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There are over 4.8 million people residing in Alabama, of which, Birmingham, Montgomery, and Mobile are some of the most populous cities. The greater the population, the more likely of real estate transactions, which leads to higher demand of appraisal works.
To become a real estate appraiser in Alabama, a candidate must complete the trainee requirement by completing 75 hours of pre-licensing education and the AQB trainee/supervisor course and accumulate 1,000 work hours under the supervision of a Certified Appraiser. Depending on the specific license level, the trainee must also complete the associated appraisal courses, pass the Licensed/Certified Appraiser exam, and submit an application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Board.
While most states only have four levels of appraiser license, Alabama has five. They are:
- Trainee Appraiser
- State Registered Real Property Appraiser
- Licensed Residential Appraiser
- Certified Residential Appraiser
- Certified General Appraiser
You must fulfill the qualifying appraisal education, work experience requirement and register with the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board. This is the State Board which regulate individuals and companies in the appraisal industry. Their mission is to protect the public interest and ensure the appraisal services are in accordance with federal guidelines.
As a real estate appraiser in Alabama, your job is to provide an assessment of the properties’ market value for your clients. Your appraisal report could be used by a home buyer or seller, a mortgage lender who wants to understand the value of the collateralize assets, an individual who needs it for tax assessment or even lease negotiation.
Regardless of who is in needs of your appraisal services, your work products must remain objective, unbiased and professional.
How to Become a Trainee Appraiser in Alabama?
Working as a Trainee Appraiser is the first step of your career, where you’ll be trained and supervised by a certified appraiser. An experienced mentor could guide you into the right direction in this career. He/she should educate you with the following:
- Effective appraisal tactics (i.e: Income, cost, and sales comparison approached)
- Compliance rules imposed by the state regulatory board
- How to make a proper adjustment? (i.e: external or functional obsolescence)
- What to include in an appraisal? (i.e: photos)
- Where to obtain data about a property?
- How to extract meaningful information from the data?
[Read: What to look for and expect from a supervisory appraiser?]
Most importantly, how to determine an unbiased estimation of the property’s market value.
To get out the most from this trainee stage, it is recommended you to walk through each and every step in the appraisal process, observe carefully on how your supervisor inspect and evaluate real estate, and always raise your questions.
4 Steps to Become a Trainee Appraiser in Alabama
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- No college-level education requirement
- No prior related experience is needed
Step 2: Complete the Pre-License Education
You need to complete the 75 hours of qualifying appraisal-related education and the AQB Trainee/Supervisor course.
Study tip: Whenever possible, I prefer to take online courses. You can study at your own pace at the convenient of your home, library, or wherever there is internet access. Here’s an article review of an online school that I like.
Step 3: Submit Application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
Now you have completed the education prerequisites, your next step is to register with State Board.
If the Appraisal Board in your state has the online submission available, I strongly encourage you to use that option. Not only this is the quickest and most convenient way, but less paper mailing is also good for the environment.
Step 4: Find a Certified Appraiser to be Your Supervisor
You might wonder how to find a supervisory appraiser. You could start connecting with Certified Appraisers through industry associations, forums or even on LinkedIn. The more appraisers you connect to, the bigger the chance you could find a supervisor.
Once you find a supervisor, where you both are interested in working together, you should make sure that the supervisory appraiser is listed as an Approved Mentor in the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board’s database.
Before you start working alongside with a supervisor, you and your supervisor would need to notify the Appraisers Board about the mentoring relationship.
In Alabama, your first 50 appraisal assignments must be accompanied by a mentor. You also need to keep track of your working hours with the board-approved experience log. This is a mandatory document when you upgrade your appraiser license in the future.
Keep in mind that you and the supervising appraiser are required to sign on every page of the experience log.
Here’s a snippet of what a Certified General Appraiser recommends when looking for a supervisor
“Along with the PROFESSIONAL resume you send by snail mail and email, enclose a document that thoroughly describes your house (or someone else’s house). I am talking about a thorough description.
