Trainee hours?

[MsGina]

I am curious as to how current Trainees or Supervisors are logging trainee hours. I am not signing appraisals but I am working that assignment from beginning to end. I just started to count those hours under Category 1 experience. Fee appraising. Can anyone shed some light on that, is that correct? I have called OREA but I was still confused...
-I'm curious as to what others are doing....
Thanks

 

[on-the-go]

In my state, there's an "Appraisal Log" form that you maintain. Once you have one page completed (about 20 appraisals), both you and your supervising appraiser sign it. You should be able to get this from your state's licensing website or you may have to contact them directly to have them email it to you. You will submit this log of your appraisals once you have your hours completed and you become licensed/certified.

 

[George Hatch]

The state allows up to 400 hours to be claimed under the category of "assisting in the preparation of an appraisal". In order to qualify under Fee or Staff appraisals those assignments would require that you're completing at least 70% of the work including "analyses, opinions and conclusions" , which by definition go beyond the final value conclusion.

So if you were in on the whole process and writing all or almost all of the report under supervision and your supervisor was essentially using your analyses then those hours - however many or few per assignment - would technically qualify under the fee or Staff Appraising category.

 

[Sbps30]

I logged the limit of 400 hours for category 10, which is apprasial assistance. After that I have been logging for category 1 since I've been doing the entire appraisal. You are able to log category 1 even if you don't sign the appraisals (I haven't signed any appraisals yet and I'm at 1700 hours). But, you need to make sure it is written in the addendum what work you have done for the appraisal (it's a violation of USPAP if credit wasn't given).

 

[MsGina]

Thanks, guy's for the responses.
I just add my certification to the appraisals I work on and complete my log.
Sbps30, that is my situation also, I don't sign reports. After reading all the posts it doesn't seem like I need to in order to get my hours. Just add my certification statement and log the hours....

 

[George Hatch]

I am not aware of any requirement or provision in either USPAP or California's licensing regs for adding your own certification statement to a report you never signed in the first place. Where are you getting that?

The reason I say that is because when the appraiser signs the cert (in this case your supervisor) they're saying it's their opinion and conclusions - even when their direct involvement is limited to supervising, reviewing and signing the report. They won't sign a report they don't agree with.

In the other hand, if the supervisor changes something the other appraiser can't be reasonably expected to "own" that result regardless of how much work they put into the assignment. At most they're only responsible for what they actually do.

That's why I'm asking for the reference you're using to support the idea that you need to certify to every report in your workfile whether you signed it or not.

 

[MsGina]

Restricted Appraisal Reports and Restricted Use Appraisal Reports are not eligible for experience credit. To be acceptable for
experience credit the applicant must be either:
• A signing appraiser; or
• Identified by name (and BREA license number, if licensed) with the extent of the real property appraisal assistance clearly and
conspicuously described in the report.
State law requires that the Applicant make documentation of work experience available to BREA upon request. Work samples are
one such form of documentation. Each work sample must be an exact, non-redacted copy of the completed appraisal report(s)​

submitted to the client(s) for a business purpose. (Page 16 of 28 in the BREA licensing handbook)
I've had a conversation with a staff appraiser at BREA regarding how to document my work if I'm not signing and they simply say to document what you've done via this 'certification statement' within the report. The know and realize that the Supervisor can and will change the report but this is what I need to do as a trainee.
George, I agree with you. That was my concern, but this is what I was told and that's why I posted my original question. It 'feels' odd...

 

[George Hatch]

The certification statement to which they are referring is a statement that is being made by the appraiser(s) who sign the report. It's a disclosure of the contributions of those individuals (like you) who provided significant assistance but didn't sign the report. That's a USPAP requirement on the appraiser who is signing, not on you; and it's applicable in every such situation, not just for reports you're submitting to the BREA for experience credit.

Really, all the BREA person is telling you is that your supervisor is supposed to comply with the disclosure requirements of SR-2.

If you have a copy of the current edition of USPAP refer to SR2-2.a.vii, lines 722-725 (for Appraisal Report) and SR2-2.b.vii lines 786-789 (for Restricted Appraisal Report).

The applicable section of SR2-3 that the BREA person was referring to was lines 840-842 - that's the disclosure requirement in the certification.


Those are MANDATORY disclosures for your supervisor because they're signing the report. There's no discretion involved and they don't get to opt out. Those requirements don't apply to your actions until you start signing reports. I don't know if this is the case but if your supervisor hasn't already been making those disclosures on every single report you've been contributing to then they have been in error and they need to correct that on their end.

For info, MANY trainee supervisors have gotten into trouble over the years for not making such disclosures. It's a big deal.