I paid $3,100 for the education before I checked whether anyone near me would supervise

Wanted to get into valuation work. Found the qualifying education requirement for a trainee credential in my state, signed up for the package, paid $3,100 up front for the courses plus $210 for the exam prep bundle. Finished five of the seven modules.

Then I started calling appraisers about supervision. Eleven calls. Nine said no, one never called back, one said he'd take me if I could commit 30 hours a week unpaid for the first six months. I can't, I have a job.

What I got wrong was the order. The education is the part that's easy to buy, so I bought it, and I treated the supervised experience as a formality that came after. It's the actual gate. The hour requirement and how supervision works vary by state, and mine has a fairly heavy one, which I could have found out with a phone call before spending anything.

The money isn't gone forever, the courses don't expire for a while in my state, so if I find a supervisor I can finish. But I've spent $3,310 and 40 hours of evenings to learn something a 20 minute conversation would have told me. If I did it again I'd get a written yes from a supervising appraiser first, then enroll.

2 replies

1mitchell_ray4 Get yoursPRO6

Same shape as every trade license I've watched people chase. The class is a product somebody sells you. The hours are a favor somebody has to do you, and nobody's selling those.

Have you tried the ones who don't do lender work? The guys doing estate and divorce files are less squeezed on turn times and might actually have room to teach.

1derekj19SB1B

$3,310 for a real answer about your own market is not the worst tuition I've seen. Worse would be finishing all seven modules first.

One thing to try: ask the eleven who said no why. If it's review time, that's structural and you can't fix it. If it's that they don't want to pay you, that's a different conversation and you might be able to work something out around your job.