Yesterday, June 27th, the Real Estate Appraiser Commission (REAC) held a special meeting in Olympia. The meeting was held in order for the commission to hear the actions, findings, and the conclusions of the AQB Criteria Work Group, a group from the commission.

ACOW was present at this meeting, which lasted approximately one hour.

The meeting concluded that while there was apparent bias in regard to the outcomes, the facts were clear. The commission spoke of bias in terms of the respondents, as there were no responses from other industry partners (lending, real estate agents, etc.) The REAC came to a decision based on the state’s public meetings in 3 locations throughout Washington, a letter from ACOW, and the survey ACOW provided to the REAC.

REAC voted and passed to adopt the AQB’s new education requirements.

The impacts on trainees are lengthy, especially for certified residential candidates. The bottom line is: no college education will be required to become a licensed appraiser.

To become certified, residential candidate requirements will be:
1. A 2 year degree in specific fields.
2. A 4 year degree in any field.
3. Successful completion of 30 semester hours in specific fields.
4. Successful completion of 30 semester hours of College Level Examination Program (CLEP) examinations.
5. Any combination of option #3 and option #4 that includes all topics identified in option #3.
6. No college education required which only applies to licensed residential appraisers with a minimum of 5 years with no disciplinary action affecting their legal ability to engage in appraisal practice within the 5 years preceding the date of application for a residential certified credential. There is no change in education requirements to become a certified general appraiser.

REAC voted and passed not to adopt the new experience requirements. Instead, the current Washington State experience requirements will be maintained.

REAC will now present their recommendations to the Director of the Department of Licensing (DOL). Should the director concur, which is quite likely, the changes will then be made to WAC 308-125. As for a publication date, I am currently unable to provide an answer as I do not know the schedules of REAC and DOL. I am assuming it will take some time to get this completed, but anticipate a change before the end of the year. I will follow up on this as soon as I have an answer to this new question.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me directly. I am providing a copy of the full survey results and the AQB’s simplified education requirements.

Again, I thank all of the appraisers out there that responded to the ACOW survey! Your time is appreciated and you did make a difference!

Robert N. Mossuto Jr. MNAA
President
Appraisers Coalition of Washington