Education:
Appraisers & Assessors of Real Estate
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Job Outlook:
Faster than average
Education:
Bachelor's degree
Salary
Average:
$61,560.00
Hourly
Average:
$29.60
What they do:
Appraise real estate, exclusively, and estimate its fair value. May assess taxes in accordance with prescribed schedules.
On the job, you would:
- 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.
Important Qualities
Analytical skills. Property appraisers and assessors use many sources of data when estimating values. As a result, they must research and evaluate all factors before determining their estimate and producing a final report.
Customer-service skills. Because appraisers regularly interact with clients, being polite and friendly is important.
Math skills. Analyzing real estate data for valuation requires making calculations, such as square footage of land and building space, so workers must have good math skills.
Organizational skills. To successfully accomplish tasks related to appraising and assessing property, these workers need to keep good records and be methodical in completing their tasks.
Problem-solving skills. Appraising or assessing a property's value may involve unexpected problems. The ability to develop and apply alternative solutions is crucial to successfully completing the appraisal and report on time.
Time-management skills. Property appraisers and assessors often work under time constraints, sometimes appraising many properties in a single day. As a result, managing their workloads to meet deadlines is important.
Personality
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
|---|---|---|---|
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89% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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86% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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76% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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76% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. | |
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74% | Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. | |
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71% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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70% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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68% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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67% | Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles. | |
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67% | Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations. | |
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66% | Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
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78% | Enterprising - Work involves managing, negotiating, marketing, or selling, typically in a business setting, or leading or advising people in political and legal situations. Enterprising occupations are often associated with business initiatives, sales, marketing/advertising, finance, management/administration, professional advising, public speaking, politics, or law. | |
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78% | Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
|---|---|---|---|
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64% | Independence - Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy. |
Aptitude
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
|---|---|---|---|
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72% | Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
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72% | Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
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69% | Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
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69% | Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). | |
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69% | Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). | |
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66% | Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. |
Job Details
Responsibilities
Appraise property values.
Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
Appraise property values.
Analyze market conditions or trends.
Maintain data in information systems or databases.
Interpret financial information for others.
Examine financial records.
Appraise property values.
Prepare financial documents.
Verify accuracy of records.
Explain regulations, policies, or procedures.
Explain financial information to customers.
Advise real estate clients.
Evaluate condition of properties.
Develop business or financial information systems.
Examine financial records.
Appraise property values.
Update professional knowledge.
Gather financial records.
Appraise property values.
Verify accuracy of records.
Appraise property values.
Create images of data, locations, or products.
Gather financial records.
Appraise property values.
Estimate costs of goods or services.
Create images of data, locations, or products.
Testify at legal or legislative proceedings.
Calculate data to inform organizational operations.
Verify application data to determine program eligibility.
Analyze market conditions or trends.
Appraise property values.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
|---|---|---|---|
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93% | Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? | |
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87% | Electronic Mail - How often do you use electronic mail in this job? | |
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87% | Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? | |
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84% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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82% | Freedom to Make Decisions - How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer? | |
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80% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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79% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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74% | Spend Time Sitting - How much does this job require sitting? | |
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74% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? | |
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73% | Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? | |
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72% | Outdoors, Exposed to Weather - How often does this job require working outdoors, exposed to all weather conditions? | |
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72% | In an Enclosed Vehicle or Equipment - How often does this job require working in a closed vehicle or equipment (e.g., car)? | |
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72% | Deal With External Customers - How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job? | |
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68% | Importance of Repeating Same Tasks - How important is repeating the same physical activities (e.g., key entry) or mental activities (e.g., checking entries in a ledger) over and over, without stopping, to performing this job? | |
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68% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
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89% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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84% | Analyzing Data or Information - Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts. | |
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81% | Processing Information - Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. | |
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80% | Working with Computers - Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. | |
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80% | Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. | |
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79% | Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. | |
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72% | Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge - Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. | |
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72% | Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. | |
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71% | Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. | |
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71% | Communicating with People Outside the Organization - Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. | |
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68% | Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. | |
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68% | Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People - Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. | |
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68% | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. | |
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66% | Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
What Property Appraisers and Assessors Do
Appraisers and assessors estimate the value of property.
Property appraisers and assessors provide a value estimate on real estate and tangible personal and business property.
Duties
Property appraisers and assessors typically do the following:
- Verify descriptions of property, such as by consulting public records
- Inspect property, noting its characteristics
- Photograph items or real estate
- Analyze “comparables,” or similar items or properties, to help provide values
- Prepare written reports on property values
- Prepare and maintain current data on each real estate property or other tangible asset
Property appraisers and assessors work in localities or with items that they are familiar with so that they know any factors that may affect the property's value.
Appraisers of personal and business property estimate the value of items such as jewelry, art, antiques, collectibles, and equipment. They prepare reports for their clients of the fair market value, replacement cost, or liquidation at a given point for personal and business property.
When appraising personal and business property, these workers may use a variety of tools or resources to estimate its value. These include software, internet searches, or personal records of the actual cost to replace the item and estimates of the property income projected to be generated.
Appraisers of real estate estimate the value of land and buildings, usually before these assets are sold, mortgaged, taxed, insured, or developed. They typically value one property at a time, and they often specialize in a certain type of real estate:
- Commercial appraisers specialize in income-producing properties, such as office buildings, hotels, and stores.
- Residential appraisers focus on appraising properties in which people live, such as single unit homes and condominiums. They appraise only properties that house one to four units.
