What Those Letters Mean
by Charlie Elliott, Jr., MAI, SRA

Perhaps many of you see letters after an appraiser’s name and wonder what they mean. Therefore, I am devoting this month’s column to defining and explaining some these designations.

Appraisal designations come from different real estate and real estate appraisal organizations. The best known organization in real estate, the National Association of Realtors, offers a couple of designations for certified appraisers, wishing to exceed state appraisal certification requirements. The RAA (Residential Accredited Appraiser) and the GAA (General Accredited Appraiser) are available to qualified Realtors and appraisers who take the NAR-offered courses and pass the exams.

The National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers, which was founded in 1961 and is strictly for real estate appraisers, also grants designations.

NAIFA’s basic designation is IFA. The IFA member examination can be waived if the applicant has residential state certification. One hundred twenty classroom hours are required along with 2,000 hours of appraisal experience. Two years of college or the equivalent are also required. So is a series of checks to the NAIFA.

An IFAS (Senior Member) candidate must first be an IFA member. The applicant must have 165 classroom hours and meet the minimum requirements for Certified General Qualification. The candidate also needs to complete an Experience Rating Form, which is reviewed by a committee. Non-appraisal educational requirements are the same as that of IFA, as well as hours of appraisal experience. An IFAS member, however, must have at least half of the required 2,000 hours in appraisals of property other than one-to-four family residential.

The IFAS designation is a prerequisite for a candidate for IFAA status, that of the agricultural property specialist. The candidate also needs to take the NAIFA-approved farm, ranch and rural appraising course and pass an accompanying exam. Other educational and experience requirements are roughly the same as the previous two NAIFA designations with the exception of half of the 2,000 hours experience being in appraising agricultural real estate.

The most prestigious designation offered by NAIFA is IFAC. A candidate must have his or her IFAS for at least three years and have had at least five years experience in counseling. The applicant needs to produce a satisfactory narrative counseling appraisal report with the emphasis being on a satisfactory conclusion to the client’s question rather than a specific value estimate.

Another appraisal organization that offers designations is American Society of Appraisers. This organization often goes by its initials, ASA, and also offers a designation of the same letters. The ASA designation, however, stands for Accredited Senior Appraiser.

To become an ASA, a candidate must have five years of full-time appraisal experience or its equivalent. Another designation by this organization, the AM or Accredited Member, requires two years or experience for its candidates. A candidate with accounting-oriented designations, CPA, CFA or CBI can substitute that for a year of experience. A college degree is also required for these designations, however, two years appraisal experience can be substituted for a year of college, meaning an appraiser with eight years experience is eligible for these degrees even if he or she has never attended college.

A real-estate appraiser (The ASA also includes appraisers of jewelry, gems, businesses, machinery, technical specialties and personal property.) must prepare three satisfactory appraisal reports to obtain either of these designations. One must also pass an exam to receive either of these designations.

Some ASA members hold an MGA designation, which stands for Master Government Appraiser. This was offered by the Association of Government Appraisers before it merged with the ASA, which no longer awards the MGA.

The best-known designations in our industry come from the Appraisal Institute.

According to this organization, “The MAI membership designation is held by appraisers who are experienced in the valuation and evaluation of commercial, industrial, residential and other types of properties, and who advise clients on real estate investment decisions.”

Many people in the industry consider the MAI to be the most prestigious designation for an appraiser to have, and it is not obtainable without hard work. For starters, it requires 6,000 hours of appraisal experience, at least half of it specialized and all expected to meet “strict criteria.” In order to reach his or her goal, an MAI candidate must take 380 hours of class and pass 11 examinations consisting of material taught in these classes. Then the candidate must pass a four module, two-day exam. Furthermore, one must successfully complete a detailed demonstration appraisal report of an income-producing property. While a four-year college degree is not required to become an appraiser, it is currently required for an appraiser to become an MAI.

SRA stands for Senior Residential Appraiser. The AI says this designation “is held by real estate solutions providers who are experienced in the analysis and valuation of residential real property.”

SRA candidates must take 181 hours of classroom instruction and pass seven exams on this material in order to earn this designation. They are also required to hold a college degree or, at least, “satisfy a specific alternative.” They also need 4,500 hours of experience, including 2,000 hours of residential appraisal experience, once again meeting “strict criteria.” They must also successfully complete a demonstration appraisal report on a residential property.

A designation that the AI recognizes but no longer offers is SRPA, which was offered by the Society of Real Estate Appraisers before that organization merged with the Appraisal Institute. It is defined by the organization as “held by appraisers who are experienced in the valuation of commercial, industrial, residential and other types of property.”

To receive this designation, one had to pass a “series” of exams on “the appraiser’s knowledge of basic and advanced principles, procedures and applications and standards of professional practice. The non-appraisal educational requirements were the same as those for SRA. The successful SRPA candidate also had to earn “credit for real estate appraisal experience, at least half of which relates to income-producing properties.” An income-property demonstration report was also required.

In my opinion, these are the best-known and respected appraisal designations, but there are others out there that may or may not be deserving of merit.

Due to the requirement of state appraisal certification, in recent years, the appraisal designations have been less popular and only the most sought after designations now hold significant status within our industry.

Charlie W. Elliott, Jr., MAI, SRA, is President of ELLIOTT® & Company Appraisers, a national real estate appraisal company. He can be reached at (800) 854-5889 or at charlie@elliottco.com or through the company’s Web site at www.appraisalsanywhere.com.