According to a recent article by Justin Hilley in Housingwire, the number of licensed appraisers fell 12% to 86,800 in 2011 from a high of 98,450 in 2007, according to the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, which has a national registry listing certified residential and certified general appraisers.
Granted, Illinois has a disproportionate quantity of appraisers in a state of its size, as well as being the national HQ for the Appraisal Institute, and Cook County is the largest county in the country while having the highest concentration of appraisers, but nonetheless the declines in Illinois appear to outstrip even MA.
Over the past 6 to 12 months, we've struggled to identify talented, competent appraisers who actually want to work for an established firm instead of being basement appraisers...and we've been largely unsuccessful. This frustration of identifying potential new-hires is what prompted our research into the ranks of Illinois appraiser licensing.
In a nutshell, nearly 90% of all trainees have left the industry as of the most recent renewal date in Illinois, with a much lower attrition of certified generals and certified residential appraisers.
In the fall of 2011, the most recent Illinois renewal period, the ranks of Illinois appraisers dropped another 20%.
TRAINEES…361 (46.7%) of 773 renewed.
CERT RES…2565 (84.5%) of 3036 renewed.
CERT GEN…1282 (91.1%) of 1405 renewed.
There used to be nearly 3000 trainees in the state of Illinois. Furthermore, the average age of appraisers is approximately 59, which poses a significant problem for firms seeking to replenish their staff because young people are not interested in a 2 year training program while not making money for some or all the training period. Contrast this professional option with being a Realtor where a young person can conceivably be ready-to-go in approximately a one-month time period if they pursue back-to-back education requirements.
Truly this profession is not only experiencing pain, but at the rate it is going, I imagine the MBA and NAR are going to be making a lot of rumblings in Congress about streamlining the way the valuation process occurs due to the 'slowness' of appraisals, in spite of the recent real estate debacle our country still hasn't extracted itself from.
As noted in Mr. Hilley's article, “Before, many certified appraisers might have one or more trainees out performing supervised work, now you have very few, almost none at all, trainees engaged in the process,” Stephen Sousa, MBREA executive vice president. “There are pretty severe restrictions on licensed appraisers as well, forcing many out of the profession.”
“It’s offset somewhat by retirements, but largely it appears to be those who got in at the market’s peak are the one’s who are leaving,” says Ken Chitester, spokesperson for the Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional organization for real estate appraisers. “Some people got into the business thinking there was easy money to be made in a boom market.”
“For newbies, the process to move from trainees to certified is at least 24 months long, during which time the trainees have to work under the supervision of a certified appraiser"
All of this, he says, will lead to longer turnaround times and higher fees as lenders begin to offer premiums for quicker turnaround.
Michael Hobbs, PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy
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