Whats it like working for the county, doing mass appraisal.

[JackKemp13]

As the title might suggest I am wondering what people's experiences are working at the county level doing assessor work. Did you like it, and why so? Is their upward mobility, that's kinda linear and predictable? Whats the furthest position you got in the county? Would you recommend the career for a 22-year-old who just graduated?

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

As the title might suggest I am wondering what people's experiences are working at the county level doing assessor work. Did you like it, and why so? Is their upward mobility, that's kinda linear and predictable? Whats the furthest position you got in the county? Would you recommend the career for a 22-year-old who just graduated?

I liked it, especially when I was in the residential department. It was very easy work. I got promoted into the Commercial Department and was mainly doing appeal work. That was stressful with hearings every day sometimes. The benefits were great and I liked the 8-4:30 routine, paid vacation, and paid sick days, retirement. I would definitely recommend it to someone just graduating from college. They will pay for your license, education, and designations. I was promoted to management and I was not cut out for that. It was more money but I missed doing appraisals. Too many meetings were involved not to mention politics. I just want to work and do a good job. I did get lots of experience and knowledge there. I'd love to have my County paid Costar back, lol.

 

[Joe Flacco]

I think for county jobs, a Department of Transportation role assisting with acquisitions would be more interesting than the assessors office.

 

[Elliott]

I worked for 8-years in an assessor office. Decent income, health care, retirement. You can probably get some education paid for. I liked the work for the first 2-years, but then it becomes working for a bureaucracy and didn't want to make it a career. Good place to start.

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

I think for county jobs, a Department of Transportation role assisting with acquisitions would be more interesting than the assessors office.

The DOT jobs usually require a CR or CG though. This is a trainee, just out of college.

 

[lostinthezone]

As the title might suggest I am wondering what people's experiences are working at the county level doing assessor work. Did you like it, and why so? Is their upward mobility, that's kinda linear and predictable? Whats the furthest position you got in the county? Would you recommend the career for a 22-year-old who just graduated?

5 Pros and cons;

Pros:

1) Government job and benefits - usually has a retirement package associated with it which is unheard of in the business world
2) Steady job usually not influenced by economic conditions, generally no worries about getting laid off or no work
3) If you're good, you will advance quickly
4) Great place to get training - you'll see more properties in a year, (at least from the exterior), than some appraisers see in their career
5) Classes and expenses are generally covered under your job

Cons:

1) Everybody will hate you If anybody asks what you do, just say "I'm a real estate appraiser" and leave it at that.
2) The worst part of the job is appeals. You will run into some people who don't care how the system works or really what value is placed on the property. All they know is their taxes are going up and you're the one that is going to have to hear from them about it.
3) You will work with some folks that are unmotivated and may have to pick up their slack. (See point 3 above) That can be discouraging sometimes and its tough to fire someone in the government, so they get away with it.
4) This is largely region specific, but the pay can be on the low end of the scale sometimes. (For some areas it's actually on the high end.) You make up for it with the bennies, security and potential for advancement in these cases.
5) Compensation is fixed as opposed to production based. If you work really hard, you'll likely advance, but it's not like you'll be making more money for completing more assignments.

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

Torally agree. Exactly what I experienced. I'll also add there were multiple interviews, and testing to apply and to get promotions (I was in a large jurisdiction).

 

[andrew81]

I am a member of my county board of assessment review and agree with lostinthezone.
During my time we have had 4 different chief assessors, 3 different deputy assessors, and countless township assessors. They all hated it.

Only reason I applied for the position was for the benefits.
It is low pay, but also very few hours per year. Only work a few days here and there with weeks/months off between, except, during appeals.
My time vs benefits works out better than if I spent the day doing an appraisal. Can take more days off and work fewer hours a day from appraisals because of the benefits.
Especially, considering when the pension kicks-in, that is non-existent as an independent fee appraiser.

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Agree with all points made. It can be a decent career or a good stepping stone. If you have an opportunity...take it.

 

[G-man]

I'm in my third year of working for the County Auditor in their real estate department after 20+ years working in the private sector as a licensed residential appraiser. What we do here is not your typical residential appraisal work, but assessment and data collection. I was lucky enough to have been brought in by a former employer who was hired by the Auditor to be the director of the real estate department. He brought in three other appraisers, including me, to bring more real estate experience to this office. Going from working 50+ hours a week with no paid vacation or holidays, to a standard 40 hour week with all the typical benefits of a public employee is certainly a plus. I do a lot of field work for the director, so I can get out of the office more than if I was in management, which I like. The work can be tedious at times, with typical office politics and co-worker drama which comes with being in a large government, unionized office. I would imagine a smaller county or township office as an assessor would be vastly different. I don't know how California is organized, but Ohio has County Auditors, whereas Michigan has assessors for each individual township and/or municipality, so they are much smaller and may not be full time due to lower work load. I'd definitely do my homework before signing up for such a job, but it does have its pros & cons, just like any other job.