Appraisals

What Appraisers Do

Typically, appraisers are engaged by a diverse range of clients to provide a professional opinion or consultative valuation services on the quality, value, or utility of a specific property. Appraisals may be required for just about any type of property, including single-family homes, apartment buildings and condominiums, office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, industrial sites, and farms, whenever real estate is sold, mortgaged, taxed, insured, or developed.The reasons for performing a real property appraisal are varied. Clients typically seek out a professional appraiser for an opinion on:

1. Current value of property being bought or sold
2. Future value of property being built
3. Value for mortgage or lending purposes
4. Value to assist in investment decisions
5. Value to measure property tax assessments and other taxes
6. Value of an impaired property
7. Value of property to determine compensation where property is to be expropriated
8. Value of property involved in litigation
9. Value of private property acquired by governments for public use
10. Value of property as it affects pending business mergers or dissolution

In addition, there is an increasing demand for feasibility studies and consultative services offered by valuation professionals. In recent years, the real estate industry has experienced significant and ongoing changes. Today’s professional real property appraisers are highly qualified and better able to serve the expanding needs of the marketplace with a wide range of value-added real property advisory, and consulting services. For example, arbitration, expert testimony, cost-benefit studies, asset/portfolio management, due diligence, business valuation, property management and tax assessment appeals are among the value added services now offered by AIC members, serving an increasingly broad base of public and private sector clients.

What qualifications do appraisers need?

Real property appraisers need to be able to make prudent judgments and independent decisions. They must be skilled in gathering and evaluating facts, and must understand how to access the variety of data sources that are needed for comparisons and analysis. Technical competence in reading survey drawings and blueprints and identifying construction features and materials is applied in many situations. Mathematical skills are a strong asset for both the technical aspects of inspections and the analysis of markets; strong written and verbal communication skills are also necessary for producing clear, concise reports and for dealing with clients on a daily basis. Critical thinking and analytical skills are essential for individuals involved in formulating opinions who work in consulting and advisory capacities.

Checkout Appraisal Institute of Canada and Canadian National Association of Real Estate Appraisers for more info.