Howdy,

My wife and I recently moved up to Colorado. We are currently finishing off our training period to become Certified Residential Real Appraisers. (I'm waiting for my exam date, and my wife is almost 4 months in).

Any advice on moving forward in the profession from those of you who are new to the field, or those of you who have decades of experience would be much appreciated.

Thanks and Gig'em

Never, ever, ever, ever admit you are wrong.

PS - good luck on the exam and the new career.

aggiebq03+ said:

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Never, ever, ever, ever admit you are wrong.

PS - good luck on the exam and the new career.

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That's wise advice based on what I've learned so far. Thanks for the tip!

I took an order for a berm home a few months ago, and after the 2 or 3 reasonable comps I managed to find scattered around the valley here, I started throwing in whatever I could to bracket size, condition etc.

2 stories with basements, raised ranches, split levels you name it.

One of the more frustrating ones so far.

It appears this guy is asking for legitimate advice. Please keep your ******bag comments to yourself.

I would advise you to do something I am terrible at doing. Draw a clear boundary between work time and personal time. Working from home and working for yourself tends to blur the lines and you will end up working endlessly, skipping meals, and running yourself ragged.

Also, you need to save enough money to carry you though economic downturns, especially with both of you in the same field. This business just dies at times and will be slow for months. Always keep a nest egg.

aggie appraiser said:

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It appears this guy is asking for legitimate advice. Please keep your ******bag comments to yourself.

I would advise you to do something I am terrible at doing. Draw a clear boundary between work time and personal time. Working from home and working for yourself tends to blur the lines and you will end up working endlessly, skipping meals, and running yourself ragged.

Also, you need to save enough money to carry you though economic downturns, especially with both of you in the same field. This business just dies at times and will be slow for months. Always keep a nest egg.

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Solid advice! It definitely is tempting to blend work with personal time due to the convenience of technology. I've spent allot of time thinking about the fact that my wife and I are in an industry that has plenty of ups and downs, so right now we are taking a risk. I think the reward will be worth it though.

Lighten up Francis...

Hating on appraisers is as close to a running joke as this board has. We all need some levity here at the end of 2020.

aggiebq03+ said:

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Lighten up Francis...

Hating on appraisers is as close to a running joke as this board has. We all need some levity here at the end of 2020.

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My wife and I both held leadership positions within Aggie Bonfire. Bring the Hat, we've got thick skin.

In the next few years, our goal is to move over to the commercial side as general appraisers. We have allot of large ranching operations, and I can't imagine a demographic that I would enjoy working with more than those people.


Edit: F 2020

Judging from the posters on this board, don't be an appraiser unless you want to become a grouch!

Rule #1

OasisMan said:

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Rule #1

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You know Rooks can't post photos.

Diggity said:

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Judging from the posters on this board, don't be an appraiser unless you want to become a grouch!

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The field has its headaches just like anything; a few of which I've come across allready.

The pros far outweigh the cons, and we've formed several outstanding relationships with local bankers, Lo's, agents etc. I've loved every second of the job so far, headaches and all.

I did commercial/ranch appraisals for 8 years. Don't do it. The money is just ok, but expect little to no benefits, sporadic income and no opportunity for advancement unless you start a company and grow it with several people working for you. I'm in corporate real estate investments now and wish I'd have switched years ago, granted I wouldn't have gotten this job without the appraisal experience. The one very positive thing about it is work hours are flexible.

1939 said:

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I did commercial/ranch appraisals for 8 years. Don't do it. The money is just ok, but expect little to no benefits, sporadic income and no opportunity for advancement unless you start a company and grow it with several people working for you. I'm in corporate real estate investments now and wish I'd have switched years ago, granted I wouldn't have gotten this job without the appraisal experience. The one very positive thing about it is work hours are flexible.

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As an appraiser told my assistant when she had an appraisal for her refi...

"The hours are flexible. You can work any sixteen hours that you want to work each day".

1939 said:

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I did commercial/ranch appraisals for 8 years. Don't do it. The money is just ok, but expect little to no benefits, sporadic income and no opportunity for advancement unless you start a company and grow it with several people working for you. I'm in corporate real estate investments now and wish I'd have switched years ago, granted I wouldn't have gotten this job without the appraisal experience. The one very positive thing about it is work hours are flexible.

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Different market area I guess.

