How To Become A Commercial Appraiser: What It Is and Career Path

What is a commercial appraiser and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a commercial appraiser. For example, did you know that they make an average of $21.09 an hour? That's $43,866 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 5,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCommercial AppraiserUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,866

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.43%

Asian 2.83%

Black or African American 4.39%

Hispanic or Latino 6.56%

Unknown 3.85%

White 81.93%

Gender

female 30.54%

male 69.46%

Age - 51

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 51

Stress level

5.0

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.1

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a commercial appraiser

Explore commercial appraiser education requirements

Most common commercial appraiser degrees

Bachelor's

74.6 %

Master's

9.6 %

Associate

9.6 %

Start to develop specific commercial appraiser skills

Skills	Percentages
Real Estate	18.42%
MAI	8.06%
Real Property	7.25%
USPAP	5.18%
Market Data	5.10%

Complete relevant commercial appraiser training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New commercial appraisers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a commercial appraiser based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real commercial appraiser resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed commercial appraiser usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed commercial appraiser in most of states. 43 states require commercial appraisers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Licensed Real Property Appraiser
Maryland	Degree required	State exam required	REAL ESTATE BROKER
Alaska	-	-	Real Estate Broker
California	Degree required	State exam required	Real Estate Broker License
Colorado	Specific course required	State exam required	Real Estate Broker License

Research commercial appraiser duties and responsibilities

Achieve specialization in servicing REO clients and knowledge of REO market and asset liquidation procedures as they relate to valuation.
State certify and MAI candidate.
Meet with taxpayers for initial appeals process.
Produce USPAP compliant, credible and clear narrative appraisal reports.

Prepare your commercial appraiser resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your commercial appraiser resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a commercial appraiser resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable commercial appraiser resume templates

Build a professional commercial appraiser resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your commercial appraiser resume.