Appraiser Pass Course

The Ethics Rule

Apply conduct, management and confidentiality — including what a client may never buy.

Competency & Scope of Work

Use the Competency Rule’s acquire-or-decline logic and defend a scope-of-work decision.

Hypotheticals & Extraordinary Assumptions

Tell a hypothetical condition from an extraordinary assumption and disclose each correctly.

Workfiles & Appraisal Review

Keep the 5-year/2-year workfile and know what Standards 3/4 ask of a reviewer.

Rights, Estates & Encumbrances

Sort fee simple, life estates, easements and liens — the bundle of rights on the exam.

Zoning & Highest and Best Use

Run the four HBU tests in order and handle legal nonconforming uses.

Construction & Condition Ratings

Rate quality and condition from building components the way report forms expect.

Measurement & GLA

Compute GLA to standard: above grade only, measured to the exterior, basements excluded.

Market Areas & Neighborhood Life Cycle

Delineate a market area and place it in growth, stability, decline or revitalization.

The Economic Principles

Apply substitution, anticipation, contribution and conformity — the why behind every approach.

Time Adjustments

Extract market-conditions adjustments from paired sales and resale data.

Adjustment Sequence & Mechanics

Adjust the comp toward the subject, in the required order, watching net/gross ratios.

Paired Data Analysis

Isolate one difference between sales to extract a defensible adjustment amount.

Conditions of Sale & Concessions

Handle non-arm’s-length sales and seller concessions before any other adjustment.

Reconciling the Grid

Weight adjusted sale prices by reliability — never a simple average.

Physical Deterioration

Split curable from incurable, short-lived from long-lived, and cost each correctly.

Functional Obsolescence

Work superadequacy and deficiency problems, including cost-to-cure logic.

External Obsolescence

Measure loss from outside the property line and allocate it between land and building.

Age-Life Depreciation

Use effective age over total economic life — and know what maintenance does to effective age.

Expenses & NOI

Classify operating expenses, exclude debt service, and land on a clean NOI.

Direct Capitalization

Apply IRV, extract cap rates from sales, and build one by band of investment.

GRM & GIM

Value with gross rent/income multipliers and know when they mislead.

DCF, Yield & Reversion

Discount cash flows and reversion, and separate yield rates from cap rates.

Leases: Contract vs Market Rent

Value leased fee vs leasehold and handle contract rent above or below market.

Extraction & Allocation

Back land value out of improved sales by extraction or allocation ratios.

Subdivision Development & Land Residual

Run the development method and the land residual technique for income land.

Excess vs Surplus Land

Separate excess land (separately usable) from surplus land (not) — a favorite exam trap.

Report Types & Certification

Choose Appraisal Report vs Restricted Appraisal Report and what each must contain.

Assumptions & Exposure Time

State limiting conditions and develop an exposure-time opinion that matches the value.

Regression in Adjustment Support

Read slope, intercept and R² well enough to support (or reject) an adjustment.

Sampling & Reliability

Judge sample size, outliers and significance before trusting a statistic.

Alternative Inspections

Use desktop and exterior-only scopes with the right disclosures and limits.

AVMs & Valuation Models

Treat an AVM as a tool, not an appraisal — and know who remains responsible.