My wife is looking into switching jobs and becoming an appraiser for non-commercial property. She's doing her research but I figured I'd ask you good people as well.

What do you recommend for studying for the test? Classroom, online? Any particular provider better than others?

What can be expected in an apprenticeship as far as pay, hours, hours to complete apprenticeship, etc.?

And of course, anyone in North Houston looking to take on an appraisal apprentice?

Background
She is class of 2000 in architecture. She has years of experience in design, planning, CAD and building layout doc mgmt, and general CAD monkey work.

Buy The Appraisal of Real Estate, 14th edition and get very familiar with it.

If you have ever had an appraisal done for you, or have a friend who has and would be willing to share it, definitely read through it.

Good luck.

GCRanger said:

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What do you recommend for studying for the test? Classroom, online? Any particular provider better than others?

What can be expected in an apprenticeship as far as pay, hours, hours to complete apprenticeship, etc.?

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She's going to have to take over 100 hours of class work, so I'd study those materials. Some of the real estate companies offer a test prep class. I use mckissock online classes, but for beginning training I'd recommend a classroom setting.

Pay will be poor as a trainee. Completion of training will take a year minimum and to be competent will take significantly longer.

Dying industry. I wouldn't waste my time.

IMO, the benefits of working in commercial far outweigh non-commercial so maybe think about the reasoning behind that first.

Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

GCRanger said:

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Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

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The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

GCRanger said:

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Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

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AVM/algorithms, bifurcated appraisals, property inspection waivers, etc.

Appraisals being ordered by appraisal management companies (AMC's) that rape the appraisers by taking half of the fee, badgering the hell out of them for appointment dates, ridiculous stipulations, massive scope of work, value pressure and turn times.

I've been appraising for 34 years. It's probably going to be ok for me until I'm done, but the person trying to start today will never make any good money and it is not worth the education requirements, time commitment and most of all liability.

Run, run fast and don't look back.

mazag08 said:

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GCRanger said:

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Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

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The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

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The average is not that high, but it is over 50, probably 55ish. In ten years there won't be many left and the plan is not so much to replace them with new appraisers, it is to replace them with technology.

Shooter McGavin said:

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mazag08 said:

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GCRanger said:

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Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

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The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

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The average is not that high, but it is over 50, probably 55ish. In ten years there won't be many left and the plan is not so much to replace them with new appraisers, it is to replace them with technology.

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Where is the best move for a residential appraiser with experience?

They've drastically reduced the experience hour requirements and time earlier this year. You can be licensed in six months, but that is booking it. Record numbers of applications right now for TALCB.

I wouldn't expect to make much if anything during training. Although, depending on what market you're in and how much you want to work, you can make decent money when you're licensed or certified.

Not sure about the outlook of the industry long term.

Bob_Ag said:

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They've drastically reduced the experience hour requirements and time earlier this year. You can be licensed in six months, but that is booking it. Record numbers of applications right now for TALCB.

I wouldn't expect to make much if anything during training. Although, depending on what market you're in and how much you want to work, you can make decent money when you're licensed or certified.

Not sure about the outlook of the industry long term.

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This is not accurate, unless you are talking about some license type I am not familiar with.

DallasAggie0 said:

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Bob_Ag said:

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They've drastically reduced the experience hour requirements and time earlier this year. You can be licensed in six months, but that is booking it. Record numbers of applications right now for TALCB.

I wouldn't expect to make much if anything during training. Although, depending on what market you're in and how much you want to work, you can make decent money when you're licensed or certified.

Not sure about the outlook of the industry long term.

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This is not accurate, unless you are talking about some license type I am not familiar with.

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The requirements were recently changed for liscensed and certified residential appraisers.

Trainee is the same as it has been since 2013 and CG is still a minimum of 3 years + 3k hours?

DallasAggie0 said:

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Trainee is the same as it has been since 2013 and CG is still a minimum of 3 years + 3k hours?

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Trainee license doesn't require experience hours, just 79 hours of courses.

All other licensing levels were reduced significantly last year.

https://www.talcb.texas.gov/potential-license-holder/appraiser-trainee

CG is still 3k hours, but they cut the time in half to 18 months minimum. Hours for certified res and license were reduced by like 500 hours and time cut in half.

Where the hurt is going to come is in commercial appraisers.

Most young out of college types at JLL or similar realize very quickly that the knowledge and experience you gain from appraisal pays off so much more in just about any other avenue of commercial real estate.

Appraisal rates have also been extremely stagnant for a very long time. I could definitely see demand for competent appraisers forcing banks to pay (and charge the client) more.

aggie appraiser said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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mazag08 said:

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GCRanger said:

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Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

---

The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

---

The average is not that high, but it is over 50, probably 55ish. In ten years there won't be many left and the plan is not so much to replace them with new appraisers, it is to replace them with technology.

