How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in South Carolina: Your 5-Step Guide

How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in SC: Your 5-Step Guide

Now let's take a deeper look at the steps recommended to really start your appraisal career as a licensed appraiser in South Carolina.

1. 1. Obtain Your South Carolina Appraiser Apprentice Permit

   NOTE: Your state may accept PAREA or Practicum as an alternative to Trainee license with Trainee/Supervisory model.

   Before you can become a licensed appraiser in South Carolina, the best way to get started is to get your South Carolina Appraiser Apprentice permit. And before you can apply for that, you need to complete the minimum 79 hours of Qualifying education (including the Supervisor/Trainee Course) broken up as follows:

   • 30 hours of appraisal principles
   • 30 hours of appraisal procedures
   • The 15-hour National Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) course

   You’ll also need to complete a 4-hour Appraiser Apprentice/Supervisory Appraiser Course. Before signing up for this course, you need to find a supervisory appraiser who will act as your mentor through completion of your experience hours (Step 3).

   All qualifying education must be approved by either the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) or the South Carolina Real Estate Appraisers Board. You must complete all qualifying education prior to submitting your trainee application.

   Before applying for your permit, take a moment to read through the full licensure requirements from the South Carolina Real Estate Appraisers Board.

   Once you’ve met all of the above requirements, you will need to download the supplementary forms, and then apply with the state for your Appraiser Apprentice permit, which requires a $255 fee.

2. 2. Complete Your Appraiser Education

   After obtaining your South Carolina Appraiser Apprentice permit, it’s time for the next step toward becoming a Licensed Appraiser: 75 additional hours of Real Estate Appraiser Education. Take a look at the breakdown of required coursework here.

3. 3. Conduct Appraisal Work Experience

   Once you’ve finished your education, you must conduct and log at least 1,000 hours of actual appraisal experience. Additionally, those 1,000 hours must be completed:

   • Under the supervision of a certified appraiser; and
   • Over a period of at least six months.

   This means that you must take no less than six months to complete your 1,000 hours of appraisals. To put things in perspective, if a trainee works 40 hours per workweek, they will complete their training in a little over six months. If, however, they put in any fewer than 40 hours per week, it would take longer. Here’s a helpful table to give you an overview of the timeframes you’d be looking at:

   Number of Hours Per Week	Length of Time to Complete 1000 Hours
   40 Hours	6 Months
   30 Hours	8 Months
   20 Hours	13 Months
   10 Hours	2 Years

   *This must all be completed under the supervision of a certified appraiser

   Before moving on to the next step, take a final look through South Carolina’s licensed appraiser application requirements to ensure you’ve met them all.

4. 4. Submit Your Application for a South Carolina Licensed Appraiser License

   Now that you’ve completed your education and logged your experience, it’s time to apply for your license. As a first-time applicant, you can apply for your license online, but before you begin, you must download and print a few forms and instructions.

   In South Carolina, once you have your Appraiser Apprentice permit and are ready into move to a higher level of licensure, you need to fill out the Appraiser's Board Reclassification application (the fee is $140, which includes the $80 National Registry fee). After approving your reclassification application, the Board will determine whether or not you are eligible to take the examination (the next and final step!).

5. 5. Pass the National Uniform Licensing & Certification Examination

   The South Carolina Real Estate Appraisers Board (Appraisers Board) will screen your application for reclassification based on the required education and experience for your license upgrade. Once the Appraisers Board determines that you qualify to sit for the examination, they will send you an eligibility letter with instructions to schedule the National Uniform Licensing & Certification Exam.

   At this point, it’s up to you to schedule your test through PSI Examination Services (PSI), the examination provider for the Appraisers Board. There is a $75 exam fee. For more information, please read the Candidate Information Bulletin.

   Here is a little about the exam structure:

   • The exam is four to six hours long. Both the Licensed Residential Examination and the Certified Residential Examination take four hours to complete, and the Certified General Examination takes six hours to complete.
   • There are 125 questions on the test. The National Uniform Licensing and Certification exam is composed of 125 total questions. Fifteen of these questions are considered practice, and answering those questions wrong does not negatively affect your score.
   • A score of 75 points is passing. Scores for the National Uniform Licensing and Certification exam range between 0 and 110 points. Each question carries an equal weight of 1 point. In order to pass, you must earn a minimum of 75 points.
   • You can take the test more than once. The Appraisal Foundation allows you to take the test up to three times.

   You get three attempts to pass the exam; after that, you must take 15 additional hours of appraiser qualifying education before trying again.

Appraiser Apprentice

Like most states, there is a pilot program for potential appraisers to begin their path toward becoming fully licensed. In South Carolina, the Appraiser Apprentice permit is the first level you are recommended to achieve before you can start appraising homes and other property on your own.

Here’s a quick overview of everything you’ll need to become an appraiser apprentice:

Licensed Appraiser

The next level up is a licensed appraiser. At this level, you can provide appraisal services in federally related transactions with:

• Non-complex one-to-four-unit residential properties (transaction value < $1,000,000)
• Complex one-to-four-unit residential properties AND commercial properties (transaction value < $250,000)

Here’s a quick overview of everything you’ll need to become a licensed appraiser:

Certified Residential Appraiser

Certified residential appraisers may provide appraisal services in federally related transactions with:

• One-to-four-unit residential properties without regard to value or complexity
• Commercial properties (transaction value < $250,000)

Licensed Mass Appraiser

This is the first license level of the “mass” category, which works primarily with county tax assessment offices. The licensed mass appraiser engages in the mass appraisals of the following:

• Non-complex one-to-four-unit residential properties (transaction value < $1,000,000)
• Complex one-to-four-unit residential properties AND commercial properties (transaction value < $250,000)

Certified Residential Mass Appraiser

This license level is the next step up for the mass category licenses. With this license you can appraise the following:

• Mass appraisals of one-to-four residential unites without regard to value or complexity
• Non-residential properties with a transaction value less than $250,000

Certified General Mass Appraiser

The certified general appraiser, like with standard appraiser licenses, is the highest level of the mass category licenses. At this level, you can engage in all types of mass appraisal activity for ad valorem purposes.