE.

And I get none of those things exist. But when I’ve presented these options in the past as a pure creative thinking exercise it basically boils down to you not wanting true market competition.

 

[ucbruin]

Correct!! And if you can’t get mentorship hours all of that means NOTHING.

That's why I suggest working for a large lender....
Large lender should have sufficient appraisal volume for your required hours....
And you'll have the opportunity to learn from several appraisers...
Unless everyone works from home instead of a central office....

 

[Bob Ipock]

Correct!! And if you can’t get mentorship hours all of that means NOTHING.

You just don't get it. The vast majority of appraisers work alone and do not want or need a trainee and can't afford it. You want to force people to train people. The money is no longer here in residential appraising. The person that wants to open a restaurant has likely worked years in the business. The same for a mechanic, plumber, attorney, electrician and a thousand other job and professions. You are not going to change he trainee program.That will be done by the AQB. If you can't accept that you have to play by the rules in place then you will be unhappy. From my point of view you will never make it a an appraiser. You seem to think you know it all, you want to fight the system before you know anything about this business and you are going to argue with a mentor on every point or you will ignore their instructions and advice. The little piece of advice is that you never tell a prospective mentor that you are there "to get the hours". That may be true but don't be stupid enough to say it You are NOT a trainee and either change it on your profile or I will request it get changed. Wishing you great success even though you don't need the money

 

[bnmappraisal]

I read the FTC snip and again, won't comment directly about it

I will say based on your post (#60)

you don’t have to agree upon a price if you agree upon limiting supply...

I, again, definitely disagree with your comment above

 

[WillWorkForTraining]

You are not going to change he trainee program.That will be done by the AQB.

And I’ll say this once again: Don’t be so sure what I can or cannot do, I haven’t started yet.

 

[WillWorkForTraining]

I read the FTC snip and again, won't comment directly about it

I will say based on your post (#60)

I, again, definitely disagree with your comment above

That’s fine you can disagree, but the FTC agrees. They state in that snip that limiting supply is the same as setting a price. If you don’t agree that appraisers are purposely limiting supply, well that’s where I guess we disagree.

 

[Digger88]

I appreciate your honesty and definitely can appreciate it. I honestly do wish you the best of luck, especially since you are definitely not my "competition" being 3,000 mi away! (joke)

I guess the one thing that jumped out at me in your post is (my bold) Don't take this personally, as you are definitely NOT the first/only person I've heard/read this from (both in person and on this forum).

But a statement like this, personally to me as a full time, career appraiser ... is annoying to hear. This isn't just a "part time" gig and definitely isn't for everyone. I've said it before and will say it again. You have to WANT to become an appraiser. Believe me, I hear it from friends of mine that I've known for years. Many people have NO IDEA what it takes, let alone what we do. And that's fine! I sort of prefer it that way. I still have friends I've known for over 10 years that think I'm a home inspector (I am not, btw). I tell/correct them all the time that I am not, but to them (general public) ???

Something I would tell any person who thinks they would like to be an appraiser: It's NOT easy, it takes a lot of dedication and should not be looked at as simply a "part time gig" (remember, your name/license is on the line every time you sign a report)

exactly! part time, LOL! i go months at a time working every single day to keep my clients happy or they go to someone else. you want part time? be a realtor. i am.

 

[WillWorkForTraining]

Fewer clients = fewer hours no? Don’t see why I couldn’t take half the clients that you are and then thus put the same amount of quality and effort and have that be half the hours....

Thought you guys would be good at logic, what am I missing here?

 

[George Hatch]

The way I would put it is that there is no demand in the market for more appraisers. We already have an oversupply in most areas - PARTICULARLY in Calif. Meaning, we need more incumbent appraisers to die, retire, quit, or get starved out. And that's without anyone being so shortsighted as to take on a trainee who would add to the oversupply. They may make money in the short run but in the long run they're basically training someone who will directly compete with them until they retire. That's not a big deal when there's plenty of work to go around, but when times are tough that declining demand is getting divided by more heads. Which is how 1/3 of the SFR appraisers got starved out between 1992-1998, and again in 2008-2016.

If you can find an appraiser who's sufficiently greedy, foolish and shortsighted to take you on then that's your way in. Or if you have a family member or significant other or your dad's best friend wants to do you a solid. But as far as most appraisers wanting to take someone on but can't because of the rules? You basically couldn't pay most of them enough to do that. Least of all with free CE or waiving licensing fees.

Appraisers will take more people in/when the fees and the workload start justifying it, which I don't see happening on a significant scale in Calif for at least the next 10 years. I just talked to one appraiser who told me the AMC he's working for just cut their fees back to $250 for an SFR appraisal. There's no money in that fee structure to support a trainee. But I'm pretty sure that will change once the prevailing fees start with a 5 or a 6.