Blueprint for Success: Experience, Education, Ethics, Effort

Blueprint for Success: Experience, Education, Ethics, Effort
by George K. Cox, MAI, SRA

Some years ago while instructing an appraisal class at a local college, a student asked the question: What makes a "good" appraiser? What the student really wanted to know was what it takes to be a true professional.
 

I believe a good appraiser must possess four important characteristics that I refer to as the "Four Es" - Experience, Education, Ethics (Integrity), Effort.
 

Experience
It has been said on many occasions that there is no substitute for experience. I personally am a firm believer in this statement.  I believe experience is critical in the art of valuation. 
 

Experience can only be obtained through what is at times referred to as "life experience." Several colleges and universities allow students certain educational credits for experience toward obtaining specific degrees.
 

Experience cannot be obtained from any source other than "being in the trenches." Unfortunately, this involves making mistakes. Of greater importance is the skill one develops in learning from those mistakes.    
 

Webster A. Collins, MAI, published an article several years ago in which he broke down the career path of an appraiser into four ten-year cycles.
 

"The first decade is the learning cycle.  The second ten-year cycle is what I call "paying the bank."  This is where you "stumble and bumble." You make mistakes. Quite literally, you pay the bank if you have borrowed and you really learn the business. The third decade is the time to "put it all together." 

Experience, judgment, and reputation are combined to enable an appraiser to become a force in the market. Opportunities develop and may shift into other real-estate areas and those opportunities can be pleasant surprises. You have the market knowledge gained in the first ten-year struggle to learn the business and you have suffered through the second decade in which mistakes can occur in spite of your best efforts. 
 

The third ten years is the period in which you really learn to put the sum total of prior experience together to become a force in the industry.
 

The fourth decade is the transition phase. This is when you begin to hand over the reins of your business to others who can build on and improve what has been established.
 

The current experience requirement to obtain a license and/or certification as an appraiser, in most states, is the absolute minimum. Is this enough?  I personally don't think so.