The only professional appraisal discipline that is required to be state licensed is real property (real estate) appraisers who appraise real property in federally regulated transactions as mandated by Assembly Bill 527.
High Standards: Be advised to properly evaluate the qualifications, accreditation(s) and certification(s) of appraisers you engage.
Clients such as commercial banks, asset based lenders, litigation attorneys, corporate CPA’s, etc. that have needs for reliable and supportable machinery, equipment and inventory appraisals put their confidence in appraisers that have met training and experience requirements established by the two highly respected professional appraisal trade associations – American Society of Appraisers, the largest multi-discipline voluntary membership appraiser trade association (Accredited Senior Appraiser – ASA designation) and the Association of Machinery & Equipment Appraisers established by the Machinery Dealers National Association (Certified Equipment Appraiser – CEA designation). Both of these agencies require their members to meet their stringent training and work experience requirements to obtain accreditation and/or certification. Both organizations also require that their member’s work product must conform to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
There is no shortage of self-proclaimed machinery and equipment appraisers in this industry that obtained basically mail order designations from less than respected associations that do not require acceptable levels of training, experience and competence. Such appraisers rarely attain approved vendor status with commercial banks or meet the vetting required by attorneys as expert witnesses in their litigated cases.
Unfortunately, such appraisers can slip by the vetting process. I recently was presented with an appraisal obtained by a bank’s special assets department that was requesting our company conduct a public auction on the equipment appraised by another appraisal company. It took only a few hours of comparable market sales data research by me on the major line items of equipment to discover the alleged $800,000 value opinion of that appraiser was overstated by a factor of 40%! When I researched the appraiser’s designation, he not only had a mail order designation, but he actually owned the designating organization.
Edward Testo, ASA
Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) by the American Society of Appraisers
Asset Reliance, Inc.
April 12, 2021