(**) Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning our company, JCHQ Publishing will get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through the links, but at no additional cost to you.
How to become a real estate appraiser in Montana? The short answer is you need to start off as a Trainee Appraiser, then upgrade your licenses in becoming a Licensed or Certified Appraiser. You must fulfill the qualifying appraisal education, and work experience requirement.
You also need to register with the Montana Board of Real Estate Appraisers. They are responsible for regulating the practice of real estate appraisers and issuing licenses to them.
There are nearly 1.05 million people residing in Montana. In terms of sheer size, it is the fourth biggest state in the country, which makes it a sparsely populated state. When you run your appraisal services, you should consider focusing your business in areas with high population. The largest city of Montana is Billings, other sizable cities include Missoula and Great Falls.
According to the figures (as of Dec 15, 2018) displayed on the Appraisal Subcommittee website, there are a total of 421 appraisers in Montana. The breakdown is as follow:
- # of Certified General Appraisers 211
- # of Certified Residential Appraisers 171
- # of Licensed Residential Appraisers 39
As a real estate appraiser, you are in the profession of providing an objective opinion 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 estate sale.
Regardless of who is in needs of your appraisal services, your work products must remain objective, unbiased and professional.
The first step to your appraisal career is to complete the pre-licensing courses from a trusted education provider. McKissock received an incredible rating from its students, and their online lessons are taught by instructors who have actual experience in the appraisal industry. You may click here to find out more about their courses. (**)
How to Become an Appraiser Trainee in Montana?
Your first step into the real estate appraisal career is to work as a Trainee, where you will be mentored by a certified appraiser. An experienced supervisor could guide you into the right direction in this career.
The supervisory appraiser should educate you effective ways to conduct research on properties, its proximity, zoning, and how to analyze the data. Most importantly, the industry accepted approaches to develop an objective estimation of the property’s market value.
Your typically working day could involve doing property research, working on appraisal reports, or inspecting real estate together with the supervisor.
To get out the most from this learning stage, you should walk through each and every step in the appraisal process, and review carefully on how your trainer inspect and evaluate real estate.
4 Steps to Become an Appraiser Trainee in Montana
Step 1: Fulfill the Basic Requirement
- At least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- No prior related experience is needed
Step 2: Complete the Qualifying Education
You must complete the 75 hours of appraisal courses and the AQB Supervisor/Trainee 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: Search for a Supervising Appraiser
Your next step is to find a supervising appraiser to mentor you. Some trainees might find this one of the most challenging tasks.
When you submit your Trainee application, you and your trainer need to let the Board know about the mentoring relationship.
You must also document your working hours with the approved experience log. These logs are necessary when you upgrade your appraiser license in the future. In order for them to be valid, make sure you and the supervising appraiser sign on every page of them.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser
Here’s what I asked a Real Estate Appraiser Trainee about working with a supervisor
Jacob: “Is there anything you have learned in the field or from your supervisor that was not covered in the class?”
Katie: “Yes, I have learned so much through both my supervisor and working in the field. Through this, it has taught me how to properly measure a home, how to notice differences in materials used throughout the home, how to properly deal with clients (answering such questions that may come about or just overall explaining the process of how the appraisal works.)”
I conducted a full interview with Katie Holland, where she shared her journey and thought about the real estate appraisal industry. Be sure to check it out!
How to Become a Licensed Residential Appraiser in Montana?
As a Licensed Residential Appraiser, you can evaluate non-complex residential properties with 1-4 units, while the transaction value cannot be greater than $1,000,000. Although you can also appraise complex properties, the maximum value is up to $250,000.
You could be employed by an appraisal firm, financial institution or government assessor’s office as their in-house appraiser, where you could enjoy the stable income and employee’s benefits. Or you could also become a self-employed appraiser, having the flexibility to run your own business.
There are only 39 Licensed Residential Appraisers in Montana versus 382 Certified Appraisers. We believe many appraisers would upgrade to become Certified once they have fulfilled the specific license requirement.
Nevertheless, Licensed Residential Appraiser is still a good transitional position to expand your scope of practice beyond the Trainee title, while you are working toward being a Certified Appraiser.
5 Steps to Become a Licensed Residential Appraiser in Montana
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- Hold an Associate Degree or higher. Alternatively, you could complete 30 hours of semester courses which cover specific topics.