Most residential appraisers here seem to average 2 a day (year long) with fees similar to what I've seen from other market areas (around 4 to 5). I met up with another Aggie appraiser here who's a bit of a masochist, but averages far more than 2 a day, while collecting 100% after going off on his own - at 4 to 5 an order on average. He isn't even 30 yet...im definitely impressed by his work ethic.

On the commercial side they're doing well from what I'm hearing, but I don't have any experience on that end yet. Their fees are about an order of magnitude greater than ours.

Commercial fees are more but a lot more work involved in each property. I've never done residential but I imagine commercial is less of a hassle given the parties involved are typically much more knowledgeable than residential. Much less people whining about their appraisals who don't really know what they're talking about.

I used to do general commercial but moved into a specialized area with a structured salary and clients who aren't lenders and its heaven. Most of the time my reports never even get read past the first few pages.

I have a feeling some people don't read my reports past the first few pages either lol.

The world of appraisal would be better if everyone understood the difference between cost, and value. That seems to be one area that many people get hung up on.

Yea I imagine many in residential think it translates but a lot of times it doesn't. There's a lot less frivolous spending on commercial properties so I didn't encounter it that much.

My advice, thoroughly check your reports before submitting. I just received my appraisal report from my mortgage company on my new home. The appraiser submitted a couple of photos of another house, labeled as my house, in the appraisal. Sloppy work will get noticed.

We lean more towards using "Total" software where I'm at, which has a handy E&O check, but it doesn't catch mistakes like that.

Hopefully nothing was missed that affected value.

I'm just checking back on this thread, sorry but there is no way you're friend is doing 4-5 residential appraisals a day, its not possible.

I'm at two a day, maybe a little more if I can get a run of simple ones or I don't have to drive all over the city. My favorite part of the job is after doing the inspection they ask me the value like it's antiques road show or something.

1939 said:

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I did commercial/ranch appraisals for 8 years. Don't do it. The money is just ok, but expect little to no benefits, sporadic income and no opportunity for advancement unless you start a company and grow it with several people working for you. I'm in corporate real estate investments now and wish I'd have switched years ago, granted I wouldn't have gotten this job without the appraisal experience. The one very positive thing about it is work hours are flexible.

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Just depends on the situation I guess. I'm currently billing out between $600,000 to $700,000 in commercial appraisals annually. Been extremely busy. Put in a lot of hours but hours are really flexible. I love my job, but the pace is hectic. However, I'm 30 so I enjoy it. Real Estate Investment might be something I'd be interested down the line though.

Sher Thing said:

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1939 said:

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I did commercial/ranch appraisals for 8 years. Don't do it. The money is just ok, but expect little to no benefits, sporadic income and no opportunity for advancement unless you start a company and grow it with several people working for you. I'm in corporate real estate investments now and wish I'd have switched years ago, granted I wouldn't have gotten this job without the appraisal experience. The one very positive thing about it is work hours are flexible.

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Just depends on the situation I guess. I'm currently billing out between $600,000 to $700,000 in commercial appraisals annually. Been extremely busy. Put in a lot of hours but hours are really flexible. I love my job, but the pace is hectic. However, I'm 30 so I enjoy it. Real Estate Investment might be something I'd be interested down the line though.

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Holy hell dude based on my crappy math that's a deal out the door every other day. Is that based on typical lender fees?

May need to get back into the fee split world

We live in Colorado and doing a refi on our house we bought in 2019. Appraisal fee was $630 and it took two weeks to get on the schedule. One company said they'd do it for $750 but I waited instead. The guy doing the appraisal was friendly and discussed how many he's been doing lately. Crazy busy.

Well interesting turn - just heard back from the mortgage lender and the appraiser wrote that our value was subject to project completion. However, there's no project going on... nice.

I am considering going to appraisal school but am worried about finding a mentor after I finish. That seems like the biggest barrier of entry for most people. I would not want to get all of that work done and not be able to use it. If I was certain I had a mentor after I completed it I would start tomorrow.

My husband is in exactly that position. He has taken all the courses to be a trainee appraiser, but he can't find a sponsor. He's heard a lot of "call back in a year."

That's my fear as well.

I had a sponsor before Covid hit but he has since shut his office down and is strictly solo. I am not about to invest the time into the school without knowing I have a mentor on the other side, especially since I will be taking a pay cut just to do it. Especially after reading stories like this one.

I sympathize and wish yall the best.

Maybe contact an AMC directly, instead of trying to track down individual appraisers.

AMC Registry