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

How to Become a Licensed Real Estate Appraiser in Virginia

Now let’s take a deeper look at the steps recommended to really start your appraisal career as a licensed residential real estate appraiser in Virginia.

1. 1. Obtain Your Virginia Appraiser Trainee License

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

   In order to obtain your trainee license, you’ll need to complete 75 hours of Virginia appraiser trainee qualifying education. Your education will consist of the following courses:

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

   Once your qualifying education is complete, Virginia requires you to take an AQB-Approved Supervisor-Trainee Course (4 hours). Before signing up, you’ll need to find a supervising appraiser who will act as your mentor through completion of your experience hours. (Your supervisory appraiser will also need to complete the AQB Supervisor-Trainee Course if they haven’t already done so.)

2. 2. Complete Your Licensed Residential Real Estate Appraiser Education

   After getting your appraiser trainee license, it’s time for the next step toward becoming a certified residential real estate appraiser: 75 hours of AQB-approved qualifying education. Virginia requires a very specific breakdown of this coursework.

3. 3. Conduct Your Appraisal Work Experience

   Once you’ve finished your education, you must conduct 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:

   Appraiser Eligibility Highlights	Total Time to Complete 1,000 hours
   40 Hours	6 Months
   30 Hours	8 Months
   20 Hours	1 Year
   10 Hours	2 Years

   * Must be completed under the supervision of a certified Virginia appraiser. *

4. 4. Submit Your Application 

   After you complete your required work experience hours, it’s time to apply for licensure to the Virginia Real Estate Board. Here’s a list of what you’ll need to get started:

   • Read through the application carefully
   • Gather all of your supporting documentation (e.g., transcripts; proof of coursework; experience log; etc.)
   • Submit to a background check with fingerprinting – instructions on how to do can be found on the application
   • Prepare the $290 application fee

   All that’s left is to mail in the application, supporting documentation, and the fee to the address noted on the application.

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

   After completing your courses, logging your appraisal experience, and applying for your license, you are now eligible to take the National Uniform Licensing & Certification Exam.

   For Virginia, the exam is administered by PSI. There is a $125 fee to take the exam, and The Appraisal Foundation has tips on the exam structure and some example questions that you can use to prepare. Additionally, we’ve compiled a few extra pieces of information about the exam: 

   • 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. 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.

Appraiser License Types in Virginia

It’s important to understand how the state classifies real estate appraisers into four separate categories, each with their own qualifications for licensure:

• Appraiser Trainee
• Licensed Residential Real Estate Appraiser
• Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser
• Certified General Real Estate Appraiser

After receiving your Appraiser Trainee license, you can “upgrade” to any of the subsequent license levels. Today, we’ll be focusing on how to get your licensed residential real estate appraiser license. But first, here’s a quick overview of the requirements for all four licensing levels.

Before you begin your appraisal career, check here to see if you are eligible in the state of Virginia:

Real Estate Appraiser Trainee

Like most states, Virginia offers a pilot program to help potential appraisers begin their path toward becoming fully licensed. Known as an appraiser trainee, this is the first level you can achieve before you can become fully licensed and start performing valuation services on real property – including appraising homes – on your own. You must work under the direct supervision of a certified appraiser.

Virginia Licensed Residential Real Estate Appraiser

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

• Non-complex one-to-four-unit residential properties (transaction value < $1,000,000)
• Complex one-to-four-unit residential properties (transaction value < $250,000)
• Noncomplex, nonresidential properties (transaction value or market value < $250,000)

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

Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser

Certified residential real estate appraisers may provide appraisal services in transactions with:

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

Certified General Real Estate Appraiser

Certified general real estate appraisers are the highest-level appraiser professionals. They can provide appraisal services with all types of residential or commercial real property without regard to value or complexity.