Last week another person called wanting to get into the appraisal business.  He said that he liked looking at houses, inspecting, measuring and staying out of the office.  What this person didn't know is that an appraiser often spends 2/3 of his/her time in the office in preparation for inspecting (research, mapping, etc.) and then producing the appraisal report. Now I refer these callers to this webpage and invite them to call back if they are still interested.

Recently a real estate agent made the statement that many people she had talked to that wanted to become real estate appraisers, say that appraisers wont hire them in order to restrict competition. While this could be a minor reason, there are more serious reasons. These reasons are in part: 

1. The full appraisal job takes a broad computer knowledge.
2. Working with a trainee takes the appraiser out of production.
3. The trainee has limited or no concept of how long it takes to become
   efficient. It will take 3-4 years to achieve a good level of production.
   The liability from not catching a trainees mistakes can be disastrous.
4. Even after some basic training, the appraiser often spends more time
   making corrections on a trainees work than doing it him/herself.
5. Taking the basic courses for a registering a trainee teaches theory and
   terminology and barely scratched the surface of practical applications.
6. Deadlines: A trainee is ready to leave at a reasonable time. The appraiser
   has a lender who will be calling the next morning and has to work until the job is done.
7. Detail Oriented. Focus, concentration and attention to detail is critical.
8. Mentor: A mentor is not one that sits with the "mentored" all day explaining the process step by step. The success of the "mentored" depends on self-intiative and advance preparation.
9. The trainee needs to spend hours reading about many appraisal, and production
   principles before and after the appraiser explanations.
10. Disruptions: Teaching someone new to group their task and move on to the next task and meeting with the appraiser at periodic intervals, may not fit the trainees
    former work habits. Disruptions are disastrous to the appraisers production.
11. Low Pay...until important experience levels are reached.

When one person I knew, asked me about appraising and how much he could make, I asked him how much he knew about computers. He had some basics but said that he could learn on the job. A corporation can afford the time (if they choose to hire the individual) for an employee to learn most of their skills on the job. A small business cant afford this luxury. If the computer skills are not enhanced, a new trainee or adminAssist would have to spend a great deal of his/her off time to advance these skills. The computer skills/software/etc. are noted in a spreadsheet listed in the following link:

Computer Skills/Needs

A lady interested in entering the appraisal business came to my office to discuss the logistics of becoming an appraiser. She brought her loan officer boyfriend, at my invitation, to join in the meeting. After explaining some of the process of appraising, he stood up and stated that his girl friend was a college graduate, very intelligent (which Im sure is true), and that she could learn anything in this office in a couple of weeks (I couldnt smell any marijuana but something had him confused). Many successful loan officers are good at sales but the production, processing, and other activities are done in another department.

It can take 3 months for an administrative assistant to develop a good level of efficiency, under the best circumstances. When a small business hires an administrative assistant, or takes time with a potential trainee and the decision is made that the work relationship is not working, the business is setback.