Appraiser Trainee Education Requirements (CA)

[breezin]

I have an opportunity with a local agricultural appraisal firm to get my required experience hours as a trainee. The nature of their business will require me to have the Certified General Appraiser license. So I’m trying to figure out my best course of action to make this a reality. I plan to get the required education hours from the Appraisal Institute though a combination of online and classroom based courses.

However, I’m having trouble figuring out the requirements outlined by the California OREA. I was using a brochure linked from their website called (can't post links yet):

The Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria (Feb 2011)

Page 10 of this document listed the following requirements for Appraiser Trainee Classification:

Qualifying Education: As the prerequisite for application, an applicant must have completed 75 creditable class hours as specified in the required Core Curriculum Appendix . Additionally, applicants must pass the Core Curriculum examinations and pass the 15-Hour National USPAP Course and examination as part of the 75 creditable class hours

This seemed simple enough... knock out the 75 hours of basic training and get the Appraiser Trainee license. Then concurrently work on my experience hours and the remaining 225 hours of classes required for the General Appraiser License. Unfortunately, this information appears to be out of date as other areas of their website show this as the requirement:

Trainee License & Residential License (150 hours of education)
30 hours Basic Appraisal Principles
30 hours Basic Appraisal Procedures
15 hours The 15-hour National USPAP Course
15 hours Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use
15 hours Residential Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach
30 hours Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches
15 hours Residential Report Writing and Case Studies

Certified Residential License (200 hours of education)
30 hours Basic Appraisal Principles
30 hours Basic Appraisal Procedures
15 hours The 15-hour National USPAP Course
15 hours Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use
15 hours Residential Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach
30 hours Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches
15 hours Residential Report Writing and Case Studies
15 hours Statistics, Modeling and Finance
15 hours Advanced Residential Applications and Case Studies
20 hours Appraisal Subject Matter Electives.

Certified General License (300 hours of education)
30 hours Basic Appraisal Principles
30 hours Basic Appraisal Procedures
15 hours The 15-hour National USPAP Course
30 hours General Appraiser Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use
15 hours Statistics, Modeling and Finance
30 hours General Appraiser Sales Comparison Approach
30 hours General Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach
60 hours General Appraiser Income Approach
30 hours General Appraiser Report Writing and Case Studies
30 hours Appraisal Subject Matter Electives.

Now with my end game being the Certified General License I'm not seeing a logical course of action here. It seems that they have combined the education requirements of the Residential License as a prerequisite to getting your Trainee License. Once you get past the USPAP Course and the 2 Basic Appraisal courses that both the Residential and General Licenses have in common the requirements are not the same. For example the Trainee/Residential License requires a 15 hour Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use class. Yet, the General License requires a 30 hour General Appraiser Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use class. Looking though the course offerings at the Appraisal Institute I can find both of those individual classes but not a class that will upgrade the 15 hour residential class with the additional 15 hours found in the General License requirement (this assumes that the 15 hour residential class is a subset of the 30 hour general, which might not even be the case).

Am I missing something simple here?

Thanks!

 

[Michigan CG]

The 30 hour commercial class is completely different than the residential class so it is not possible to just add 15 hours to the residential class and build on it.

 

[breezin]

The 30 hour commercial class is completely different than the residential class so it is not possible to just add 15 hours to the residential class and build on it.

Ok, I figured that was the case. So I just have to take the 150 hours (75 hours of basic classes + the 75 residential classes) to get my Trainee License. Then take the 225 hours (300 - 75 basic I will have already taken) of classes to get the General License.

By listing the basic courses in each path (Residential - 150 hours, Certified Residential - 200 hours, and General - 300 hours) it leads you to believe you can simply pick one of the 3 paths without regard to the other 2.

Unless there is a method to getting your Trainee License from within the 300 hour General path. The fact that I'm having trouble even figuring out the requirements to make this happen is NOT a good sign.

 

[George Hatch]

I would actually call for clarification on this. The 75 hours for the trainee level as noted in the AQB minimums is the same for all license levels. It's the other 75 hours for the Trainee license in California at issue here. I'm not aware of the OREA previously forcing Gen/Cert applicants to have the residential courses. If that were the case then their actual requirements for that license for any applicant that went to the trouble of getting a trainee license in their process would amount to 375 hours, not 300 hours.

 

[Muttley]

I was having the same trouble deciphering the OREA site and the sequence of steps to get my trainee license in relation to my residential license. It's not the most well written explanation.

