How to become Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate in 2024

Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate Appraise real estate, exclusively, and estimate its fair value. May assess taxes in accordance with prescribed schedules.

Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate is Also Know as

In different settings, Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate is titled as

  • Appraiser
  • Assessor
  • Certified Real Estate Appraiser
  • Commercial Appraiser
  • County Assessor
  • Field Appraiser
  • Real Estate Appraiser
  • Real Property Appraiser
  • Tax Assessor
  • Valuation Consultant

Education and Training of Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

Training Required for Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate in different industries are

What Do Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate do?

  • Compute final estimation of property values, taking into account such factors as depreciation, replacement costs, value comparisons of similar properties, and income potential.
  • Prepare written reports that estimate property values, outline methods by which the estimations were made, and meet appraisal standards.
  • Inspect new construction and major improvements to existing structures to determine values.
  • Collect and analyze relevant data to identify real estate market trends.
  • Prepare and maintain current data on each parcel assessed, including maps of boundaries, inventories of land and structures, property characteristics, and any applicable exemptions.
  • Explain assessed values to property owners and defend appealed assessments at public hearings.
  • Identify the ownership of each piece of taxable property.
  • Inspect properties, considering factors such as market value, location, and building or replacement costs to determine appraisal value.
  • Complete and maintain assessment rolls that show the assessed values and status of all property in a municipality.
  • Review information about transfers of property to ensure its accuracy, checking basic information on buyers, sellers, and sales prices and making corrections as necessary.
  • Explain real and personal property taxes to property owners.
  • Conduct regular reviews of property within jurisdictions to determine changes in property due to construction or demolition.
  • Establish uniform and equitable systems for assessing all classes and kinds of property.
  • Examine income records and operating costs of income properties.
  • Evaluate land and neighborhoods where properties are situated, considering locations and trends or impending changes that could influence future values.
  • Maintain familiarity with aspects of local real estate markets.
  • Search public records for transactions such as sales, leases, and assessments.
  • Check building codes and zoning bylaws to determine any effects on the properties being appraised.
  • Verify legal descriptions of properties by comparing them to county records.
  • Interview persons familiar with properties and immediate surroundings, such as contractors, home owners, and realtors, to obtain pertinent information.
  • Photograph interiors and exteriors of properties to assist in estimating property value, substantiate findings, and complete appraisal reports.
  • Obtain county land values and sales information about nearby properties to aid in establishment of property values.
  • Examine the type and location of nearby services, such as shopping centers, schools, parks, and other neighborhood features, to evaluate their impact on property values.
  • Estimate building replacement costs, using building valuation manuals and professional cost estimators.
  • Draw land diagrams to be used in appraisal reports to support findings.
  • Testify in court as to the value of a piece of real estate property.
  • Calculate tax bills for properties by multiplying assessed values by jurisdiction tax rates.
  • Approve applications for property tax exemptions or deductions.
  • Analyze trends in sales prices, construction costs, and rents, to assess property values or determine the accuracy of assessments.
  • Determine taxability of properties, using methods such as field inspection, structural measurement, calculation, sales analysis, market trend studies, and income and expense analysis.

Qualities of Good Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

  • Appraisal, mapping, and comparison data reporting systems
  • Carbon monoxide detectors
  • Desktop computers
  • Electronic flood maps
  • Electronic maps
  • Flood Insights
  • Handheld distance meters
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser measuring devices
  • Mapping and geographic analysis systems
  • Mapping or location-based analysis systems
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Real estate mapping and property description systems
  • Ultrasonic distance measurers

Technology Skills required for Appraisers and Assessors of Real Estate

  • a la mode Pocket TOTAL
  • a la mode WinTOTAL
  • ACI Appraiser's Choice
  • Apex IV Assessor
  • Apex IV Fee Appraiser
  • Apex MobileSketch
  • Apple iOS
  • Ascend Property Assessment
  • Bradford ClickFORMS
  • Bruno Realty eNeighboorhoods
  • Business Management Systems Municipal Geographic Management System MGMS
  • Compass Municipal Services CAMAlot
  • Computer assisted mass appraisal CAMA software
  • Concierge Systems Report Concierge
  • Construction Management Software ProEst
  • Cost estimating software
  • CPR International GeneralCOST Estimator
  • CPR Visual Estimator
  • Database software
  • Emerald Data Deed-Chek
  • eTrac
  • FBS Data Systems Flexmls
  • GCS Property Assessment and Tax Billing
  • Geographic information system GIS systems
  • Geomechanical design analysis GDA software
  • Google Meet
  • Google Workspace software
  • Govern Software GovMap
  • Govern Software Land and Permits Management System
  • Greenbrier Graphics Deed Plotter
  • Hansen CAMA
  • Howard and Friends Computer CMA Plus
  • HP 49G+ Appraiser Fee Calculator
  • Informatik MapDraw Deed Mapper
  • Manatron CustomCAMA
  • Manatron MVP Tax
  • Manatron ProVal Plus
  • Manufacturing Technology Costimater
  • Mass appraisal records system MARS
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • MicroSolve CAMA
  • Modellium PariTOP
  • Multiple listing service software
  • Online title search and property report software
  • Operating system software
  • Real Edge
  • Real Estate Center Caparate Calculator
  • RealData Comparative Lease Analysis
  • Realty Tools Toolkit for Market Share
  • REI Wise Commercial
  • RPIS Silent CMA
  • Softree Technical Systems Terrain Tools
  • TietoEnator ProMatch
  • ValueTech Report Builder
  • Visual PAMSPro
  • Web browser software
  • Wilson's Computer Applications RealEasy Appraisals
  • Wilson's Computer Applications RealEasy Photos Plus
  • WinEstimator WinEst
  • WinGap
  • Word processing software
  • Yardi software