More Education or More Experience for Appraisers?

It appears that some appraisers have now decided in their wisdom that the combination of education and experience that were used successfully over the past years to form an entry barrier to those seeking an appraisal credential should now be changed.  In an effort to wrench control from state governments who don't correctly "evaluate the quality of appraisal experience" it is now being suggested that more education should be required for commercial licensing but less for residential licensing. Of course, that makes perfect sense doesn't it?

One has to ask oneself why don't the qualifications and standards now used to establish appraiser competency work?  Thousands of hours of experience and hundreds of hours of education and a degree apparently don't guarantee that appraisers are competent, will a Master’s degree and appraiser competency testing of their experience fill in the "holes" that apparently still exist?  I doubt it.

If regulators don't think appraisers are currently qualified to do much of the work that they are now doing why not make each of them pass a test specific to a variety of appraisal specialties to earn licensing "permits" or "endorsements?"  If they simply don't possess the knowledge required to competently do the work they wouldn't be licensed to accept the specific specialty assignment. 

I think there could be 10 or more specialty tested areas that could include for example; cell towers, billboards, eminent domain, easements, gaming, golf courses, going-concerns and public utilities.  Maybe even c-stores, fast food and complex retail.  I’m sure that there are a number of areas where many appraisers with little or no experience are weak.  If an appraiser passes the test they should be able to claim competency unless their work proves otherwise.  

While licensing today allows appraisers to do any type of appraisal, and some appraisers must be ignoring disclosure and experience requirements to accept work they can't competently complete, proving that they have a "permit" or "endorsement" to do it could slow some of the unqualified parties down.  It's more likely that a competent appraiser would end up with an assignment if testing was required.

Forcing an advanced appraisal degree on appraisers isn't going to better qualify them for specialty appraisal work and evaluating each individual's appraisal experience is potential a nightmare.  You may have completed an appraisal on a neighborhood gaming facility but that doesn't mean you are qualified to appraise the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel.  How many man-hours can a regulator or organization spend evaluating each appraisers experience, and are they going to be unbiased if they have to evaluate non-members?  Testing puts appraisers on an equal footing.  Appraisal organizations represent some but not all appraisers, they have their limitations.

I guess as a commercial appraiser after many years in the business I know what I don't know.  It's like programming a computer, you may know the "C++" language but not "Java."  If you are crazy enough to think that you can learn the language as you work on an assignment you are doomed to fail.  It doesn't just come to you unless you are a genius, and there aren't as many of those as people imagine there are.  With enough appraisal examples you may be able to recreate an assignment that appears credible but it may fall apart when you haven't grasped the entirety of the property

Not that it matters to most but I'm all-in for making sure that the appraiser who accepts an appraisal assignment is qualified to do it, I just don't think more education for every licensee is going to be the answer, and I don't think an appraiser organization review of everyone's experience is that helpful either.

Maybe there are other ways to bolster credibility and the confidence of the public that they are getting an appraiser who understands a specialty area but this method would definitely be better than third-party reviews of claimed experience.

For more appraisal information contact Glenn J. Rigdon MA, MRICS, ASA is a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada based appraiser who can be contacted via email or via his business website known as Appraiser Las Vegas  (http://www.appraiserlasvegas.com), or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website or visit my public profile at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/glenn-rigdon-ma-mrics-asa/1a/30b/879/

Article source: http://www.appraisalarticles.com/General-Appraisal-Articles/Appraisal-Industry/4630-More-Education-or-More-Experience-for-Appraisers.html