Step 2: Complete the Required Hours of Working Experience
You must have at least 2000 hours of acceptable appraisal experience, where they need to be acquired for over a 18 months period.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 150 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved courses provider.
You should have taken some of the courses before you became an Trainee. Therefore, you just need to make up for the additional course works.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser
More details about the registration process can be found later in the post.
Step 5: Pass the Licensed Residential Appraiser Exam
I’ll include more details about the exam further down the article. (i.e: required passing score, the amount of time to write it, number of questions)
Is real estate appraiser a good career? This is one of the common questions I hear a lot. Therefore, I spent months and months in connecting with different real estate appraisers. Here are their valuable insights about this profession. Make sure to check it out!
How to Become a Certified Residential Appraiser in Montana?
Similar to being a Licensed Residential Appraiser, you could be employed by a company or government agency as their in-house appraiser or become a self-employed business owner.
With the Certified Residential Appraiser license, you can assess:
- residential properties with 1 to 4 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
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. Many large lenders and financial institutions only accept assessment work from Certified Appraiser.
Due to enhanced recognition and broader work opportunity, there are a lot more Certified Residential Appraisers (171) than Licensed Residential Appraisers (39) in Montana.
So let’s review the steps to become a Certified Residential Appraiser.
5 Steps to Become a Certified Residential Appraiser in Montana
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- Hold a Bachelor’s degree or higher
Step 2: Complete the Appraisal Work Experience
You need to complete a minimum of 2500 hours of acceptable appraisal experience in not less than a 24 months period.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to complete 200 hours of qualifying appraisal courses from an approved provider.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser
Step 5: Pass the Certified Residential Appraiser Exam
Here’s a Snippet of What Jamie Owen Thinks About Being a Real Estate Appraiser!
“The more you learn, the more you will enjoy being an appraiser.”
“I think that humility and honesty are the most important attributes. Humility is important because if we think we know it all, we are going to be in trouble. Being appraiser requires not being thin-skinned and defensive. Others have their opinions and we have ours. Both may be supportable in one way or another.
Being humble helps us to respect the views of others and not be offended if others have a different view. Humility also helps with business relationships, as well as accepting guidance and reminders when we need them, from peers and others.”
– Jamie Owen, Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser at Aspen Appraisal Services
Here’s an exclusive interview with Jamie. He shared with us his journey and valuable experience in the appraisal industry. You’ll also learn what it is like to be a real estate appraiser nowadays.
How to Become a Certified General Appraiser in Montana?
If you want to expand your appraisal work to more complex type of real estates, then becoming a Certified General Appraiser would be the option! In fact, out of the 421 appraisers in Montana, there are 211 holding Certified General Appraiser license.
This is the most sophisticated license type you could obtain in the appraisal industry. You could provide assessment to all types of real estate regardless of the transaction value or complexity.
For example, commercial properties, golf courses, hotels, wind generating plants, marina, oil refiners, federal or land acquisition.
Since the transaction values involve could be significant, 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 expectation of low margin of error in assessment, the amount of work experience and studying required to become a Certified General Appraiser is the most challenging among all the levels of licensing.
So let’s go over the steps to get you this credential.
5 Steps to Become a Certified General Appraiser in Montana
Step 1: Meet the Basic Requirement
- You must be at least 18 years old
- Have a valid Social Security Number
- Bachelor’s Degree 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 30 months period. At least 1500 hours of the working experience needs to be from non-residential appraisal work.
Step 3: Fulfill the Education Requirement
You’ll need to finish 300 hours of qualifying appraisal education from an approved course provider.
Step 4: Submit Application to the Maine Board of Real Estate Appraiser
Step 5: Pass the Certified General Appraiser Exam
Courses Requirement for Montana Appraiser
| Appraiser Trainee (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 |
| Basic Appraisal Principles | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Basic Appraisal Procedures | 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 | 150 hours | 200 hours | 300 hours |
Starting April 14, 2018, you could take all the qualifying courses through distance education.
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.
Registration with the Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser
Once you have fulfilled all the prerequisites, you could submit your application to the State Board. Here’s the link to the applications.
