Getting a Real Estate Appraisers License in California

So You want to become a real estate appraiser? Here's some background you should know.

It used to be a common thing that people would choose a career path, get hired by a company and stay in the same industry, maybe even with the same company, for a long time, possibly even to retirement. With increased global competition, many industries that used to enjoy security and rising wages/benefits have been transformed rapidly. The result is that many companies and employers have had to adapt, by downsizing, or be swallowed up in seemingly endless mergers and consolidations. I sometimes think that, in the end, there will only be a handful of companies worldwide that control everything (probably 3 or 4 "hyphenated mega-corporations" like a Time-Warner-AOL-ABC-Capital Cities and a few others). It appears likely that the current work force will face the likelihood of having to change careers several times during their working years. My employment background has included 3 career-path changes and I don't really feel like I am done yet. One of my careers has been in the residential real estate appraisal industry, in the state of California.

Becoming a licensed appraiser involves several steps. I will be describing how to do it in California, because it is what I have experience with, but it is roughly the same in most other states. The first thing to understand is that an appraiser is NOT a real estate agent or broker, although all 3 professions have licensing, educational requirements and utilize many similar skills. Appraisers cannot sell or derive commissions from the sale of real estate, unless, of course, they also possess a sales license. Similarly, agents and brokers cannot perform full certified appraisals, for lending purposes, unless they also have an appraisal license. Some people do cross-over and do both, but it is the exception rather than the norm. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that someone involved in a property sale would be prohibited from also doing the appraisal for the financing of that sale. Definite conflict-of-interest.