Becoming a Commercial RE Appraiser - Advice needed

[JT1974]

My brother used to teach at MIT. I went there to visit him once and walked through the mile long hallway (or whatever it's called). That day I figured I was probably the dumbest guy in the room.............no matter which room I was in.

 

[TC]

P H D, M I T, M-O-N-E-Y. as sung by Donald Duck.

Go for it, my best college bud attended MIT and is retiring this year. What did I do wrong?

TC

 

[JOWSIK]

Do both. Don't quit your day job. Take appraisal courses and try to find work with a commercial appraiser for experience. Work as a consultant as well. As Bat Masterson said, "Take your time and don't miss."

Clearly, there is a better market for commercial appraisers than residential ones. The downside is it is difficult to find mentors and it is difficult to control the way your career path will lead when you have to put emphasis on finding a mentor over appraising the kinds of properties that you are familiar with.

I would start by taking a few basic courses. That prepares you for what lies ahead. Once you find a mentor then you can choose the kinds of courses that will fit your mentor's line of appraising since many of these are specialists. Industrial, Retail Malls, Food Court/Truckstops, etc. Even a specialty like agriculture includes Ag Business consultants, row crop appraisers, building intensive appraisers (dairies, poultry plants, etc.), conservation appraisers, resource appraisers, etc.

Don't ignore opportunities out their in the public sector as well. Government jobs are a good stepping stone or a career path.

It's a big field out there in commercial.

Thanks. I appreciate the input.

 

[JOWSIK]

I just did the same thing. I graduated from ASU with a Masters in Real Estate Development. I owned a residential appraisal firm for 6 years prior to graduating and did almost all divorce/estate work - I had almost no commercial experience. I was lucky enough to get a great job with a MAI, FRICS, SR/WA, SRA, CCIM guy and really like my job. I had a couple other offers from some of the big firms (C&W, CB, and Earnst & Young) all offered entry level positions. I was also accepted to MIT for their doctoral program in real estate development (Finance), but have decided to get some more experience before I decide if I want to go or not.

I would try to identify what specific type of work you want to do and go from there. I wouldn't recommend just starting to work for an appraiser. I doubt they will utilize your experience. Personally, I wouldn't take any courses other than the most basic appraisal courses until you find a specialty that you want to concentrate on.

I would caution you on the public sector stuff unless you just need a job. I was offered a management position with the assessor's office. The pay was good; however it didn't have a lot of room for advancement. You will also tend to be labeled by some the senior appraisers in your area as a government employee and will be passed over for other possible trainees. I was told this by at least four local MAI's in the area.

Find a mentor first, then ask him what he wants you to do regarding licensing.

You can email at ryan.bailey2 @ asu.edu if you want other information.

Good Luck,

Ryan

Good input. How did you like the transition from development(finance) into commercial appraisal?

 

[JOWSIK]

With your experience, you could find doing nothing but appraisals on health care facilities to be very lucrative. I agree with Terrel, do both... keep working while taking classes and also work towards MAI. Use your current contacts to market for appraisal work.

It's interesting that you mention that. That was my initial thought. My company focuses on investing in Medical Office Buildings, and I wouldn't mind focusing on that area. Especially since it seems like it's not as slow as commercial office. (Just as an example) Since I haven't been in the office market for a while, not sure how the rental rates fluctuating, but out of 80 medical office buildings we own, about we increased our rental rates in 90% of them for 2009.

 

[JOWSIK]

I made a transition a little over a year ago. Before that, I interviewed with a company in downtown Chicago called Wellspring, a division of Huron consulting, maybe a year and a half ago. At the time, the position consisted entirely of appraising Healthcare facilities. The downside was that out of town travel was required on a weekly basis. I was torn over that position and eventually turned it down because of the combination of downtown location and travel (I am a father of four). I thought very highly of the MAI who was going to hire me, made the decision very tough, but was less comfortable with the Finance guy he reported to.

Taking classes and keeping your current position (outside of real estate appraisal) might be difficult if you take courses from the leader, the Appraisal Institute. The first course most beginning appraisers would take is Real Estate Appraisal Principles, but it is only offered as an all day class which goes four days in a row. Possibly other providers would offer evening or weekend classes.

Another option...

Take an online class from the AI that might show your interest in the profession and then include it on your resume. Second, talk to some appraisers about the types of property you would like to appraise. Third, take an entry level position with a commercial appraiser or firm, who might be more sympathetic to the class schedules. The advantage is you will gain commercial experience much faster jumping in full time. The downside is you would likely face a decrease in pay, depending on the type of firm. I don't have knowledge of what the larger firms pay, but the smaller MAI offices were on the low side starting out, but I think its fair considering what they invest. The upside of that is the potential earning after two to three years can jump.

I don't think this option is better, just a different way to go.

Let us know how your story turns out.

Will do. I'll have to make some tough choices, but hopefully it'll turn out well. By the way, I'm pretty familiar with Wellspring, we hired them to conduct market surveys for our portfolios.

Thanks!