Are you looking for a new job? How about one where you can work from anywhere you want, make your own hours, have all the business you can handle, and have no boss? That job exists but not many people know about it....That job is a licensed real estate appraiser in South Florida!
What is a real estate appraiser you ask? A real estate appraiser is a person hired by banks and mortgage companies (and plenty others we will talk about later) to value real estate. When someone buys a property in Florida and gets a mortgage, or they refinance their existing mortgage, the bank or mortgage company will hire a real estate appraiser to estimate the market value of the real estate. That's where a licensed rel estate appraiser comes in!
To become a real estate appraiser in South Florida you have to be over the age of 18 for starters. From there, you have to become a “Registered Trainee” with the State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). For up to date requirements and changes always check their website at http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/re/FREABLicensureInformation.html but here are the current requirements:
To become a Registered Trainee Appraiser
- Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or equivalent.
- Applicants must successfully complete 103 hours of board-approved real estate appraisal education. This is accomplished by completion of the following courses:
- 2016 - 2017 USPAP Course (15 Hours)
- Basic Appraisal Principles (30 hours)
- Basic Appraisal Procedures (30 hours)
- Florida Appraisal Law (25 Hours)
- National Appraising for the Supervisor and Trainee (3 Hours)
- Submit a completed application, fingerprints and appropriate fee.
- Fingerprinting must be done electronically for Florida applicants through PearsonVue. Appointments may be made by calling 877-238-8232.
- Out-of-state applicants must obtain a fingerprint card from the Department of Business & Professional Regulation. These cards must be completed by your local law enforcement agency and forwarded to: Florida Division of Real Estate, c/o PearsonVue, PO Box 173679, Denver, CO 80217-0679.
- Visit www.myfloridalicense.com and select "Apply for a License."
- No state examination is required
- Trainees must work under the direct supervision of a Certified Residential or Certified General Appraiser.
- Successful completion of 45 hours of prescribed post-license education is required prior to the second license renewal.
Make sure you pay attention to the “board-approved real estate appraisal education” part. It's extremely important to verify from whatever school you take your classes from (GoldCoast or McKissock for example) that they are approved! They should be able to produce documentation in the form of a certificate.
Once you have taken the classes and hopefully learned a lot about what South Florida real estate appraisers do, the next part is to find someone to work under. Even if you had to stop right here you have hopefully learned enough to understand how buying and selling real estate works and how real estate is valued. This is an extremely important life lesson all on its own and well worth the cost of the classes! The hardest part in becoming a licensed real estate estate property appraiser in South Florida is definitely going to be the next part – finding someone to hire you when you are only a “registered trainee”. The State of Florida and the government agencies (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) know you are new to this and know you don't know what you are doing yet! So they make you work directly under the direct supervision of a Certified Residential or Certified General Appraiser.
I highly encourage you to do whatever you can to make that happen! Find a Certified Residential or Certified General Appraiser in your area and offer to help them for free if you can! Offer to help them measure houses, take pictures, write the appraisal reports – anything! - you just need someone willing to help you learn and help you document your experience working with them. You need to be able to prove that you worked no less than 2,500 hours of “real property appraisal experience” in no less than 24 months. It may sound hard but it's totally worth it!
Here's why: real estate appraisers are getting older. They're dying off. It has become so hard to become a real estate appraiser that a lot of people aren't even trying! But for those that do the results can be amazing! Industry experts estimate the average age of a real estate appraiser is 55 Years old!! Think about it, by the time you can start writing real estate appraisals in Florida a big chunk of your competition will be retiring soon! What other job can you think of like that!
Why would you even want to become a real estate appraiser you ask? You can pretty much do whatever you want! That's why! Do you want to work from an office? You can. Do you want to work from your own home? You can. Wanna work 12 hours today and play golf all day tomorrow? You can! You are your own boss! How's the pay you ask? Here are the results according to a national survey conducted by the Appraisal Institute in 2014:
As you can see the majority of appraisers make between $50,000 and $99,000! That's a lot of money! But here's why you should focus on being an appraiser in South Florida as opposed to other areas of the country: South Florida has an amazing amount of increasing population, high density, and a large amount of real estate property turnover. It seems everyone wants to live here! And why not? It's beautiful and has great weather! Would you really prefer to measure a house in a snow storm and 0 degree weather than in 85 degrees and sunny weather? It's no wonder why retiring persons and celebrities who could love anywhere they want choose to live here. And because of all that buying and selling of real estate going on guess who is constantly busy? The real estate appraiser! The possibility of making much more than the national average is extremely high! And you get to play golf and take the boat out whenever you want as well!
Most of these great benefits don’t start until you become a State Certified real estate appraiser in South Florida. Here are the requirements:
- Applicants must have at least a bachelor (4-year) degree or 21 accredited college semester hours in prescribed courses.
- Applicants must be Trainee Appraisers that have completed at least 2500 hours of experience over not less than 24 calendar months.
- 200 hours of prescribed pre-certification appraisal education is required.
- Submit a completed application, form RE -2060, electronic fingerprints and appropriate fee (see c. above). The application must be accompanied by completed work logs and verification of completion of required education. Upon request, applicants may have to provide copies of reports to support claimed experience.
- Upon approval of an application, applicants will receive a letter providing the information necessary to schedule an appointment for a state examination. You must pass the state exam with a score of at least 75%.
As you can see, you have to have at least a 4 year degree or 21 hours in certain classes. And you have to have found a State Certified or General Appraiser to agree to hire you. These two reasons are why it's so hard to become an appraiser these days! Whoever hires you is liable for everything you do! Banks and mortgage companies don't hire “registered trainees” - they ONLY hire “state certified” appraisers. That's why you HAVE to do to whatever it takes to find someone to hire you. Once you find that person stick with them and help them in all aspects of the real estate appraisal business. Soak in everything they teach for when you can go out on your own. Be nice to everyone you meet – don't burn any bridges. You never know who might help you down the road and since there are so few appraisers left you want be friendly with everyone!
Once you are finally a licensed State Certified app raiser congratulate yourself. You made it! Focus on getting approved with every bank and mortgage company you come across. Soon enough, you will be getting appraisal orders on your own. It's important to not let anyone down in your early stages of being an appraiser on your own. A new client needs a RUSH appraisal due in two days? Take it! Stay up all night if you have to and get it done in one day! Exceed every expectation your clients have of you and more appraisal files than you can handle will come in. Good luck!
To know more info :- Property Appraisal Service South Florida