How Long Should An Appraisal Take?

[David kirby]

Hi, everyone. I have almost 1000 hours towards my license and i average about 8 hours per appraisal. 1004s maybe a lil longer than 8 hours and 2055s maybe a lil quicker than 8 hours. Now my question, is this a good average or do i need to look at what im doing and get faster. Do others count drive time? How long does it take others to do a report?
I have learned so much in those 1000 hours, from this board and from my mentor.
Thx David

 

[Walter Kirk]

David,
The amount of time you spend preparing an appraisal depends on many factors. Is the subject property complicated? Are comps easy to find? Can information be confirmed easily. All things considered I think that eight hours is not unreasonable for a new appraiser. When you hit your stride it will take you less time to do a good job.

 

[Stone]

The weird thing about this business is that when it is very busy, it is typically easier to do many of the assignments. You are able to go out and do several inspections and view comps for many properties at one time, saving you extra driving time. Also, you get so that you have already seen and written up many of the comps you use, which saves even more time.

 

[Michael T. Hiester]

David,

I am sure that you have already checked with your state board to determine the number of hours they allow for a given type of appraisal.

In Indiana, I get 4.5 hours for a SFR Complete Summary. This is regardless of whether it takes 4 hours or 24 hours. So for me whether I count driving time is irrelevant.

For what it's worth, 8 hours is about right for me as well. Cookie cutters I have done in about 4-5 and rural (which I do a lot of ) take 8-12 sometimes. I focus on quality and expect for the speed to increase as I become more experienced.

 

[Pamela Crowley (Florida)]

Florida's way is a bit easier.

For Certified Residential it's a minimum of 2500 hours during a minimum of 2 years plus a minimum of 150 supportable and documented appraisal reports. (This is from the newest rules about to be adopted) You don't need to document the hours, but you must have the 2 working years and at least 150 appraisals.

There are a variety of classes and other criteria, but this is the basics for the experience section.