In additional to the application, you must provide the following:
- Registration fee (The amount is listed on the form)
- 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 Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser at:
- Address: 301 South Park, 4th Floor – Delivery PO BOX 200513, Helena Montana 59620-0513
- Phone (406) 444-5711
- Fax (406) 841-2305
- Email: dlibsdrea@state.mt.us
What is the format of Montana Real Estate Appraiser Exams?
Typically speaking, you would write the exam on a computer at a testing center.
- 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.
You could find out more details in the Montana Real Estate Appraisers Program Candidate Handbook.
To increase your chance in passing the exam on the first time, make sure to check out our exam hacks. In there, not only you will find the content of the exam, but also 10 effective tips on how to prepare for it.
FAQ on Montana Real Estate Appraiser Career
How long does it take to become a real estate appraiser in Montana?
It takes 18 to 30 months to become a real estate appraiser in Montana. That is the minimum period to complete the work experience so the duration would hugely depend on which appraiser license you are pursuing, the time it takes you to complete the work experience, pre-licensing courses and pass the appraiser exam.
It takes 2,000 hours of work experience to become a Licensed Residential Appraiser in Montana, 2,500 hours to become a Certified Residential Appraiser and 3,000 hours to become a Certified General Appraiser.
How to renew the real estate appraiser license in Montana?
All real estate appraisers in Maine are required to renew their license every two year. You could do so by mailing them the renewal application, or do so conveniently online.
In addition to the renewal application, you also need to:
- Complete 28 hours continuing education every 2 years which must include the 7 hours of National USPAP Update course
- There is no restriction on how many CE credit hours you can take online
- Pay the renewal fee (The amount can be found on the application)
To prevent interruption to your appraisal practice, you should renew it and complete all continuing education requirement before the license expiry date.
How much do real estate appraisers make in Montana?
Your earning as a real estate appraiser depends on many things. For instance, your experience, licensing level, the type of properties you specialize in appraising, the company size, its location.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2021), properrty appraisers in Montana make an average annual income of $48,880. The yearly income range typically ranges between $38,280 and $77,000.
Here’s a complete income guide on real estate appraisers in Montana. In there, I will uncover the income updates, the percentage of appraisers that are making a good living, and whether being a commercial or residential appraisers has any effect on the income. So be sure to check it out!
Career Tips for Real Estate Appraisers in Montana
Tip#1: Complete the Appraisal Courses Asap
You could read as much as you want, but your career 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.
I included some details which could be helpful to your studying on our education resources page. Be sure to check it out.
Is commercial real estate appraisal a good career? Check out this complete guide. In it, you’ll find the type of work involved as a commercial real estate appraiser, the income potential, and the training you need to have to become one.
Tip#2: Build Your Network with Other Real Estate Professionals in Maine
Connecting with other appraisers in Maine is a good way to gain a better understanding about the appraisal industry. You could do so by joining appraiser coalitions, online forums or even LinkedIn groups -for instance, the Montana Chapter of the Appraisal Institute.
Start with a casual conversation by letting them know that you are starting a career as an appraiser. Ask them if they have any tips or advice for newbies to the industry. You’ll be surprised by the number of people who are willing to share their insights with you.
In addition, you should network with other professionals in the real estate field. Mortgage agents, lenders, and realtors can all provide you with valuable feedback, which could be very helpful to your career building in the long haul.
If you are reading up to this point, I bet you must be interested in the real estate appraiser profession. Your first step is to complete the pre-licensing courses. You should select one that has an excellent reputation and long-term track record of satisfying students. McKissock is exactly that! You may click here to check it out yourself. (**)
(**) Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you. Our company, JCHQ Publishing will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking on the link. Please understand that we include them based on our experience or the research on these companies or products, and we recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something through the links. Please do not spend any money on these products unless you feel you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals.
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 Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser.
Reference:
- Montana Board of Real Estate Appraiser
- The Appraisal Foundation- National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations
- Appraisal Subcommittee- Active Appraiser Credentials Summary Report
- sokanu – How much does a Real Estate Appraiser make in Montana? https://www.sokanu.com/careers/real-estate-appraiser/salary/
Montana - salary.com- Salary for Appraiser (Commercial Real Estate) in
Montana: https://www1.salary.com/MT/Appraiser-Commercial-Real-Estate-Salary.html - salary.com- Salary for Appraiser (Residential Real Estate) in
Montana: https://www1.salary.com/MT/Appraiser-Residential-Real-Estate-Salary.html
