Unlimited online CE - $89

[Appraisal University]

At Appraisal University, we sell annual subscriptions that provide unlimited access to all courses in our course catalog, including any new courses added while you are a subscriber. The catalog today includes 3 courses for 19 or more CE hours in many states and the annual subscription price is $89. We are adding at least six new courses during the next year - all of which are available at no additional cost to subscribers. Sound good? Subscribe now.

Active courses:

Practical Application of the Cost Approach (3.5 hours, Greg Accetta MAI, MRA)
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Appraising Historic Property (7 hours, Steve Spangle SRA, MRA)
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Practices and Pitfalls for the Residential Appraiser (9 hours, Bill Pastuszek MAI, SRA, MRA)
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Courses in approval process:

Retail Center Analysis for Financing (7 hours, Bruce Coin)
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Site Analysis (7 hours, Steve Spangle)
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Courses in development:

Expert Witness Testimony - An Introduction
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Appraising Oddball Properties
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Practices and Pitfalls for the Commercial Appraiser
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Current state approvals:

This information is fairly dynamic as approvals are received on a regular basis. Up to date information can be found in the course catalog.

State / #Courses / #CE hours

AR 2 10.5
CA 2 11.0
CO 2 11.0
CT 3 19.0
DE 3 19.5
FL 3 19.0
GA 3 19.5
HI 3 19.5
IA 2 10.5
ID 3 19.5
KS 2 10.5
MA 2 10.5
MD 3 19.5
ME 2 10.5
MI 3 19.0
MO 3 19.5
NC 3 19.5
NE 3 20.0
NH 3 19.5
NJ 3 19.5
OR 3 20.0
PA 3 19.5
RI 2 10.5
TX 2 10.5
UT 3 19.5
VA 3 19.0
VT 2 10.5
WA 2 10.5
WI 3 19.5
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Other subscriber benefits:

• No additional charges for additional State licenses
• Review completed courses at any time - once you've completed a course you have access to all materials for review or reuse
• Free completion certificates for all State licenses
• Discounts on other offerings, including $99 2010/11 USPAP Update

Please note that this is a limited time offer. The subscription price for new subscribers will increase as the catalog grows, but it will always be less than the cost of obtaining your CE by purchasing courses individually from other providers.

 

[brbm297]

I am looking forward to taking my first class. What a good price for 19 hours of CE.

 

[incognito]

I generally take AI CE because I need it for my SRA designation hours. However, Florida actually does not recognize some of the AI advanced classes as qualified hours, so I am AI hours rich, and Florida Hours poor.

SO, I decided to bite and signed up for this program on Monday, and selected the "practices and pitfalls" class. Here is a synopsis:

PRO: The material is well organized, very thorough and complete, and the best I could tell, accurate. In fact, I will go as far as to say that, content wise, this was as good of a basic class as I have ever taken.

CON: The instructor is HORRIBLY monotoned with virtually no personality, He stands in front of a blue (or green) screen, and basically stands there the whole seminar.

CON: Each module (something like 14) has mid module quizzes and end of chapter tests. Don't pass the test, Don't move on. Some of the questions were not well written or ambiguous.

CON: It is VERY time consuming. When they say 9 hours, they MEAN 9 hours. Most classrooms work on a basis of an hour being 50 minutes of instruction, allowing for breaks. Not here! And the material is not softball, so you must pay attention, because they do not ask the easy questions on the quizzes!

CON: After completion, there is a 60 minute exam. 2 hours are allotted for the exam (for which you get no CE credit time. I took the exam in 30 minutes, and got an 83. I usually an a good tester, but there were some questions on there which I simply did not understand, some which I never heard discussed, and some which were more opinion than fact based.

I suppose for $89 for 9 hours of state qualifyable CE, it was a fair deal, but I'm just not sure I want to put this much time and work into an online CE class. There is no way to accelerate through familiar material, and no way to, say, not pay attention for a little while, because the program stops so frequently for quizzes.

Bottom line, If REALLY focusing and concentrating on an online seminar for 9 hours, with an instructor who is knowledgeable, but very boring, for a pretty good comprehensive residential seminar, this would be for you.

For me, It was just too much. I would prefer a more self paced style like the AI seminars, and come on, for a basic level class, 60 final exam questions is just too much.

