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GUIDE TO BEING A CERTIFIED GENERAL APPRAISER 1

A Guide To Being A Certified General Appraiser

Marta Dopita

Salt Lake Community College

 A GUIDE TO BEING A CERTIFIED GENERAL APPRAISER 2

General Appraiser and Business Owner are the career paths that I strive for and chose to

investigate. These two paths are not so different from each other but they both require a great

deal of time and education to achieve. Throughout the analysis of these careers I will explore

what these careers entail on a daily basis, what it takes to get to the end result, what the pros and

cons of the career consist of and whether or not this career is the right one for me.

A Certified General appraiser has the ability to perform all types of real estate appraisals.

This means that he/she is able to submit a professional opinion of value based on facts pertaining

to the current market on any type of property. For real estate appraising, Certified General is the

highest certification attainable, typically when one becomes a general appraiser they typically

become a business owner by starting their own appraisal firm.

According to Certified General Appraiser and former CFO of UDOT (Utah Department

of Transportation), Badi Mahmood, a regular day for an appraiser is, fun and stress free.(Badi)

The reason being that appraisers are independent contractors, so you are solely in charge of

determining the amount of money and work you will be doing for the day; this is where the stress

free part comes in. I have had the pleasure of working for Badi for more than eight years now

observing his profession. An average day of an appraiser begins with being self-motivated, so

you may start working whenever youd like but if you plan on making any money or receiving

any work then a you must plan your day accordingly. We begin between 9-10am and the first

task of the day is checking emails and company accounts to see if any orders have come in for
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the day. Receiving an order requires soliciting work from several companies, mostly lenders and

AMCs (Appraisal Management Companies) which include: portfolio lenders, banks and any type

of lending institution related to real estate. (AMCs are companies that were implemented by the

federal government to pose as the middlemen between appraisers and lenders to reduce

fraudulent transactions) Badis main focus on types of properties to appraise are residential

homes because he has been in business for more than forty years, is 83 years old and residential

appraisals are the most common and have the fastest turn around time. However, throughout his

career he has accomplished every type of appraisal there is and to become a Certified General,

one must accomplish a variety of appraisals to receive certification. There are hundreds of types

of appraisals that can be completed as sub-categories to the following conditions: re-financing,

buying or selling a property (residential, commercial, vacant land); bank owned properties

(foreclosures); divorce, eminent domain (government/ not in public interest), redevelopment

(redevelopment agencies); estate probate (when someone doesnt have a will or trust);

moratorium (hold on a property); investors for vacant land (generally requires 3 or 4 appraisals);

prospective value (value in the future or bank loan); retrospective value (built and the property

portfolio was sold to the government, usually 2 years old). Each of these situations require an

appraisal making every day a new challenge and never boring. Soliciting these companies to

receive work is not an easy task, it requires countless hours of sending emails and calling to

remind them that you are ready to take on more work.

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Once youve established a good relationship with a company they tend to send you a

steady stream of work. The information they send you is in the form of an appraisal order

request and it consists of; the address of the property, the persons name that is requesting an

appraisal, loan/FHA number, lender number, and if it is a sale or purchase the REPC (Real Estate

Purchase Contract). With this information the appraiser is able immediately begin research on

the subject property (property being appraised). Based on the information found, the appraiser

determines the type of work required for this property whether its a: Jumbo, condo, townhome,

bi-level/split-level, tri-level, rambler, etc. A Jumbo appraisal is done on a residential property

that has an estimated value of $900,000 or more. These types of properties demand more work

because they are usually larger and dont have many similar properties near them, so the

appraiser will expect higher compensation due to a requirement of additional research and drive

time. If the payment the lender is offering substantiates the property type the appraiser accepts

the order, if the fee does not cover potential time spent on the appraisal, the appraiser bids on the

fee and waits on whether the lender approves the fee or if they choose to send the order to a

different appraiser who is willing to comply with the fee provided. Once an order is accepted, the

appraiser immediately begins more extensive research on the subject property and properties

within a 1-3 mile radius that have been sold within 6 months and exhibit major similarities in

size [above grade (upper level(s) and main floor) and below grade (basement), style, lot size,

location, view, energy efficiency, room count, etc. A basic conventional loan requires that the
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appraiser finds a minimum of four properties that have been sold within 6 months (comparables)

and 2 properties that are currently for sale (comparable listings). For FHA loans the requirements

are 6 comparables and 3 listings. This research is done through the county tax assessor and the

MLS (Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc.). After the appraiser has fulfilled

the required research of similar properties an inspection of the subject property must be

scheduled within 24 hours upon receipt of the order. This inspection can be scheduled with the

selling/buying agent or with the owner of the property.