When evaluating a property's value, appraisers note the characteristics of the property and surrounding area, such as its view or a noisy highway nearby. They also consider the overall condition of a building, including its foundation and roof or any renovations that may have been done. Appraisers photograph the outside of the building and some of the interior features to document its condition. After visiting the property, the appraiser analyzes the property relative to comparable home sales, including lease records, location, view, previous appraisals, and income potential. During the entire process, appraisers record their research, observations, and methods used in providing an estimate of the property’s value.
Assessors of real estate value properties for property tax assessments. Most work for local governments. Unlike appraisers, who generally focus on one property at a time, assessors often value an entire neighborhood of homes at once by using mass appraisal techniques and computer-assisted appraisal systems.
Assessors must be up to date on tax assessment procedures. Taxpayers sometimes challenge the assessed value because they feel they are being charged too much for property tax. Assessors must be able to defend the accuracy of their property assessments, either to the owner directly or at a public hearing.
Assessors also keep a database of every property in their jurisdiction, identifying the property owner, assessment history, and characteristics of the property, as well as property maps detailing the property distribution of the jurisdiction.
Work Environment
Property appraisers and assessors held about 77,600 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of property appraisers and assessors were as follows:
| Local government, excluding education and hospitals | 36% |
| Real estate | 23 |
| Self-employed workers | 20 |
| Finance and insurance | 8 |
Although property appraisers and assessors work in offices, they may spend a large part of their time conducting site visits. Time spent away from the office depends on the specialty. For example, residential appraisers work in offices less often than do commercial appraisers, who might spend several weeks analyzing information and writing reports about a single property. Appraisers employed by banks and mortgage companies generally work in an office, making site visits only when necessary.
Work Schedules
Most property appraisers and assessors work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. Self-employed appraisers, often called independent fee appraisers, may work more than 40 hours per week.
Getting Started
How to Become a Property Appraiser or Assessor
Assessors and appraisers tend to take the same courses for certification.
The requirements to become a fully qualified property appraiser or assessor are complex and vary by state and, sometimes, by the value or type of property. These workers typically need a bachelor’s degree, although some qualify with a high school diploma. Appraisers of real estate also must meet state licensure or certification requirements. Check with your state's licensing board for specific requirements.
Education
Although requirements vary, property appraisers and assessors typically need a bachelor’s degree. Common fields of degree include business, social science, and psychology.
College courses in subjects such as computer science, finance, and business or real estate law may be useful for prospective appraisers and assessors.
Most states set education and experience requirements that assessors must meet in order to practice. A few states have no statewide requirements; instead, each locality sets the standards. In some localities, candidates may qualify with a high school diploma.
Training
Employers may require new workers to take basic appraisal courses and complete on-the-job training that lasts 12 months or more. Appraisers and assessors also may need to work enough hours to meet requirements for licensing or certification.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations
Federal law requires appraisers of real estate to have a state license or certification when working on federally related transactions, such as appraisals for loans made by federally insured banks and financial institutions. The Appraisal Foundation (TAF) offers information on appraisal licensing. There is no such federal requirement for appraisers of personal and business property or for assessors, although some states require certification. For state-specific requirements, applicants should contact their state licensing board.
Real estate appraisers usually value one property at a time, while assessors value many at once. However, both occupations use similar methods and techniques. As a result, assessors and appraisers often take the same courses for certification. In addition to passing a statewide examination, candidates must usually complete a set number of on-the-job hours.
The credential level determines what type of property a real estate appraiser may value. There are four federal appraiser classifications: Licensed Trainee Appraiser, Licensed Residential Appraiser, Certified Residential Appraiser, and Certified General Appraiser.
Each credential requires different education and training to complete. All of them except for the Trainee License also require that candidates receive instruction on the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and pass an exam.
The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) offers information on professional appraisers representing all disciplines: Appraisal Review and Management, Business Valuation, Gems and Jewelry, Machinery and Technical Specialties, Personal Property and Real Property.
Unlike appraisers of real estate, neither appraisers of personal and business property nor assessors have federal requirements for certification. In states that mandate certification for assessors, the requirements are usually similar to those for appraisers. For example, the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) offers the Certified Assessment Evaluator (CAE) credential covering topics such as property valuation, assessment administration, and property tax policy.
In states that do not require certification for assessors, employers may require candidates to take basic appraisal courses, complete on-the-job training, and meet the work-hours requirements for appraisal licenses or certificates. Assessors also may get a state appraiser license or credential.
Both appraisers and assessors must take continuing education courses to keep their license or certification. Requirements vary by state and credential.
Job Outlook
Employment of property appraisers and assessors is projected to grow 5 percent from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations.
About 6,900 openings for property appraisers and assessors are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment
Demand for appraisal services is linked to the real estate market, which may fluctuate in the short term. Over the projections decade, employment growth will be driven by economic expansion; the need for business valuations; and general demand for residential, personal, and other properties. Productivity may rise with greater use of mobile technology and automated valuation models, which enable workers to appraise and assess properties more efficiently.
Contacts for More Information
For more information about property appraisers, visit
American Society of Appraisers
For more information about property assessors, visit
International Association of Assessing Officers
For more information about licensure requirements for appraisers of real estate, visit
Similar Occupations
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of property appraisers and assessors.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Claims Adjusters, Appraisers, Examiners, and Investigators |
Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators evaluate insurance claims. |
See How to Become One | $72,040 |
|
Construction and Building Inspectors |
Construction and building inspectors ensure that construction meets building codes and ordinances, zoning regulations, and contract specifications. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $64,480 |
|
Real Estate Brokers and Sales Agents |
Real estate brokers and sales agents help clients buy, sell, and rent properties. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $52,030 |