Appraisal Education

[Raven59]

Hi Raven,

What do you mean by 75/25?

In the initial ten years of my career, my expenses amounted to 30-40%, mainly due to my inefficiency. However, I also invested considerably in my tools and education. My efficiency improved as I gained more experience, and my expenses decreased to about 25%. Nonetheless, I continued to invest in my education, and by refining my clients and work type, I could maintain a consistent level of expenses of around 25% for an extended period.

 

[Functional Obs]

Nice meeting you Functional Obs.

Thanks for the comment. I knew someone had to be thriving in the industry. Can't all be bad.

I did my first bank appraisal of the year on Monday, a cash-out refi. I can't disagree with the Forum that the banking world is slow, but that's not my gig anymore, anyway. I don't even know why I got it, tbh, I bid $1200. It's waterfront, plus I think they had another appraisal already that didn't work out.

Left and right, I've got divorces, estates, cash purchases, off-market sales, pre-listings, and weird stuff like diminution in value or the opposite (just did one for the contributory value of an elevator for an IRS write-off yesterday) ... I've got one today, an estate, Saturday, which really pisses my wife off

Private deals are where it's at. They pay in advance, and the urgency is way less. Nobody needs a divorce report by Friday.

My secret: Effective Report Writing: A Guide for Appraisers and Reviewers (Appraisal Institute).

Write like you know what the f--- you're talking about, not like you're about to get sued. Use a thesaurus once in a while and write in the active voice. Spend 10 extra minutes proofing when you're done. It's that simple.

You also gotta go out and get the work--for that, I recommend blogging. And learn your way around the AI Form 100.05. It's so much better than the GP.

Nice to meet you too.

 

[Tom D]

become a dog groomer. they now can come to your house, no office expense. and pure cash at door. try getting an appointment. like calling a doctor's office.

 

[David S]

The thing that gets me though, is that I have spoken to a few local appraisers about possibly training under them and each one of them has told me that they are too busy and don't have the time to train a trainee. If work loads are low or slow across the board, this must be some BS.

That's lie. Currently, 90% appraises are not busy. Let me share with you something: Last year two my friends got trainee license and asked me for supervisor referral. I gave all my three mentors contact to them. But all mentors refused to take them. I asked them why not taking trainee like you did for me? "You no need to drive far away or drive up to the mountain, right? The new folks can help you some labor work, right?" They said. No, the thing is different. Before HVCC, it is appraiser contacted loan agent to get appraisal order. Like I contacted lots of local loan agents, when they need appraisal, they will send the order to me, I bring it to the mentor / supervisor, then, I did partial work, like start with 1004 page one, inspection, late on do the comps on my own, draft report etc. So I bring the business to them. Now, all the appraisal orders are either from lender directly or AMC to the appraisers. Almost no lender or AMC will take trainee on the appraisal panel. So, if they take trainee, like they give you the business or trainee eat them some business. It is not fair not pay trainee even a dime, right? Say $50 to compensation your mileage for the inspection. That mean supervisor lost $50 revenue per order. Especially, these days, the appraisal volume is so low, appraisal fee is so little, no supervisor can afford to loss this $50, right?.

So, one way is to join some big appraisal firm. They might have lots of work load from residential, commercial or even some non lending appraisal. Even helping them do some labor work, compile the files, documents, running to city hall etc., you can earn some training hours.
Good luck!

 

[Surf Cat]

Hi Surf Cat, nice to meet you.

What is the average AMC paying for an appraisal job and what is the turn around time?

Appraisal work is attractive to me because the flexibility with schedule. You can work as hard or as little as you want. A lot of those other occupations you mentioned are full time gigs, and that's not really what I'm looking for. I also like the self employed aspect of appraisal.

Vooman, I'm currently not on any AMC panels. I got off the Farris Wheel like a kid who ate too much cotton candy and barfed. I just couldn't handle the silly demands and revisions which were already covered in the report for $250 to $300. We're talking about property valued in the million + area. Too much risk for too little pay. Plus the turn times for complex properties such as these were unreasonable....which of course dings your "standing" and or tier for getting more work.

If you think that's "attractive" well...knock yourself out. My best time appraising was for mortgage brokers... comp checks and being pressed to hit a number didn't bother me as much as AMC's do.

You can be self employed as an electrician, appliance repair tech, handyman, or dog groomer as someone else mentioned.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[Fernando]

Decades ago, it was more profitable to be an appraiser. There were less requirements with no need of 1004MC, UADs, ANSIs, and such nonsense taking up our time.
And fees were higher after taking into account for inflation.
Today, old timers like me have not kept up with the technological advances in completing appraisals faster.
If I take on a trainee, the trainee is more adaptable in using newest methods and possibly at lower appraisal fee.
The trainee is a threat/competitor unless I'm near retirement. And with lower appraisal fees now, it doesn't make sense to take on a trainee.

 

[VOOman]

having been a r.e. broker, built and rehad homes it was a natural move to be an appraiser. but i also stared a very long time ago. if you like r.e. there are many avenues to go there, but i would not go into appraising at this time. it is coming to a buggy whip ending. to be honest, i also think college was a waste of money, but had a fun time.

Hi Tom,

I have to try it out and see how I like it. I appreciate the advice though. If after doing it for a year, I feel the same way, I will pivot.

 

[VOOman]

If house appraising, then it is feast and famine, have a backup plan. The need however is for complex property valuation. Commercial bank work, and boom times are coming for estate appraisals as us baby boomers return to room temperature. Ag appraisers are very busy. I'm in the middle of 3 solid months without a real day off. And I am 73. I want to slow down. This year I've done everything from development land to cell towers, rural houses, large land tracts over 1,000 acres. I've done over-built property, and dozer bait. Agri businesses to exotic animal farms. And a lot of those were estates. And my specialty is mineral rights having worked for 20 years as a geologist. And part of that was valuation of minerals for banks during the S & L crisis.

Hi Terrel, nice meeting you.

Thanks for the perspective of commercial appraisal and how its still in demand. That might be a good route for me to take after I get all my training and experience in.

 

[VOOman]

Decades ago, it was more profitable to be an appraiser. There were less requirements with no need of 1004MC, UADs, ANSIs, and such nonsense taking up our time.
And fees were higher after taking into account for inflation.
Today, old timers like me have not kept up with the technological advances in completing appraisals faster.
If I take on a trainee, the trainee is more adaptable in using newest methods and possibly at lower appraisal fee.
The trainee is a threat/competitor unless I'm near retirement. And with lower appraisal fees now, it doesn't make sense to take on a trainee.

HI Fernando, nice meeting you.

Thanks for the candid response about why existing appraisers would not want to train a trainee. It makes sense. Home of these requirements that you are speaking of 1004MC, UAD's, ANSI's, etc. What are these? Can you elaborate a little bit for me?

 

[VOOman]

In the initial ten years of my career, my expenses amounted to 30-40%, mainly due to my inefficiency. However, I also invested considerably in my tools and education. My efficiency improved as I gained more experience, and my expenses decreased to about 25%. Nonetheless, I continued to invest in my education, and by refining my clients and work type, I could maintain a consistent level of expenses of around 25% for an extended period.

Got it. 75% net profit margin is really good. What is your appraising specialty?