SillyMe
Sophomore Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2005
- Professional Status
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- State
- West Virginia
At this time, there are no certification or mandatory educational requirements for personal property appraisals; only to earn a designation. There are probably 3-4 organizations that offer a variety of designations...each have a varying level of respect. I didn't care about the snob factor, I just wanted some initials behind my name.
I earned the GPPA designation through the NAA which is the National Auctioneer Association. I attended a class (5-7 days maybe) and had to submit a sample personal property appraisal. USPAP was a requirement as these reports must be USPAP compliant when they are used for a loan transactions, IRS, ect.
It is my understanding that the requirements are going to be changing for personal property appraisals but I am not certain how that is going to come about as it is not a "licensed" practice. It may become a licensed/regulated practice. In reality, anyone can perform a personal property appraisal and I don't understand why more real estate appraisers don't branch out to offer this service.
With my licenses and qualifications, I can appraise a house and all of the contents for a divorce or estate purposes. Attorneys seem to like being able to make one phone call to get all of this taken care of. I have also qualified as an expert witness in federal court for both real estate and personal property appraisals so I can testify if the need arises.
As far as specialty fields, I chose heavy equipment because I live in coal country. My first personal property appraisal was for a mine supply company and they had 4 locations that they needed equipment appraised in. They flew me across the country to do one of their warehouses....I had no clue what I was looking for as far as quality/condition so I hired someone that did. He looked at the equipment condition/quality and I searched for comparables and wrote the report noting his assistance.
I think that personal property appraisal are a natural extension of real estate appraisals. It is the same concept from start to finish you are just appraising something different.
Hope that helps!
I earned the GPPA designation through the NAA which is the National Auctioneer Association. I attended a class (5-7 days maybe) and had to submit a sample personal property appraisal. USPAP was a requirement as these reports must be USPAP compliant when they are used for a loan transactions, IRS, ect.
It is my understanding that the requirements are going to be changing for personal property appraisals but I am not certain how that is going to come about as it is not a "licensed" practice. It may become a licensed/regulated practice. In reality, anyone can perform a personal property appraisal and I don't understand why more real estate appraisers don't branch out to offer this service.
With my licenses and qualifications, I can appraise a house and all of the contents for a divorce or estate purposes. Attorneys seem to like being able to make one phone call to get all of this taken care of. I have also qualified as an expert witness in federal court for both real estate and personal property appraisals so I can testify if the need arises.
As far as specialty fields, I chose heavy equipment because I live in coal country. My first personal property appraisal was for a mine supply company and they had 4 locations that they needed equipment appraised in. They flew me across the country to do one of their warehouses....I had no clue what I was looking for as far as quality/condition so I hired someone that did. He looked at the equipment condition/quality and I searched for comparables and wrote the report noting his assistance.
I think that personal property appraisal are a natural extension of real estate appraisals. It is the same concept from start to finish you are just appraising something different.
Hope that helps!