Appraisers Are Extraordinary and Rare, Like Unicorns!

Appraisers are an extraordinary and rare group of humans.  As an appraiser, you are part of a select few.  You belong to a group of licensed professionals that are extremely rare.  How rare?  Recent statistics indicate that there are about 70,000 licensed appraisers in the United States.  Considering that there are over 340 million people living in the United States, being an appraiser qualifies you as a rarity.  There is one appraiser for about every 5,000 people living in the United States.   The number of licensed appraisers is shrinking.  Nearly 1/3 of licensed appraisers are eligible for Social Security and likely will not be working for much longer.

How many times have you had a conversation with somebody, and you ask that person what they do for a living?  And their answer was “I am a real estate appraiser”.  I am guessing rarely, if ever.  You, as a licensed real estate appraiser, are a unicorn.  Appraisers are rarely spotted in the wild.  When the elusive appraiser is seen out in the wild, typically they are found driving a car.  Most often you will find them seated in front of a computer screen.  I encourage all of us to embrace our inner unicorn, and realize how fortunate we are to be appraisers.

To illustrate just how rare and extraordinary appraisers are, lets look at some other professions.  There are 1.2 million firefighters, 3.8 million teachers, 1 million doctors and 5 million nurses.   Are there advantages of working in a field that makes up  ½ of 1% of the US population?  My (job) market analysis says yes!  

Compared to firefighters, teachers, doctors and nurses, and most other professions, appraisers have it pretty good.  Most appraisers determine if they work, when they work, how hard they work and how much they earn.  Appraisers do not punch a time clock.  An appraiser income is dependent on a number of other factors, none of which are their employment contract.  Appraisers do not get called in the middle of the night for an emergency.  How many working opportunities are there where you make your own hours, determine your pay rate and are your own boss?  Yet there are only 70,000 of us that are up to the task.  Why is that?  

Becoming a licensed appraiser is not easy.  Barriers to entry are numerous-qualifying education, apprenticeship hours, licensing fees, among others.  Completing the education and experience hours are only the beginning.  After you get a license, you turn on the appraisal spigot and the work flows in-right?  Probably not.  Newer appraisers need put in some time and effort to get established.  It is the same for firefighters, teachers, doctors and nurses.  They all have put in a lot of time and effort to become professionals in their chosen fields.  

Nobody starts at the top.  However, appraisers can rise to the top quicker than a teacher seeking tenure or a firefighter longing for the Captains job.  Appraisers have the opportunity to pave their way as quickly, or slowly, as they like.  Appraisers have options.  Do you want to work part-time or full-time?  Do you want to work at night or in the day?  Are other professionals able to attend their kids games, recitals and plays?  Appraisers can!  Appraisers can golf or go to the gym in the morning, see a couple of houses after that, pick up the kids from school and take them to their practices, and then go back and type a report later that day…or the next day.  As long as you get your work done, nobody is that concerned about how or when you do it.  I can hear it now, “well the AMCs are all over me to turn in the report”  Yes I understand that.  If you need to meet the client’s deadline, you have 24 hours in a day to get that done. Get it done and then use the rest of the day however you would like.  My point is that you get to choose when and how those hours are allocated.      

In my opinion, appraisers can have a good life with a healthy work/life balance.  Appraisers have options.  There are a lot of different ways to be an appraiser.  Pick one that works for you and your family.  There are many facets of the business that are available to an appraiser.  Keep in mind, there are only 70,000 other appraisers trying to get at that slice of the pie. In my home state of almost 40 million residents, there are 8,000 +/- appraisers.  Sometimes it may seem as if all 8,000 of them must have received that request for a fee and turn time bid, but that is not the case.  Of those 8,000 I would wager a small portion of them are doing the majority of the work.  

Take some time away from the day-to-day grind and explore your options.  It is easy to get caught up in the difficulties that appraisers can encounter.  It’s not all rainbows and unicorns.  Those are rare…like licensed appraisers.  Unicorns are in demand.  There are not enough to go around and the unicorn population is dwindling.  Be grateful and thankful that you are fortunate to have chosen a career path that gives you independence, options and freedom.