In appraisal, we start with the big picture and work our way down to the details. So start with the community you live in and tell your prospective mentor about the community…”
Timothy S. Evans, SRA, Certified General Appraiser at Monroe Valuation, Inc
Still unsure how to find a supervisor? No problem, here’s another post for you: “How to Find a Supervisory Appraiser? (Tips from CG Appraiser and Trainee).” In there, you will find full details of Timothy’s recommendation and 11 incredibly helpful ideas in finding a supervisory appraiser.
How to Become a State Registered Real Property Appraiser in Alabama?
As mentioned earlier, this is an uncommon license in most other states. However, it could be a good stepping stone toward being a licensed/certified appraiser, while upgrading your career from the Trainee Appraiser.
As a State Registered Appraiser, you can evaluate non-federally related properties with the following limitation:
- Complex appraisals of 1 to 4 unit residential properties having transaction value of $250,000 or less;
- Non-complex appraisals of 1 to 4 unit residential properties having transaction values of $1,000,000 or less.
- Non-residential properties having transaction value of $250,000 or less.
- Note that this classification does not include the appraisal of subdivisions, where a development analysis/appraisal is necessary and utilized.
4 Steps to Become a Stated Registered Appraiser in Alabama
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- No college-level education requirement
Step 2: Complete the Required Hours of Working Experience
You must have at least 1000 hours of acceptable appraisal experience, where they need to be acquired for over a 12 months period.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 75 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved course provider. Basically, those are the same courses for becoming a Trainee Appraiser.
I included some details which could be helpful to your studying on our education resources page. Be sure to check it out.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
Once you have fulfilled the education and working experience requirement, you should submit the application to the the Real Estate Appraiser Board along with other required documents. Click here to view the registration procedure.
How to Become a Licensed Residential Appraiser in Alabama?
As a Licensed Residential Appraiser, you can evaluate non-complex residential properties with 1-4 units, while the transaction value is cannot be more than $1,000,000. Although you can also evaluate complex properties, the maximum value is up to $250,000.
If you decide to run an independent practice, then you will have more flexibility in your work schedule and the ways to conduct the business. You could be fulfilling appraisal orders from mortgage lenders, banks, credit unions, or appraisal management companies (AMC).
Just like other businesses, there are many expenses you need to take care of – for instance, payroll, marketing, liability insurance, tuition for continuing education, license fee, and many others. I have another article which covers how to start an appraisal business. Hope you’ll find it helpful too.
On the other hand, if you crave for more stability in your career, you could consider working as an in-house appraiser for an appraisal firm or financial institution. You may be provided with a stable salary and employee’s benefits.
This license could be worth considering for those who have not fulfilled the necessary work experience or college-level education to become a certified appraiser but wish to excel their career from the Trainee Appraiser.
5 Steps to Become a Licensed Residential Appraiser in Alabama
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- No college-level education is required
Step 2: Complete the Required Hours of Working Experience
You must have at least 1000 hours of acceptable appraisal experience, where they need to be acquired for over a 6 months period.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 150 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved course provider.
You could have taken some of the courses before, so that you are only required to fulfill the additional course works.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
After you have completed the education and working experience requirement, you should submit the application to the the Real Estate Appraiser Board along with other required documents.
Most State Boards allow you to apply through their website. Some would even charge a lower registration fee by doing online. You should definitely check out this option.
Step 5: Pass the Licensed Residential Appraiser Exam
Now it’s the time to test your appraisal knowledge! The Licensed Residential Appraiser Exam is a 4 hours exam with 110 questions. The required passing score is 75/110.
Doing multiple sets of practice questions is an excellent way to prepare for the exam and also boost your confidence.
How to Become a Certified Residential Appraiser in Alabama?
As a Certified Residential Appraiser, you can assess for:
- residential properties with 1 to 4 residential units regardless of the transaction value or complexity.
- non-residential 1-4 units property given that the transaction value is no more than $250,000
Just like a Licensed Residential Appraiser, you have the choice in running your own practice as a self-employed business owners, or become a salaried employees in a corporate setting.
