How to Get a Residential Real Estate Appraiser's License in New York

The many real estate transactions that occur in the state of New York every month require knowledgeable individuals to determine the fair market value of that real estate. Banks want to lend money to buyers of homes, but only if those homes are worth the money being lent. Homeowners want to borrow money against the value of their homes and buyers want confirmation that the money that they're offering to buy their homes for are priced fairly. All of these parties use residential real estate appraisers who are licensed by the New York State, Department of State, Division of Licensing Services.

In New York, there are five different appraisal designations, each with its own educational and experience requirements. These designations are "State Licensed Residential Real Estate Appraiser," "State Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser," "State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser," "State Licensed Real Estate Appraiser Assistant" and a "Temporary/Reciprocal" status.

Every applicant for each of these five designations must meet the following requirements:

* Take the minimum number of required classroom hours of education
* Pass a written examination
* Provide the minimum number of required hours of appraisal experience

Each one of these different designations requires a different level of requirements.

* State Licensed Residential Real Estate Appraiser
* Education - 90 hrs
* 30 hrs of Introduction to Real Estate Appraisal
* 30 hrs of Valuation Principles and Procedures
* 15 hrs of Fair Housing, Fair Lending, and Environmental Issues
* 15 hrs of National USPAP Course (or its equivalent)
* Experience within 24 months
* 2,000 hrs of which 1,500 hrs must be from residential property appraisals

* State Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser
* Education - 120 hrs
* 30 hrs of Introduction to Real Estate Appraisal
* 30 hrs of Valuation Principles and Procedures
* 30 hrs of Applied Residential Property Valuation
* 15 hrs of Introduction to One-Four Family Income Capitalization
* 15 hrs of National USPAP Course (or its equivalent)
* Experience within 24 months
* 2,500 hrs of which 1,875 hrs must be of residential properties
* Of the 1,875 hrs the following must be met:
* 1,500 hrs must be in single family house real estate
* 187.5 hrs must be in two-four family and vacant lot/farm real estate

* State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser
* Education - 180 hrs
* 30 hrs of Introduction to Real Estate Appraisal
* 30 hrs of Valuation Principles and Procedures
* 30 hrs of Introduction to Income Property Valuation
* 30 hrs of Principles of Income Property Appraising
* 30 hrs of Applied Income Property Valuation
* 15 hrs of Fair Housing, Fair Lending, and Environmental Issues
* 15 hrs of National USPAP Course (or its equivalent)
* Experience - within 30 months
* 3,000 hrs of which 2,250 hrs must be of general properties
* Of the 2,250 hrs, the following number of hours must be met:
* 1,350 hrs must be either in multi-family, commercial/industrial or
land/manufacturing/institutional
* 450 hrs must be in each of the other properties that was not covered
in the 1,350 hrs.

* State Licensed Real Estate Appraiser Assistant
* Education - 90 hrs
* 30 hrs of Introduction to Real Estate Appraisal
* 30 hrs of Valuation Principles and Procedures
* 15 hrs of Fair Housing, Fair Lending, and Environmental Issues
* 15 hrs of National USPAP Course (or its equivalent)
* Supervision - must be supervised by a New York licensed or certified appraiser
who must co-sign all federally-related transaction appraisal reports over the
deminimus level
* Other requirements: Must use the same Uniform Standards of Professional
Appraisal Practice as state licensed or certified appraisers.

* Temporary/Reciprocal
* For use by a nonresident appraiser who wishes to conduct temporary business
in New York State
* Applicant must be certified or licensed in another state or territory:
* program has been endorsed by the Federal Appraisal Subcommittee
* examination has been approved by the Appraiser Qualification Board of
the Appraisal Foundation

All residential real estate appraiser's certifications and licenses are good for two years. As a condition of certificate and license renewal, all active certificate and license holders must complete continuing education requirements as following:

* Continuing education courses must be at least 28 classroom hours in length.
* Seven of those classroom hours must be of the National Uniform Standards of
Professional Appraisal Practice.