Continuing Education Credit for Equivalent Activities

The following article was printed in Volume 7 (Fall 1995) and Volume 8, No. 2, (Fall/Winter 1996) of The California Appraiser.

Appraisers may receive continuing education credit for teaching appraisal courses, developing appraisal education programs and writing articles that are published in legitimate appraisal journals. The primary consideration in determining whether or not an activity qualifies as an acceptable alternative to attendance at an approved continuing education course is its focus. The activity must include either presentation, development, authorship or research of information and materials designed to assist licensed appraisers in maintaining a reasonable level of current knowledge so that they can retain real estate appraiser licenses.

Instruction in Real Estate Appraisal Courses

An appraiser may apply for continuing education credit for teaching real estate appraisal courses. Instructors of approved continuing education courses may receive continuing education credit for the number of hours actually spent in the instruction at one presentation of the course. The course must have been completed during the period of licensure.

If the course is OREA approved, the instructor must submit a statement under penalty of perjury with appropriate confirmation from the course provider, including all of the following:

• Name of the school;
• Title of the course;
• Date(s) and location(s) the instruction took place;
• Clock hours of instruction;
• Titles and description of instruction materials used, including the name of the publisher, the date of publication and an outline or syllabus of the course; and
• A certification under penalty of perjury by the course sponsor that the information is true and correct.

If the course is not OREA approved, the instructor must submit a Petition for Equivalency Credit (REA 3005), with all appropriate fees.

Development of Real Estate Appraisal Courses

An appraiser who develops an OREA-approved real estate appraisal basic or continuing education course may apply for continuing education credit for the development of the course by submitting a statement under penalty of perjury that includes all of the following:

• Clear and complete description of the education program;
• Description of the role of the appraiser in developing the program (if more than one author, list the names of all co-authors);
• Number of hours for the education program; and
• Period during which the program was developed.

The course developer must also submit a certification prepared under penalty of perjury by the course sponsor or school that offered the course and a listing of the date(s) it was given.

Sole development of a real estate appraisal educational program is credited based on two hours of continuing education credit for each hour for which the program is accredited by OREA.

Participation with others in the development of a real estate appraisal educational program is credited based on an equal percentage of hours for each developer that contributed to the total offering. Credit can only be given if the course was approved by OREA and actually taught by the author of the education program.

An appraiser who develops a course which is not OREA approved must submit a Petition for Equivalency Credit (REA 3005), with appropriate fees, for review and determination as to the appropriate credit, if any, that my be granted.

Authorship of Articles or Books

An appraiser may receive continuing education credit for authorship of real estate appraisal textbooks or articles published in legitimate appraisal journals or other recognized economic journals. This does not apply to items published in chapter newsletters or letters to editors. The author must submit to OREA a copy of the published textbook or journal in which the article appeared. In addition, the author must submit a statement under penalty of perjury, including:

• Description of the role of the appraiser in writing the book or article (if more than one author, list the names of the other co-authors);
• Number of hours the appraiser devoted to writing the book or article; and
• Number of copies printed or circulation of the publication carrying the article.

Sole authorship of a real estate appraisal textbook or article is credited based on one hour of continuing education credit for each hour spent in writing the publication. Participation with others in the authorship of a real estate appraisal textbook or article is credited based on equal percentage for each author.