However, there is no restriction on the transaction value of residential properties you could assess. The scope of your practice and business opportunity would be a lot wider than being a Licensed Residential Appraiser. In fact, many reputable lenders and financial institutions in Alabama only accept assessment work from Certified Appraiser.
That being said, let’s review the steps for you to become a Certified Residential Appraiser.
5 Steps to Become a Certified Residential Appraiser in Alabama
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- Fulfill one of the following 6 college-level education requirement:
- Route #1: Hold an associate’s degree in either Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Finance, or Real Estate; OR
- Route #2: Hold a bachelor’s degree in any field of study
- Route #3: Complete 3 hours of each of the following college-level courses with a total of 30 semester hours
- Algebra, Geometry, or Higher Math
- Computer Science
- English Composition
- Finance
- Macroeconomics
- Microeconomics
- Real Estate Law or Business Law
- Statistics
- 2 elective courses (3 hours each) in any of the above subjects or in Accounting, Agricultural Economics, Business Management, Geography, or Real Estate;
- Route #4: Complete 30 hours of College Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) examinations that cover each of the subjects in Route #3
- Route #5: Any combinations of Route #3 and Route #4 which consists all the topics mentioned above
- Route #6: If you have been a Licensed Residential Appraiser for 5 years or more, while your license is in good standing, then the college-level requirements can be waived.
Step 2: Complete the Appraisal Working Experience
You need to complete a minimum of 1500 hours of acceptable appraisal experience in not less than a 12 months period.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 200 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved course provider.
Since you should have taken some of the courses before, you just need to complete the extra classes.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
Once you have fulfilled the education and working experience requirement, it’s time to submit the license application. The Licensing Board in some states may require you to apply within a specific period after you complete the pre-licensing education. Therefore, don’t wait till it expires!
Step 5: Pass the Certified Residential Appraiser Exam
The Certified Residential Appraiser Exam is a 4 hours exam with 110 questions. The required passing score is 75/110.
Most test centers would require you to bring at least two valid IDs to verify your identity. Don’t forget to bring them along. Else you won’t be able to write the exam.
How to Become a Certified General Appraiser in Alabama?
So you want to explore appraising for commercial real estate? Then becoming a Certified General Appraiser would be the way to go!
This designation is the highest credential you could get in the appraisal industry. You could assess all types of real estate regardless of the transaction value or complexity. There is no limitation on the scope of your appraisal work.
Although you still could evaluate for residential properties, you could also be appraise a portfolio of commercial real estates for institutional investors.
Tip for Success: Rather than being just another appraiser, consider specializing in a specific niche. (i.e: expert witness, farm appraisal, re-location appraisal). Here’s an article which covers 7 profitable appraisal niches.
Since your clients depend on your appraisal reports in making an informed investment decision, you must be extremely careful and responsible when handling your work. Extensive research and site inspections are often required. It is your responsibility to provide your clients with an objective appraised value as accurate as possible.
Due to the high expectation on your work products, the amount of work experience and education required to become a Certified General Appraiser is the most challenging among all the levels of licensing. So let’s go through the steps to get you this credential.
5 Steps to Become a Certified General Appraiser in Alabama
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- Bachelor’s Degree in any field of study; or higher
Step 2: Complete the Required Hours of Working Experience
You must have at least 3000 hours of acceptable appraisal experience where they need to be obtained for over a 18 months period. At least half of the working experience needs to be from non-residential appraisal work.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 300 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved course provider.
You should have completed some of the courses when the previous appraiser license(s). Therefore, you are only required to complete the extra classes.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
Once you have completed all the education and working experience prerequisites, you should fill out the license application.
Most State Boards allow you to apply through their website. Some would even charge a lower registration fee by doing online. You should definitely check out this option.
Step 5: Pass the Certified General Appraiser Exam
The final step is to pass the Certified General Appraiser Exam. This is a 6 hours exam with 110 questions. The required passing score is 75/110.
Get enough sleep the night before the exam and have a good meal before it. Managing your stress level during the test is another key to passing it.
