Real Estate Appraiser

A real estate appraiser is the one who prepares the property appraisal document, which is the value of the property. He reports an opinion of the property value which determines its price for sale. A real estate appraiser must have obtained a license and/or certification which vary by State. The appraisal license is issued following specific training programs, a period of work as a trainee, and passing one or more of regulated examinations.

Once the real estate appraiser is licensed he still has to gain experience and learn the fundamentals for the first few years. As a self starter he could either run a one man business or work for small appraisal companies or could be employed by banks. Real estate appraisers may be specialized in various disciplines. Most real estate appraisers choose to expertise in one area of practice while few appraisers practice in more than one discipline. They could choose specialties to practice such as residential, commercial and agricultural properties.

Real estate appraiser estimates the value of real property for a variety of purposes, like to assess property tax, to determine the amount of a mortgage that could be granted on a property, or to determine the sales price. They may be required to determine the value of any type of real estate although they usually specialize in appraising only a certain type of real estate like the residential buildings or business properties. They determine the value of all properties in a locality for property tax purposes or appraise properties for a variety of personal purposes like to aid in a divorce settlement, or for a property sale.

Appraisers usually work in localities they are familiar with since their knowledge of any environmental or other concerns may help in perfect evaluation of a property. The pictures of the interiors of the house are taken to document particular feature, in addition to the photos of the exterior of the building. On visiting the property, the appraiser determines the value of the property by taking into consideration the factors like comparable home sales, lease records, location, previous appraisals, as well as income potential. Appraisers spend much of their time researching and preparing reports. The real estate appraiser then puts all of their research and observations together in a detailed report, stating the precise reasoning on their arrival at the estimated value.

The appraisal process is a concise method of estimating the property value. There are six major steps involved in procedure of appraisal. First one is where the real estate appraiser prepares the definition of the problem, then the second step of preliminary survey is done and appraisal plan is laid out, then the appraiser physically evaluates the property and collects data and prepares analysis report. Fourth process is application of the three approaches to value the property, then the real estate appraiser reconcile the value indications, and the last step is to prepare the final estimate of defined value. This planned process helps the appraiser in reaching an unbiased conclusion.