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Property Appraiser and Assessor

Property Appraiser and Assessor

Property Appraisers and Assessors

I. JOB SUMMARY

Main Topic: Places and Regions
Secondary Topic: Human Geography 

Overview: Although the educational requirements for becoming a real estate appraiser vary by employer and by region, appraisers of residential, commercial or industrial real property must typically have at least an associate's degree or a bachelor’s degree in a field such as economics, business administration, or a related field, as well as the appropriate level of certification. Real estate appraisers estimate the market value of vacant and improved residential, commercial, industrial, and other forms of real property. They determine a property’s worth/value by inspecting the property, comparing it to similar properties, and studying where it is located. The property valuations prepared by real estate appraisers are used by a variety of stakeholders when property is bought, sold, mortgaged, damaged, expropriated, invested in, as well as for taxation assessment purposes.

Geographers make great real estate appraisers because in order to tell the value of a property or its taxability they need to use methods such as field inspection and observing trends for an area. They must prepare and keep geographical data on each property they assess, such as maps of property boundaries and property characteristics. 

Geographers at work: Business geographers, Human geographers, GIS and Remote Sensing Specialists, Cartographers

Recommended College Courses: Human Geography, Regional Geography, Economic Geography, Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, Cartography, Research Methods in Geography, Economic Geography, Urban Geography, Community and Regional Planning, Maps and Mapmaking, Cities and Urban Design, Location Analysis, American Ethnic Geography, Transportation systems, Web Mapping, GPS and GIS

Skills: Land management, regional real estate valuation, urban geography, surveying, economic geography, GIS, GPS, Geospatial technologies, Qualitative and qualitative methods, Landscape and location analysis, Local geography

Occupation Group: Business and Financial

Learn more about Real Estate Appraiser from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/appraisers-and-assessors-of-real-estate.htm#tab-2

Written by Alisa Hartsell

II. POWERFUL GEOGRAPHIC KNOWLEDGE

Property appraisers and assessors provide a value estimate on real estate and on tangible personal and business property.
Property appraisers and assessors provide a value estimate on real estate and on tangible personal and business property.
A real estate appraiser is a professional who specializes in estimating the market value of real properties. Their primary role is to provide unbiased and objective valuations of properties, ensuring that buyers, sellers, lenders, and other stakeholders have an accurate understanding of a property's worth.
A real estate appraiser is a professional who specializes in estimating the market value of real properties. Their primary role is to provide unbiased and objective valuations of properties, ensuring that buyers, sellers, lenders, and other stakeholders have an accurate understanding of a property's worth.