During my 18 years as a real estate appraiser I had numerous people ask me how they could become an appraiser and they would tell me they thought it would be a great job or business to start. They thought I was lucky to have a business where I could set my own hours, work from home and make decent money. They were wrong in most cases.
Yes, having my own business, setting my own hours, working from home and making decent money were the great parts of the life of being an appraiser, however most people don't see the other side to appraising real estate.
If ethics, honesty and integrity are important to you, the life of an appraiser isn't a career path you should follow. I know as I have ethics, integrity and I am honest and this business ate me alive. If you want a job where the better you are at something the more respected you are and your business flourishes, appraising is not for you. In the real estate appraisal business the more you lie, cheat and steal the more clients you will get and your income will increase.
Let me give you a behind the scenes look at the appraisal business and why it can slowly kill your drive and excitement for the business.
As an appraiser you probably have different personality traits than the other people in the real estate business. Appraisers typically analyze stats, properties and most are comfortable working alone. However, most people you will deal with are sales people (real estate agents, mortgage brokers, etc.) and have a completely different personality and agenda. I don't mean to bad mouth sales people, however from my experience 95% of them just want the deal done whether the appraiser has to commit fraud, overlook negatives of the property and/or market or do anything else to mislead the lender.
As an appraiser you come in at the end of the deal and you are one of the last hurdles before closing where everybody receives their checks, commissions for real estate agents and mortgage brokers, even fees for title companies and surveyors are contingent on the deal closing and the buyer and seller are stressed and looking to complete the transaction. The only person that might hold up and ruin the deal is the appraiser. This leads to the pressure from the other parties to just make the deal work, no matter what it takes.
As an honest appraiser you stand alone in the process and one of the hardest parts of the business has always been that you get your business from these other parties. This has recently changed slightly with the HVCC, however the appraisal management companies that now typically hire appraisers still pressure the appraisers to inflate values and overlook negative factors. If you don't make the deal work and inflate the value of properties and overlook negative factors they will hire an appraiser that will. You are only good to them as long as you don't make waves. Besides the value pressures of the management companies they also take part of the appraiser's fee many times 50%.
For 18 years I had to continuously find new clients and sources of appraisal business due to my honesty and integrity, but I finally shut down my business a year ago. I can honestly say it is a big relief.
If you want to become a real estate appraiser I hope you take the factors I noted above into account. It could be a great job or business, but the sales people in the real estate business will never let it be. There is too much money for everybody else to make and they are not going to let the appraiser ruin it for them.
