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A Little About Real Estate Appraisers

Texas Commercial Appraisals is a real estate appraisal company located in the Austin, Texas area, owned by Steven L. Adams, MAI, SRA, who has worked as an appraiser in Central Texas for the past 44 years.

All real estate appraisers are required to be licensed by the state in which they practice appraisal.  There are two types of states licenses, which are Residential and General.  The Residential license/certification allows appraisers to value residential properties.  The General license/certification allows appraisers to value all types of real properties, including commercial and residential.

Mr. Adams is licensed in the State of Texas as a General Appraiser.  This allows him to provide real estate appraisal and consulting services for any real property located within the state.

In addition to the required state license, appraisers have the option of earning professional designations from a number of different appraisal organizations.

The MAI designation is earned by appraisers who meet stringent educational and experience requirements.  MAI appraisers are qualified to provide a wide range of real estate valuation and consulting services. 

The SRA designation is earned by appraisers who also meet stringent residential educational and experience requirements.  SRA appraisers are qualified to provide real estate valuation and consulting for residential properties.

The MAI and SRA designations are awarded by the Appraisal Institute.  The Appraisal Institute is an international membership association of professional real estate appraisers, with more than 18,000 members and 99 chapters throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad.

Real estate appraisers and brokers perform different roles and there are separate state licenses for each profession.  Real estate brokers help sell property for a commission.  Real appraisers provide their opinion of value for specific real estate, in exchange for a fee.  Real estate appraisals are performed for a variety of reasons, which include, but are not limited to the following:

a.                To assist lenders with their loan underwriting of a property

b.               Set a reasonable list price, to help an owner sell their property

c.                Assist a buyer in setting a reasonable price to buy a property

d.               Splitting asset/equity valuation for partnership dissolvement

e.               Splitting asset/equity valuation for divorce proceedings

f.                 Estate tax valuation

g.                Tax protest – market valuation and/or equity analysis for protesting the assessed value

h.               Litigation support – valuations for mediation and lawsuits, expert witness testimony

i.                 And many other appraisal and consulting services

As of May 2023, Mr. Adams is available for commercial, farm & ranch, and litigation support.  1)Commercial (page) includes all types – retail, office, apartments, industrial, land (unimproved), and special purpose properties.  Examples of special purpose properties include restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, self-storage, marinas, golf courses, and other specialized types of real estate.  Mr. Adams focuses on Central Texas, but is available for large commercial assignments throughout the State of Texas.

2) farm and ranch

3) litigation appraisal or litigation appraiser

The following blogs were prepared by Mr. Adams to assist readers with understanding a variety of appraisal topics.  I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did preparing them for you! 

Best of luck with your real estate ventures and call or email me if I can help you with an appraisal in the State of Texas.

Steven L. Adams, MAI, SRA

Owner, Texas Commercial Appraisals

Cedar Park, Texas