What
Is Personal Property Appraising?
We can prepare you for a rewarding career in Personal
Property Appraising...
What
is Personal Property Appraising?
Personal
property appraisers value personal items of all sorts:
antiques of any kind, glass, furniture, pottery,
primitives, metals – everything, in fact, except real
estate and buildings. In addition to traditional antiques,
fine arts and collectible items, appraisers are also needed
to evaluate vehicles of all types, heavy equipment, even
furnishings for entire businesses.
The list of personal property is virtually endless, and the
field is in need of thousands of appraisers with basic
knowledge who can specialize in one, two or more of the
hundreds of special areas.
What
You Need to Know
Successful
appraisers of personal property share many qualities. They
are first of all persons with educated opinions. They are
willing to spend the time to research the items they are
appraising, and they need to know how to produce
professional reports. Finally, successful appraisers need
to understand and honor the ethics of the profession.
Appraisals are done for:
• Insurance
• Dissolution of Marriage
• Family Law Documents
• Probate and Living Trusts
• IRS deductions for gifts to heirs or non-profits
• Individuals for many purposes
• People planning to downsize
• People considering the acquisition of a valuable item
In fact, appraisals are done for any purpose in which there
is a need for a person (or group/entity) to be certain of a
professional valuation/appraisal of the item(s).
Training
and Education For Certification
There are no
Federal or State requirements for licensing of personal
property appraisers as there currently are for real estate
appraisers. You will find, however, that lawyers, insurance
companies, and others feel far more secure when their
appraiser is be certified. In 2007 the IRS changed its
rules to require that appraisals be written by
professionally educated appraisers for non-cash charitable
deductions over $500.
The
College for Appraisers is the only
educational institution we know that is specifically
devoted to educate and certify personal property
appraisers. The College has been approved by the State of
California Bureau for Private, Postsecondary and Vocational
Education (BPPVE) to award both certificates and degrees.
Becoming
a Personal Property Appraiser
Dr. David Long
founded the College for Appraisers in 1980. There was then
no consistent way to acquire both the breadth of knowledge
of personal property or to learn how to prepare
professional and ethical appraisal documents. To this day,
we know of no other institution that dedicates itself
solely to preparing people to become appraisers, or that
offers this certification.
Our
course offerings are comprehensive
• Glass, metals, furniture, fine arts, primitives, jewelry,
pottery, collectibles, textiles, and automobiles.
• Thorough instruction on how to research and write
professional appraisal documents.
• We will show you how to prepare your professional
appraiser’s resume.
• We offer Uniform
Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice
(USPAP) 15 hour
and 7 course updates twice each year. We urge all
professional appraisers to become and remain USPAP
credentialed.
Job
Market and Employment Opportunities
The job market
for appraisers has been and remains strong. This is both
because the field is expanding (an increase in poverty has
caused many to loose their homes and to sell of their
possessions creating a large increase in the need for
estate sale professionals) and because there are simply not
enough appraisers.
Employment growth in the last 20 years has been higher than
in many other occupations. Growth and professional security
results from the increasing desire of people to insure
their personal property and the insistence of insurance
companies that appraisers be trained and experienced.
What’s more, courts (on a case by case basis) and all
levels of government are continually increasing standards
for accepting valuations of personal property. The IRS
rules now stipulate that appraisers must demonstrate
professional level training.
Consequently, the demand for certified appraisers continues
to increase. The vast majority of appraisers, up to 95%,
are self-employed. Most attorneys, insurance companies and
financial institutions that require these services hire
independent appraisers.
Growing
as a Professional
Personal
reputation and contacts are of course critical to your
long-term success. To assist you as you create your own
networks, College for Appraisers makes available
directories of our graduates and staff, and makes
referrals.
Professional associations also exist that you will want to
join after you have entered the field of personal property
appraising to enhance your networking and professional
development.
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