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Where is the best move for a residential appraiser with experience?

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Texas is pretty good, but the Northwest is the most under supplied

Shooter McGavin said:

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aggie appraiser said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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mazag08 said:

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GCRanger said:

---

Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

---

The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

---

The average is not that high, but it is over 50, probably 55ish. In ten years there won't be many left and the plan is not so much to replace them with new appraisers, it is to replace them with technology.

---

Where is the best move for a residential appraiser with experience?

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Texas is pretty good, but the Northwest is the most under supplied

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No, not in location, but occupation. If the industry contracts to the point of becoming unsustainable, where is best move for a residential appraiser?

aggie appraiser said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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aggie appraiser said:

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Shooter McGavin said:

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mazag08 said:

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GCRanger said:

---

Why is it dying? What's replacing it?

---

The average age of appraisers is almost 65, and people aren't willing to spend 2 years getting licensed while making very little money.

---

The average is not that high, but it is over 50, probably 55ish. In ten years there won't be many left and the plan is not so much to replace them with new appraisers, it is to replace them with technology.

---

Where is the best move for a residential appraiser with experience?

---

Texas is pretty good, but the Northwest is the most under supplied

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No, not in location, but occupation. If the industry contracts to the point of becoming unsustainable, where is best move for a residential appraiser?

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Good question. The Realtor and loan officer options are not that great either. Both are changing as rapidly.

I honestly don't know. There may be consulting jobs or you could do a combo Realtor/appraiser, which is how I plan to ride it out. I've got about ten years to go and think I might make it.

If you figure it out, let me know - I might join you.

Residential appraisal is still very lucrative for those who take the time to establish themselves and are willing to work their ass off.

The market will correct. If there is more demand for appraisals than supply of appraisers, pay for existing ones will go up, barriers to entry will go down, or a combo of both.

I wouldn't sweat it. Just keep working hard.

People that do good work and are willing to stick it out are going to be greatly rewarded once the next recession hits. What passes for a commercial appraisal for a federally insured bank is pretty damn shocking right now. I've always said these when it comes to appraisal (or a lot of professions for that matter) is that you can have cheap, fast, and good, pick any two. Right now, cheap and fast is winning.

mazag08 said:

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Residential appraisal is still very lucrative for those who take the time to establish themselves and are willing to work their ass off.

The market will correct. If there is more demand for appraisals than supply of appraisers, pay for existing ones will go up, barriers to entry will go down, or a combo of both.

I wouldn't sweat it. Just keep working hard.

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What do you consider lucrative? I make decent money, but the hours are insane.

aa, did you start working as an appraiser right out of college?

I work pretty stupid hours when I want to and take time off whenever I feel like it. It's a very good paying gig, especially if you have decent clients. Yeah it's work at times, but that's entirely up to me. (at least while the market is strong)

I've worked just as hard at other jobs making a third or the quarter of the amount doing the same thing as OP's wife. Hence the reason I didn't want to get involved with this thread, I know her and I'm where she got this hairbrained idea from. She knows what I make and the effort that it would take. My old boss would take her on as a trainee, making decent money with a fair split, or I would. He has more than enough work to go around.

Maybe me taking this up 14 years after college, after other crappy low pay for the amount of work jobs, tints my opinion of the work load and compensation but I don't think it does. Oh, it sometimes gets lost in the temporary frustration of a crappy client or situation that I'm making a pretty damn good hourly rate as long as I stay away from the rural work. Hell, I can get bent out of shape for a 1004D, and that's probably an hours worth of effort when all said and done. Being in a smaller market like San Antonio where nothing is more than 30 minutes from each other and there is no traffic to speak of outside of peak rush hour helps I'm sure. Do I want the headache of running a firm? No. But the busy single man gig is a good job by most people's standard.

Another big market downturn is my one worry, but San Antonio just seems to chug along at its own pace, knowing neither the excessive highs nor lows that other's have. (That could change, for sure)

All that said I'm now sitting here looking at this report and just wondering where the ever living hell the realtor got this list price from.

LOL.

I'm going to go work on my shack and worry about it tomorrow.

p_bubel said:

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aa, did you start working as an appraiser right out of college?

I work pretty stupid hours when I want to and take time off whenever I feel like it. It's a very good paying gig, especially if you have decent clients. Yeah it's work at times, but that's entirely up to me. (at least while the market is strong)

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No, I worked in the corporate world for about 10 years.

The pay ain't all that great once you account for expenses, no vacation, continuing education, health insurance, no sick leave, and the hours worked. Granted, it was a hell of a lot easier before I started on my own and started trying to do things the right way.

Still interested to hear what is lucrative and how many hours it takes to make it to lucrative.