Courses Requirement for Each Appraiser License Level
| Trainee Appraiser (Credit Hours) | State Registered Appraiser (Credit Hours) | Licensed Residential Appraiser (Credit Hours) | Certified Residential Appraiser (Credit Hours) | Certified General Appraiser (Credit Hours) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National USPAP Course or Equivalent | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Basic Appraisal Principles | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Basic Appraisal Procedures | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Residential Market Analysis and Highest & Best Use | 15 | 15 | |||
| Residential Appraisal Site Valuation and Cost Approach | 15 | 15 | |||
| Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches | 30 | 30 | |||
| Residential Report Writing and Case Studies | 15 | 15 | |||
| Statistics, Modeling and Finance | 15 | 15 | |||
| Advanced Residential Applications and Case Studies | 15 | ||||
| Appraisal Subject Matter Electives | 20 | 30 | |||
| General Appraiser Market Analysis and Highest & Best Use | 30 | ||||
| General Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach | 30 | ||||
| General Appraiser Sales Comparison Approach | 30 | ||||
| General Appraiser Report Writing and Case Studies | 30 | ||||
| General Appraiser Income Approach | 60 | ||||
| Total | 75 hours | 75 hours | 150 hours | 200 hours | 300 hours |
Register at the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
Once you have fulfilled all the prerequisites, you could submit the application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board.
In additional to the application, you must provide the following:
- Registration fee
- Supporting legal documents
- Evidence which shows you have completed the required hours of Board-approved appraisal courses. (i.e., Official transcripts, course completion certificates).
- Proof that you have fulfilled the specific requirement of post-secondary education for your license (i.e.: Diploma, official transcripts, certificates.)
- Stated Approved Appraiser Experience Log (Only if you are applying to become Licensed/Certified Appraiser)
If you have any questions, you could contact the Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Board at 334-242-8747.
Here’s more info on the Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Exams!
Once the State Board accepts your application, they will send you a notice with instruction to schedule the exam. PSI will administer the exam, where you can take it at their examination center. The exam fee is $83.
- Licensed Residential Appraiser Exam is a 4 hours exam,
- Certified Residential Appraiser Exam is a 4 hours exam;
- Certified General Appraiser Exam is a 6 hours exam
The licensed and certified exams consist of 125 questions. Only 110 questions will be scored, the other 15 are pretest questions. The required passing score is 75. You will immediately know your score once you finish writing the test.
Here’s an article on how to pass the Alabama real estate appraiser exam. In there, you will find out exam content, the weighting of each topic, sample questions, and exam preps. Be sure to check it out!
Video Summary in obtaining real estate appraiser licenses in Alabama
Things you would want to know before becoming a real estate in Alabama
How long does it take to become a real estate appraiser in Alabama?
It takes 1,000 hours of work experience to become a State Registered or Licensed Residential Appraiser in Alabama and 1,500 hours to become a Certified Residential Appraiser, and 3,000 hours to become a Certified General Appraiser.
Depending on which appraiser license you are pursuing, there is a minimum period for the work experience, which ranges from 6 to 18 months.
How much does it cost to become a real estate appraiser in Alabama?
It costs between $1,517 to $2,133 to become a real estate appraiser in Alabama, Here’s the breakdown:
- Pre-licensing education: $950 to $1,400
- Application fee and annual license fee – $484 to $650
- Exam fee $83
In addition to the above, there will be other expenses such as continuing education courses, E&O insurance, and business supplies such as a laptop, cell phone, and measuring device.
Some companies may pay or reimburse you if you work as their employee. But if you are running your own practice, these are the cost you need to account for yourself.
Do you need a degree to be an appraiser in Alabama?
You need a Bachelor’s Degree to be a Certified General Appraiser in Alabama and complete one of the six college-level education to be a Certified Residential Appraiser. As for becoming a Licensed Residential Appraiser, there is no college-level education requirement.
What are the Appraiser License Renewal and Continuing Education Requirements?
All real estate appraisers in Alabama are required to renew their license annually. In addition to the renewal application, you also need to:
- Complete 28 hours continuing education every 24 months, of which must include 7 hours of National USPAP Update course in every 2 years.
