Is valuation experience necessary in CRE brokerage?

Hello everyone,

I am almost 30 and doing a master's degree in RE in a small UK college. I plan to return to the states for a CRE brokerage job but found that most top-tier brokers have appraiser licenses. As a person without experience in the local market, appraiser training would be a great learning experience for me, but 2.5 year with little paid plus some time to start off in brokerage will also strain me financially, as I am getting old and still have a lot of student debt to pay off. Therefore, I wonder if an appraiser license is seen heavily or useful for a brokerage role in the industry, and if I should invest some time in appraisal training or not. Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.

3 Comments
 
Best Response

What kind of training are you getting with the master's degree? I can tell you from experience that no one is going to hire a broker who doesn't understand the market nor how to value the real estate that they're selling. For someone younger (an analyst), it would be more understandable, and expected that they would learn as they go. But idk if any 30-year olds are being hired as fresh, new-to-the-business brokers. I would suggest looking into Argus training, as well as REFM and BIWS courses. If you want to learn how to model, they're great resources.

 

Thank you for your honest advice. I believe that everyone graduated with RE degree is competent with modeling or valuation. At least I am confident in those areas, except hotel business valuation or profit distribution structure, which I believe BIWS or REFM can help. As for knowing the market, I can recite information from the Internet, but it is not valuable to anyone because anyone can do that. I guess my question is how I can make myself more useful to the industry and if appraiser license would make me more credible in doing brokerage deal? Thank you again.

 

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