An inspection consists of measuring the subject and taking photos of every room as well

as a short interview with the owner/agent to find if there have been any major renovations, what

the appraisal is being used for, if the home has been sold/listed recently and if there are any

major deficiencies that need to be addressed. After the inspection, the appraiser is required to

take original photos of all the comparable sales and listings. These photos are only of the exterior

of each property. At soon as the inspection is completed and the photos of all the comparables

are taken, Badi likes to go to lunch.

After lunch we sketch our measurements of the subject property and fill out the required

federal forms with all the information we have acquired from our research, inspection and

exterior inspections of all the comparables. Within the required forms there is a grid that requires

all information from the comparables and then each difference is compared to the subject with a
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+/- dollar value (an adjustment). For example, the value of a full bathroom with four fixtures is

$4,000, so if the subject has 2 bathrooms and the comparable has 3, the adjustment would be

-4000 from the sold price of the comparable sale to match the bathroom count of the subject.

Once all the adjustments are completed each comparable has an adjusted value and these values

determine the value of the subject property. As soon as all of these forms are filled and the value

of the home is determined the appraisal is ready to be sent to the company that ordered it and

were done.

Although the process of completing an appraisal may seem tedious, the challenge of

every new property keeps it interesting and exciting. But to become a Certified General it

requires a lot of time and hard work. The first step to becoming an appraiser is finding a certified

supervisor appraiser that is willing to take you under his/her wing. ("Appraisal Institute

Education | Appraisal Institute") The next step is acquiring your trainee license which requires 75

hours of state required classes, an exam, and registration with the state with a background test

and finger print submission. After becoming a trainee you must complete 2000 hours within 1-5

years of appraisal experience under direct supervision of a certified appraiser, have an

Associates degree, complete another 75 hours of class time and pass a Utah Division of Real

Estate exam to become a Licensed Appraiser. To continue toward being a Certified General

appraiser the next step requires becoming a Certified Residential Appraiser, which entails an

additional 500 experience hours, 2 years of work experience, a Bachelors degree, an exam and

another 50 hours of class time. Finally, to receive a Certified General Appraiser license you must

complete an additional 100 hours of class time, 1000 of appraisal experience (1500 experience

hours throughout the receipt of all licenses must be non-residential), within a minimum of 30
 A GUIDE TO BEING A CERTIFIED GENERAL APPRAISER 7

months, a Bachelors degree, submit appraisal samples to the Utah Division of Real Estate and

take the exam. ("Utah Division Of Real Estate")(webinars)

With every licensure level the appraiser becomes more knowledgeable of new types of

appraisals giving the appraiser the ability to consistently earn a larger salary. As a trainee you

can earn between $20,000 per year to $25,000 a year and as a Certified General Appraiser you

can earn between $75,000 per year to $113,000 per year. ("Certified General Appraiser

Certification Salary - Average Job Salaries - Payscale") This is especially a vital time for new

appraisers because the market seems to be at a consistent level and there is a high demand for

appraisers. Following the crash in the housing market in 2008 appraising was in low demand, so

appraisers began to dissipate. Salt Lake City is experiencing an influx in housing and it is

projected to continue because the city is continuously growing, this will bring stability and a high

demand for appraisers. ("Demand Outpacing Supply In Utah Housing Market, Analysts Say")

However, if a sudden turn in the market takes hold, work will be scarce and demand will be low.

Due to the direct relation to the housing market, the work isnt always consistent. A few

months may be slow and others may be extremely busy, so every month may differ in pay.