 

[breezin]

I would actually call for clarification on this. The 75 hours for the trainee level as noted in the AQB minimums is the same for all license levels. It's the other 75 hours for the Trainee license in California at issue here. I'm not aware of the OREA previously forcing Gen/Cert applicants to have the residential courses. If that were the case then their actual requirements for that license for any applicant that went to the trouble of getting a trainee license in their process would amount to 375 hours, not 300 hours.

However, if I don't get my trainee license then I can't acquire the experience hours needed for my general anyway. It just seems crazy to me. It should be 75 hours to get your trainee license (which is common for all 3 paths), then you focus on the path of your choice. But it seems that CA (I assume other states only require the 75 hours) has decided that 75 hours isn't enough education to be a trainee.

 

[George Hatch]

In California's program the number of hours to get the trainee license have always been the same as for getting the State Residential Appraiser License. The distinction between residential and non-residential oriented courses up through the first 150 hours didn't come about until a few years ago.

That's why I say that my understanding on their program was that the requirements for 4 "additional" topics could be satisfied by either the residential or the general versions, the latter versions being twice as long in hours as for former.

As far as I know and unless things have changed a lot someone choosing the General Certified track will still get the same exposure to the residential topics as the Residential Certified track plus additional coverage not included in the Residential track. It's just more....of everything.

There are some General Certified licensees who obtained all their experience credits prior to getting their permanent license and without ever getting a trainee license at all. The AT is not a prerequisite for getting a permanent license and whether licensed as a Trainee or not they still can't submit appraisals without the signature of a supervising appraiser anyway.

Whether or not you get the Trainee license, it will come down to how savvy your supervisor is with their own work and their training and supervision of your work that renders that work acceptable towards your experience requirements. If your supervisor does good work and makes sure you do good work then you'll get your hours. If not, it won't make any difference how long you've been at it or what other steps you took to get there.

 

[breezin]

OK, just got off the phone with a very helpful person at the CA OREA. California has decided that the basic federal requirement of 75 hours to get you trainee license is not enough. They have added the additional 75 hours of classes required for the residential license level as a prerequisite to trainee license. I told him I was really interested in going straight to certified general and that I didn't see a way to do it without taking the 75 hours of residential classes to get my trainee license. His response was that it's a misconception that a trainee license is required to get your experience hours. If you want to go straight to certified general then you just get your hours as an unlicensed individual. The requirement is that you are mentioned in the report in some capacity... and that it doesn't matter if you are licensed or not.

However, if I did want my trainee license then yes I have to take the residential classes.

Any opinions on what I should do?

Thanks!

 

[breezin]

In California's program the number of hours to get the trainee license have always been the same as for getting the State Residential Appraiser License. The distinction between residential and non-residential oriented courses up through the first 150 hours didn't come about until a few years ago.

That's why I say that my understanding on their program was that the requirements for 4 "additional" topics could be satisfied by either the residential or the general versions, the latter versions being twice as long in hours as for former.

As far as I know and unless things have changed a lot someone choosing the General Certified track will still get the same exposure to the residential topics as the Residential Certified track plus additional coverage not included in the Residential track. It's just more....of everything.

There are some General Certified licensees who obtained all their experience credits prior to getting their permanent license and without ever getting a trainee license at all. The AT is not a prerequisite for getting a permanent license and whether licensed as a Trainee or not they still can't submit appraisals without the signature of a supervising appraiser anyway.

Whether or not you get the Trainee license, it will come down to how savvy your supervisor is with their own work and their training and supervision of your work that renders that work acceptable towards your experience requirements. If your supervisor does good work and makes sure you do good work then you'll get your hours. If not, it won't make any difference how long you've been at it or what other steps you took to get there.

Thanks for the clarification! I just posted my findings from a call to the CA OREA and they seem to match up with your insight as well.

So I guess it comes down to what my supervisor is comfortable with? From a trainee stand point does it really matter if I have the TL or not? They said that for credit you must be mentioned in the report somewhere... is it harder to do that if you are unlicensed?

Thanks again.... almost have this figure out! :icon_mrgreen:

 

[George Hatch]

Not harder to do.

One thing an AT licensee can do that an unlicensed trainee basically can't is sign as an appraiser on mortgage lending assignments, obviously with the Supervisor's co-signature. If the client will accept the Supervisor's "did not inspect" the AT licensee can inspect the property solo and without onsite supervision and report it that way in the report. Having the license might make you a little more employable elsewhere if your current situation doesn't work out.


Here's what I would do in your case. I would take the 75 "core" hours for your AT license from the AI and take the other 75 hours from one of the online education providers - just enough to take your test and pass the exam. Then I'd follow up with the rest of the CertGen requisites at my leisure from the AI as you accumulate your experience hours. You'll still do a little backtracking but when you go through the material again for your AI classes some of that will be review.