I Hope everyone Finds that a fair critique of this seminar.

As I must be a glutton for punishment, I am going to take the cost approach class next. I hope it is a different instructor!!!

 

[Don Clark]

You get what you pay for. In all states, as far as I know, an educational hour is 50 minutes.

 

[George Hatch]

It takes time and feedback to refine a program. They'll probably work the kinks out as they go. If you've never written a test using multiple choice answers, I can tell you that writing questions and including 4 plausible choices of which only one can be recognized by most people as being the correct answer is a lot harder than it looks.

Make sure you pass your critique back to them.

 

[incognito]

I just completed the Cost approach course the Appraisal University offers. I have to admit, again, that content wise, this is as thorough of an online OR classroom class as I have ever taken. I do not believe there are many appraisers here that wouldn't learn more than a little from this course.

The instructor is clearly knowledgeable, and does a good job of communicating the information. This instructor was easier to follow, and had more personality, than the first class. As you can see from my first post, I went into this second class a little reluctantly, but have come out very pleased. I just registered for the Historic homes class, and will report back when I complete it.

I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Underwriter (I hope I spelled that correctly) at Appraisal University, and they seem to be really serious about providing quality CE, and the classes reflect that.

Most of my original "cons" about the class were relative to the time it took to complete the class, and the abundant chapter quizzes and long final exam.
(I had to re-take 2 of the chapter quizzes in the Cost Approach class!) He did explain to me that new laws have come into effect where online classes must be much more comprehensive, and must have a vehicle which insures the class taker actually is taking the class for the prescribed number of hours. Apparently this will apply to all online CE providers for Appraisal Education in all states, if not now, soon. Apparently too many other classes allowed you to just whiz through an 8 hour class in 30 minutes, take the exam, and get 8 hours CE. So I am rescinding my cons for those issues.

So I applaud this CE provider, and highly recommend you give it a try. Heck, for $89 I already have 12.5 hours state and Appraisal Institute credit, AND I have learned quite a bit (especially in the cost approach class). All of the instructors of the 3 existing classes, and for most of the upcoming classes, are EACH both MAI's AND SRA'S, so they are credible instructors as well.

I am really looking forward to the Expert Witness and Site Analysis classes...

 

[Tom Woolford]

I'm glad you updated your comments. I haven't started in yet, thats rainy day stuff, but your first comments were somewhat disheartening. Like you said, for 89 bucks....

 

[Pine Tree]

Just to add another experience, I took Appraising Historic Properties in the last few weeks. Overall I found it to have good content. I had hoped for discussion about preservation easements, and original verse replicated features. Maybe,that will be added in the furture.

In recent years I have taken pretty much just AI courses..I thought this compared favorably.

 

[incognito]

Well I just finished the newest offering from The Appraisal University, called "Retail Center Analysis for Financing". This was a very good and in depth class, but most likely NOT intended for a newcomer to income property appraisal. In 7 hours it covered in 6 chapters:

-Descriptions of Retail buildings and shopping centers
-Inspecting and describing
-Valuation and Financing
-Financing clauses and concerns
-Retail lease terms
-Retail clauses and options

The income approach was fairly direct but comprehensive, Direct cap, Yield cap, DCF, band of investment, etc.

However, none of the AI income classes I ever took (ALL MAI required classes) went into much depth regarding lease analysis and terms, different types of financing and terms, strengths and weaknesses of different types of tenants, lease terms and clauses (and their ramifications), carve out clauses, etc. This was relatively new and valuable information for me (I have only appraised SMALL income properties and commercial land for the most part).

I don't do much commercial these days, but this may have renewed my interest.

The best part is, that now, for a whopping total of $89, I have taken 26.5 HOURS of what I consider to be some of the best CE I have taken in a long time! All of the classes were good for my SRA CE, and all but one class (which is pending) were good for my Florida CE. Check the list for your state.

This IS NOT skippy type CE where you blow through 7 hours of CE in 30 minutes. You WILL spend the full time, and DO have to pass interim quizzes and a VERY comprehensive test for each class, but if you pay attention, it is not so bad. I have only failed a couple of quizzes along the way (min 75%), and have scored in the low to mid 80% to mid 90% range on the finals.

 

[HF Mudd]

I don't see any courses approved in NY state. Any idea when that will happen?