Anyone on here a licensed RE appraiser?

Question

After 9 years of being a loan officer at a mortgage company I am now without a job. I'm not real interested in finding another loan officer job as I was a quite burnt out at the end. Commercial or residential real estate appraising is something that I think would fit well with my skills and interests.

I've got a degree in finance and relestate, owned rental property since 2004 and worked as a loan officer for 9 years.

My question is, what kind income do appraisers make on average? I have spoken with one appraiser locally but thought there might be some appraisers on this board that could offer additional insight. Thanks

Edgar B. · Answer

try to go with one or two appraisers for a week at their office and ride along with them, it will give you what you are asking for, before cuomo put the AMC in place here in california the appraiser was receiving an average of 350 per assigment now the AMC will ask that bid on that assigment, the lowest bidder gets it, in the past months 3 appraisers that i talked to 1 had done 5 appra. the other 7 and the last one 22 in that month, they were getting from 175 to 210 per assigment, these are SFR  in average it will take 8 hours  to complete with very fast turnaround time, 1 hour for comps, 1 hour drive, 1 hour for inspection, 1 comps photos, 1hour drive back, 2 to 3 hours to type and finish, so if get the bid at 200 and you are able to get 5 a week = 1000 take 200 for expences thats 800 per week, you can multiply any way you want, it was good at the 350 to 400 pay. Drive with and get the real # for your area, and ask how much they pay for their data sources, i did not accept the bidding process with AMC's and did not renew my Lic as of 3 years ago, not many will tell you or here what they make, but if you ask in person you will figure it out, let me know what happend and good luck.

Cody Clark · Answer

Appraisal Institute has all the information you need on becoming an appraiser. You can also view jobs under their career section under the membership tab. You will need to be a trainee for 2.5 years to become a general certified appraiser. Usually you get paid during the trainee period, I start Feb 28th at an appraisal company that had a job posting on the appraisal institute website.

Edgar B. · Answer

The replies are good and to the point, on a deal that closed 2 months ago 1st person applied with B/A he was charged 435 for credit & appraisal, deal did not go well, he was returned 400 new buyer comes in with W/F he paid 450 for same things, he did buy & with FHA appraisal & appraiser got 185, if  someone knows who keeps what, it will be nice to just be informed. And  financexaminer is  right.I have no idea on your state requirements, i will keep myself only to what i know CALI, here you wont get to touch anything commercial for a while. Let's see if someone comes up with the $ allocation.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Not to get off topic, but most MLS offices allow affiliate members, like appraisers. Some allow other willing to pay the fees and whoagree to abide by the rules and I believe they have limited access, more than the public side. Members might include contractors, surveyors, title offices, closing agents, RE consultants who do not list or facilitate transactions.

Steve Babiak · Answer

A plus for being an appraiser: MLS access!

Bill Gulley · Answer

Good info above.Just wanted to comment on the income side. Long ago, when I did appraisals they were $150 for a SFD, $200/225 for a duplex and so on.  I did a commercial assessment of a gas company, half acreand a block building with a large propane tank and concrete platform, it was $1,200 as i recall.

But now, you have to earn your way up, fora license certification. Here, I believe it's 5 years (as set in hours) to go for the commercial license.

Certification is set by statute in most states now, and required to do any deal that is financied with fed funds attached to in any manner.

After you get your feet wet, and if your state allows it, you can do work in other areas as well.
If you're working with an appraiser you'll find that it depends on the purpose of the appraisal.
Attorneys have appraisals done for estates, estate planning and trusts, tax purposes, commercial properties can be done to adjust assets on the books, bankruptcies will often get an appraisal, so the type of work you go int will have a bearing on income. For example, bankruptcies might be $150 for a SFD, but it can be a letter of opinion and you might do 4 per day!

After a few years, you might look into getting with a national service and do review appraisals, reviewing the work of others who did a home appraisal, last I heard those were $100. each, but you could do one an hour and drink all the coffee you want.

I have a friend who has a very large national appraisal service and subs out work all over the country. He doesn't really do any, but mainly places commercial deals. That operation runs about 5M annually for him.

So asking what an appriaser makes is kind of like asking what a Realtor makes, if they are so so, they drive older trucks, good ones make a very nice living and drive new Fords, smarter ones make more and show up in an Escalade. A good business person with a license doesn't drive anything to an appraisal and they drive what ever they want anyplace they want to go.

Andy More · Answer

Willingtolearn,

Thanks for the detailed info! Even at 20/month at 200/deal with expenses that is still not good money IMO.

If I was working for another appraiser I assume I would have to split that 200 60/40? Is this correct?

The one appraiser I spoke with said the company he works for only does business for 4 local banks in town who are not required to use AMC's.

Also, I think I would prefer to focus on commercial if at all possible. I assume the pay on these is better since commercial lenders are not required to use AMC's

With that being said, even with the AMC's in place, dont you think the market will eventually even out. Most appraiser wont work for 20k a year I assume, therefore the bidding process will be less competitive and the prices will go up. What % of the appraisal cost is the AMC taking? We typically paid $400-$450 to the AMC, are you saying they get half?

Thanks

Anyone on here a licensed RE appraiser?

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