What Is Appraising? | How Can I Ensure That I Get a High-Quality Appraisal? | What Should I Look for in a Written Appraisal Report?

Are There Specialized Fields of Appraising?

Yes—there are ASA-accredited appraisers to appraise any type of property you could own, from a Lincoln penny to a chain of hotels. ASA is the only society in the United States with members in all disciplines of appraisal.

Appraisal Review and Management

This discipline requires practitioners to manage multidiscipline appraisal practices, review appraisals performed by others and report the results of those reviews. As a result, they possess unique knowledge of appraisal processes and standards.

Business Valuation

Business appraisers value closely held businesses of all sizes—from small proprietorships, such as medical practices, to large, multinational corporations. They also value Intangible business assets (such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, intellectual property, employment agreements and goodwill), minority equity interests, debt securities, preferred stock and stock options.

Purposes for business appraisals include estate taxation, gift taxation, buy-sell agreements, divorce distributions, business dissolutions and securities litigation.

Gems and Jewelry

Gems and jewelry are appraised for estate, liquidation, purchase, collateral loans and insurance replacement purposes. Extraordinary leaps in technology require expertly trained gemologists/appraisers to identify the natural or synthetic origins of stones and their value.

• Senior Gems and Jewelry appraisers must be graduate gemologists or the equivalent.
• Master Gemologist Appraisers® hold gemological diplomas and maintain state-of-the-art gemological laboratories. Their color vision is periodically tested to ensure accuracy in grading colored gemstones.

Machinery and Technical Specialties

This is a unique group of appraisers who, through specialized education and experience, often work in conjunction with other disciplines, especially business valuation and real property appraisers. The Machinery and Technical Specialties (MTS) discipline encompasses appraisers who appraise machinery and equipment, industrial entities, high-tech equipment, agricultural chattels, aircraft, ships and boats, oil and other mineral reserves and public utilities

These appraisers will perform valuations for ad valorem tax, potential sale or purchase, dissolution of a company or partnership, lease financing, normal useful life studies, allocation of purchase price, gift tax, inheritance tax and insurance purposes, to name just a few.

Personal Property

Personal property appraisers value tangible, movable property that is utilitarian, collectible or decorative or that retains value in some combination of these attributes. Spheres of expertise are typically in one or more of the following specialties:

• Fine arts (including paintings, graphics, sculpture, fine art photography)
• Antiques and decorative arts (including ceramics, furniture, objets de virtu)
• Residential contents

Other specialties include African sculpture; American Folk Art, American Indian Art, Antique and Collectible Glass, Antique Firearms, Armor and Militaria, Antique Furniture, Asian Art, Automatic Musical Instruments, Automotive Specialties, Books and Manuscripts, Clocks, Dolls and Toys, Ethnographic Art, Fine Art Photography, Firearms, Japanese Prints, Numismatics, Oriental Rugs, Pre-Columbian Art, Silver and Metalware, Sports Collectibles and Memorabilia, Textiles—General, Textiles—Quilts, Wines—Fine and Rare.

Personal property professionals appraise for estate distribution, insurance, dissolution of marriage, impending sale and charitable donation.

Real Property

Real property appraisers value residential properties, urban properties (commercial, institutional, industrial, residential and special purpose) and rural properties (including timber and timberland, farm properties, livestock operations, rural residences and agriculturally related properties).

Purposes for real property appraisals include ad valorem taxation, acquisition and disposition, mortgage financing, eminent domain, estate taxation, insurance, zoning, urban renewal and redevelopment and leasehold interests.

What Should I Look for if I Need to Hire an Appraiser as an Expert Witness in Court?

Many ASA-accredited appraisers are qualified expert witnesses with extensive experience. You will want to verify that the appraiser you hire has the appropriate experience.