Another disadvantage to appraising is that most appraisers are independent contractors, so all

expenses related to the business relies solely on the appraiser and the appraiser doesn't receive a

salary or hourly wage they are compensated per completed appraisal. Also, independent

contractors dont receive benefits, so all insurance is also out of pocket unless an appraiser is

hired to an established appraising firm that offers consistent pay and benefits. The benefits to

appraising outweigh the disadvantages by far and this is due to personal choice. I thoroughly
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enjoy being my own boss because I am more motivated to work harder for my own benefit than I

am making and accomplishing goals for somebody else. This is something I have always

struggled with but finding this opportunity and being able to train with such a well-established

supervisor has shed light on how important it is to love what you are doing to truly accomplish

your goals. This opportunity has been sitting in front of me for nearly eight years and I didnt

truly see the benefits until approximately a year ago when the man I was doing administrative

work for offered to compensate me for my appraising class hours if I were to become his trainee.

This man is Badi, Ive mentioned him earlier but I will now take you into a more in-depth look

into this mans life.

Youve been interviewing me for eight years, why in the hell do you need to interview me now?

is the first thing Badi said to me when I wanted to sit down with him for a formal interview. So,

we didnt get to have a formal interview but while we worked side-by-side for several weeks I

would ask him questions pertaining to his work and how it led him to become a Certified

General Appraiser. Badi was born in Baghdad, Iraq but when he was seventeen, he said, my dad

had enough of me and the trouble I kept causing so- he shipped me off to the U.S. with my nanny

and sent me $100 a month for school and that was it. He started his journey in New York City,

lived there for about a year and ended up in Denver, Colorado where he attended Denver

University. Badi received his Bachelors degree in Finance & Banking and is always saying that,

those were the best years of my life. While he was in college, Badi would work as a kids train
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conductor and received tips of .50 cents from the mothers, this is what helped him pay for tuition.

He told me, that was the best job that I had and all of those moms would give me .50 cent to .75

cent tips for making their kids happy, those were big bucks back then, he then graduated, met

his wife in Denver and moved to Salt Lake City because that was her home state. His first job

was accounting for UDOT (Utah Department of Transportation) where he became the CFO

within a year. Badi only stayed with UDOT for three years before finding a passion for real

estate. While working for UDOT he also became a real estate agent, then became a broker, then

found a passion in appraising and became a Certified General Appraiser. Badi has done

appraisals on major developments in Utah, for example, he appraised the first big development in

Jeremy Ranch and when Eagle Mountain was vacant land, he appraised that area also. He has

also had several trainees that he has helped become very successful appraisers and he has always

been a big believer in the intelligence of women. While many were limiting opportunities for

women Badi would protest those beliefs by purposely employing as many women as he could in

his profession that has a predominantly male presence. Many of these women are very successful

appraisers and entrepreneurs today (Shanna). If you were to meet Badi, upon first glance, many

people would shrug him off because of his age, but because of his age, his experience and love

for his profession he is dedicated, hard working and has reached many of his goals in life. He is

one of the most intelligent people I have had the pleasure of getting to know and he may be 83

years old but he knows what hes doing better than any other appraiser I have met and his
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memory is absolutely incredible. He comes to the office every morning between 9am and 10am

and leaves at 5pm, every day; Sunday to Sunday, no exceptions.

Knowing this man and sharing the love of the profession with him has truly awakened a

passion in me that I didnt know was there, so because of this man my life has changed in ways I

could have only dreamed of. To many it may not seem like much, but this is my career and my

path. I will continue on my appraiser expedition and work hard to become a Certified General

Appraiser, so perhaps I can make a difference in some body elses life one day.
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REFERENCES

"Appraisal Institute Education | Appraisal Institute". Appraisalinstitute.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 30

Apr. 2017.

Badi Mahmood Interview [Personal interview]. (2017, March 03).

"Certified General Appraiser Certification Salary - Average Job Salaries - Payscale".

Payscale.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

"Demand Outpacing Supply In Utah Housing Market, Analysts Say". DeseretNews.com. N.p.,
2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Shanna Thatcher Interview [Personal interview]. (2017, March 07).

"Utah Division Of Real Estate". Realestate.utah.gov. 2017. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

webinars, Pro-Series et al. "Mckissock Appraisal School". Mckissock.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 30
Apr. 2017.