By: Ashley Innes
Types of Appraisers
If you’re working with a large or complex estate, it may be difficult to know what type of USPAP-compliant personal property appraiser to engage. For practical purposes, appraisers can generally be divided into two groups: generalists and specialists. When a project primarily contains common household objects, furniture, or easily identifiable art, a generalist appraiser is often appropriate to accurately appraise the assets. Examples of specialties can include (but are not limited to) fine art, decorative art, Asian art, rare books, coins, firearms, jewelry, musical instruments, etc. For most estate projects, a generalist appraiser or team of generalists can be the appropriate course of action.
Deciding Whether a Specialist is Needed
If you are working with objects of high value, rarity, or complexity, however, it may be more appropriate to hire a specialist appraiser. Under USPAP, personal property appraisers must adhere to the COMPETENCY RULE, which requires them to only appraise objects about which they are already knowledgeable or can reasonably obtain competency during the course of the assignment. This means that generalist appraisers may not be competent in all specialty areas of an assignment (no appraiser can cover everything!) and may need to acquire competency or refer the client to a specialist as appropriate. Some signs it might be time to involve a specialist include if an item appears to be very valuable, if there is uncertainty about the readily apparent identity age, provenance, etc., or if a large proportion of the estate comprises items of a specialist area.
Finding a Specialist
Under USPAP, the client is the party to engage the appraiser(s). This is often the executor, but can sometimes be an estate attorney, trustee, or occasionally heir. USPAP requires appraisers to identify intended users under the SCOPE OF WORK RULE, so it is important for the client to communicate to the appraiser any parties who may rely on the report at the beginning of the assignment to ensure their inclusion. Examples of intended users can include individuals, institutions, executors, attorneys, courts, tax authorities, etc.
Often, generalist appraisers have a network of specialists they may subcontract directly for an assignment. It is very common for generalists and specialists to work alongside each other on estate appraisals, either producing a single USPAP-compliant appraisal report with multiple signatures or separate USPAP-compliant reports for each area of assets appraised.
Specialist Qualifications
Specialists are usually trained in one or a handful of areas and are qualified due to their university education and/or professional experience. If they are members of an appraisal society, they will often have been required to pass additional examinations or coursework to earn a specialty designation in their area. Many specialist appraisers are members of one of the three primary professional organizations for USPAP-compliant personal property appraisers: the International Society of Appraisers, the American Society of Appraisers, and American Association of Appraisers. These organizations have websites with search functions for appraisers specializing in most areas of personal property. If the required specialty isn’t available on their website, it may be worth contacting the organizations directly to see if they know of relevant specialists within their greater networks. If your appraisers are USPAP-compliant and a member of one of these organizations, they will be trained to conduct estate appraisals regardless of their area of expertise.
Specialists with Generalist Knowledge
A common misconception about specialist appraisers is that they only work in the area of their specialty. This is true for some specialists, but many have multiple specialties or additionally work as generalists. For an estate project with both generalist and specialist assets, it may be beneficial to engage an appraiser who performs both types of appraisals. It is worth asking a specialist whether they perform both types of appraisals; the COMPETENCY RULE applies both ways, meaning that specialists are not always suited to generalist work unless they regularly appraise general personal property and are sufficiently competent in this area. If an appraiser only performs specialist appraisals but accepts a generalist appraisal assignment, they could in some cases risk either failing the COMPETENCY RULE and/or working inefficiently in areas that they do not regularly encounter. A prospective appraiser for your assignment should be comfortable explaining their competency and experience in the areas for which you are hiring them.
Remote Specialist Work
If the appropriate appraiser isn’t available to work in person, you will be able to engage a remote appraiser for many types of appraisals. Remote appraisals became popular for general personal property during and after the pandemic, but due to the niche nature of specialist work, there has always been a shortage of specialists who are available to work in person. This means that specialist appraisers have long been appraising remotely and are typically very comfortable performing remote work. Remote work becomes even easier for specialists when they are working alongside onsite generalist appraisers. If a remote specialist is the only appraiser working on a project, the client can assist with remote inspection by providing photographs, videos, dimensions, descriptions of condition, etc.
Ultimately, the type and quantity of appraisers you should hire will depend on the assets involved in your project, availability, project constraints, and openness to hiring a remote appraiser.
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