- Continuing education credit is due on the odd year of every two years.
- There’s no limit on the number of courses you could take online.
- Pay the renewal fee.
To prevent interruption to your appraisal practice, you should renew it and complete all continuing education requirement before the license expiry date.
How Much does a Real Estate Appraiser Make in Alabama?
Your income as a real estate appraiser depends on many factors such as your education, experience, licensing level, the type of properties you specialize in appraising, the company size, its location. But most importantly, the amount of effort you are willing to put into this career. Therefore, the earning differential among real estate appraisers in Alabama could be quite significant.
According to the figures on Sokanu.com, despite the starting annual salary is only around $28,170, it has the potential to go up to $81,740 for high earners. Of which some appraisers could be working full-time or part-time.
The average annual salary of real estate appraisers in Alabama is $74,254. The income typically ranges between $48,145 and $76,156. Top earning appraisers are making over $94,976 per year.(*)
If you want to know more about the income potential of real estate appraisers in Alabama, here’s a guide for you. In there, you’ll find the updated income figures of trainees, residential real estate appraisers, and commercial real estate appraisers. You’ll also learn which cities have the highest earnings.
source: (*) ZipRecruiter
Helpful tips to start your real estate appraisal career in Alabama
Tip#1: Take the appraisal courses asap
You could read as much about the appraisal career as you want, but your journey would not begin unless you start taking action.
Taking the real estate appraiser classes would be your first step. Not only you could gain valuable knowledge and practical skills, but you will also have a better understanding about what is like to be an appraiser.
Besides, most states would require you to complete all the trainee education before your working experience could count toward the licensing requirement.
To assist in the selection process, here’s a review of an appraisal courses provider.
Tip#2: Build Your Network with Other Real Estate Professionals in Alabama
Connecting with other appraisers in Alabama is a good way to gain a better understanding about the appraisal industry. You could do so by joining industry affiliations, online forums or even LinkedIn groups. For instance,
Begin with a friendly conversation. Let them know that you are starting your career as an appraiser, ask them if they have any tips or advice for newbies to the industry.
In addition, you should network with other professionals in the real estate field. Mortgage agents, lenders, and realtors can all provide you with valuable insight, which could be very helpful to your career building in the long haul.
Here’s a list of real estate professional groups on our resource page. Remember to check it out!
Tip#3: Go beyond the residential real estate market
Just like many other states, the business to appraise for residential properties could be quite competitive. Well, as you could imagine, there is a considerable overlap of targeted customers for the first three levels of licensing.
To differentiate your skills and broaden your scope of practice, you could consider pursuing the Commercial General Appraiser designation as your long-term goal.
Here’s an article you might be interested: “Is Commercial Real Estate Appraisal a Good Career?” In there, a CRE appraiser shared his view on what he thinks about this profession.
Here are more incredible resources to learn about the Alabama real estate appraisal career!
This article is part of the “Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Career Series.” If you want to know more about being a real estate appraiser in Alabama, I invite you to check out the following articles:
- How Much do Real Estate Appraiser Make in Alabama?
- How to Pass the Alabama Real Estate Appraisal Exam?
If you are reading up to this point, I bet you must be interested in the real estate appraisal profession. But why waste your time in searching for an appraisal school? Many students had a great experience taking appraisal courses from McKissock. You may click here to check it out yourself. (**)
Disclaimer: The information in this post is for general information only, and not intend to provide any advice. They are subjected to change any notice, and not guaranteed to be error-free. For full and exact details, please contact The Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board.
Reference:
- The Appraisal Foundation- National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations (source)
- Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board
- Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Candidate Handbook (source)
- ZipRecruiter
Author
To become a real estate appraiser in Alabama, a candidate must complete the trainee requirement by completing 75 hours of pre-licensing education and the AQB trainee/supervisor course and accumulate 1,000 work hours under the supervision of a Certified Appraiser. Depending on the specific license level, the trainee must also complete the associated appraisal courses, pass the Licensed/Certified Appraiser exam, and submit an application to the Alabama Real Estate Appraiser Board.