My Supervisor/Senior Appraiser says I don't need the Trainee License to start clocking in hours for Certified General Appraiser qualifications

[gabramovich]

I'm working for a national appraisal company that specializes in commercial appraisal. I am located in California.

My supervisor is telling me that I don't need to get a trainee license, and that I can simply continue taking my coursework through the Appraisal Institute and working for him without actually obtaining a Trainee License through the state of California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers (BREA). He also tells me that I don't need to take the residential appraisal courses that are required by the state as part of the education requirements for the Trainee License.

All of this seems inconceivable to me - given that the BREA website lists a Trainee License as the initial license before either the Residential/Certified Residential or the Certified General License: https://brea.ca.gov/html/Lic_Hdbk.html#eee

It has always been my understanding that a Trainee must obtain a Trainee License in order to gain qualifying experience hours that can then count for the Certified General License in 18 months. Is that incorrect?

 

[CCAAMO]

Call the CBRE directly and ask them

 

[Joe Flacco]

Supervisor is saying that you can do the work you are doing in your role without a license or pursuing a license. Supervisor is not saying that you can gain experience hours without the trainee license.

 

[George Hatch]

They're correct insofar as the experience requirements. You don't need a license in this state to start accruing acceptable appraisal experience. I'm not sure about whether or not you have to take the residential courses for your qualifying experience. In my opinion it would be a mistake to skip them though, even if allowed to do so, because if you do any residential subdivision or residential work in the future you would need to be competent with those issues as well as the issues in the non-residential properties. You never know where you're going to be in your career 20 years from now;

You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack​

You may find yourself in another part of flyover country where there are no business parks or Class A office buildings​

You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile​

You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife​

You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?​

 

[Joe Flacco]

They're correct insofar as the experience requirements. You don't need a license in this state to start accruing acceptable appraisal experience. I'm not sure about whether or not you have to take the residential courses for your qualifying experience. In my opinion it would be a mistake to skip them though, even if allowed to do so, because if you do any residential subdivision or residential work in the future you would need to be competent with those issues as well as the issues in the non-residential properties. You never know where you're going to be in your career 20 years from now;

You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack​

You may find yourself in another part of flyover country where there are no business parks or Class A office buildings​

You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile​

You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife​

You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?​

Wow. Then what is the purpose of the trainee license?

 

[Joe Flacco]

Licensing Handbook

brea.ca.gov

 

[RSW]

Maybe your supervisor does not want to take the required supervisor course. Call the Board and get the correct answer.

 

[JTip]

If you were in Pennsylvania, you must have your Trainee License BEFORE logging hours.

The day your trainee license is issued is when your clock begins.

The reason is that each report requires a checklist signed by the supervisory appraiser and signed by the trainee. You can't get credit for a report without the checklist, and you cannot complete the checklist without being a trainee.

Now if you were a CPE (Certified Pa Evaluator), aka assessor, which has it's own state certification, you can use hours from that towards CR/CG experience; I think the cap was 50% of the total hours.

If you were in Pennsylvania......

 

[Elliott]

Dunno about CA. I had a call from a 'trainee' who was doing 'report' work for a small appraisal farm, one principal (never there), two field workers, and one trainee. He axted me about the business and after a few minutes of conversation he wondered if he needed to get to the trainee status and I said, "yep." At least in OR until you have the 'appraisal assistant' license which requires education and lots of fees, then your 'hours' are not going to count.

 

[CCAAMO]

This is why the poster needs to ask the state. Lots of advice, no one seems to know with 100% certainty including myself and all of the out of state responses. If It was my future career I would only rely on what the BREA said.