How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in Indiana

To become a real estate appraiser in Indiana, you earn an Appraiser Trainee license first, then upgrade to Certified Residential or Certified General after logging supervised experience and passing the exam for that credential. The Real Estate Appraiser Licensure and Certification Board, which sits inside the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA), runs the whole process. Indiana adds its own steps on top of the national path: 90 hours of prerequisite coursework to qualify for the trainee exam, per the Pearson VUE Indiana candidate handbook^[1], plus a state-specific trainee exam and experience minimums that sit above the national floor.

The path Indiana shares with every state

Appraiser licensing follows the same framework in every state: qualifying education, supervised experience, an exam, and renewal with continuing education under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). The national guide in this series explains each of those shared steps in full, including the credential ladder the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) sets and how the national exam works. This page covers only what Indiana adds or does differently.

Which appraiser credentials Indiana issues

Indiana issues three appraiser credentials: Appraiser Trainee, Certified Residential, and Certified General. There is no Licensed Residential credential for new applicants. Under Indiana Administrative Code 876 IAC 3-2-1, the state's appraiser rules^[2] stopped issuing Licensed Residential licenses, and those issued before January 1, 2008 continue only if renewed. The roughly 110 "Licensed" credentials still counted on the ASC registry of Indiana appraisers^[3] are legacy holders, alongside 975 Certified General and 881 Certified Residential credentials.

The practical consequence is that an Indiana trainee skips the Licensed Residential rung other states offer and aims directly at a certified credential. A May 2025 Appraisal Subcommittee compliance review^[4] rated Indiana's appraiser program "Good" with a two-year review cycle.

Become an Indiana appraiser trainee

The trainee stage in Indiana has four parts: coursework, a state application with a background check, a state exam, and a supervisory appraiser. You must be 18 or older, and experience hours count only from the date your trainee license is issued.

Complete the 90 hours of prerequisite coursework

Trainee exam eligibility requires 90 hours of prerequisite coursework, according to the PSI Indiana Appraiser Trainee exam bulletin effective April 1, 2026, which matches the Pearson VUE Indiana candidate handbook^[1]. The 90 hours break down as:

A Supervisor/Trainee course approved by the Board or the AQB is also required before you apply. It can be any length and does not count toward the 90 hours. Course completion dates must be no older than 5 years before your application date. The total runs above the 83-hour national minimum the AQB set for 2026; the PLA licensing page^[5] still shows an earlier 75-hour total.

Submit the application and clear the background check

You apply online through the PLA's MyLicense One portal with a $100 application fee, which is nonrefundable, plus course certificates. A criminal background check is required for every initial license under Indiana's background check rules^[6], and it costs $38.20 through the state's fingerprint vendor, IdentoGO. Fingerprints taken before the application received date are invalid and must be redone at your expense, so schedule them only after you file. The federal record typically processes in 72 to 96 hours for in-state applicants and about 7 to 10 days for out-of-state applicants.

Disclosure of your Social Security number is mandatory under Ind. Code 4-1-8-1 and 25-1-5-11(a); the PLA licensing page^[5] states that applications without it are denied and fees are not refunded. An application left incomplete for 1 year is abandoned, and a later filing is treated as new.

Line up a supervisory appraiser

Your supervisory appraiser must have held an Indiana appraiser license for at least 3 years and must have completed the supervisor/trainee course, per the PLA licensing page^[5]. You change supervisors, add supervisors, or switch between active and inactive status by uploading a completed Supervisor Transfer form to your license. Under the AQB Qualification Criteria^[7], a supervisor may not supervise more than 3 trainees at one time unless the state program provides for progress monitoring and oversight. A trainee cannot independently appraise property for federally related transactions, which is why the supervisory relationship carries the credential.

Upgrade to Certified Residential or Certified General

Indiana's upgrade path runs straight from trainee to a certified credential. Both certified credentials require an application fee of $100 (or $25 if you are upgrading from an active trainee license), a new experience log, and an exam.

Certified Residential

The Certified Residential credential requires 200 hours of AQB-approved qualifying education and 2,500 hours of logged appraisal experience obtained in no fewer than 24 months, per the PLA's Certified Residential instructions. Indiana's experience floor is set by rule 876 IAC 3-3-9 and exceeds the AQB 2026 minimum of 1,500 hours in 12 months, so plan on the longer Indiana timeline. For the college requirement, the instructions and the Pearson VUE handbook^[1] accept a Bachelor's degree in any field or an approved alternative: an Associate's degree in a business, economics, or real estate-related field, 30 semester hours of specified college courses, or CLEP credit.

Your experience log must report actual hours, carry your name, license number, and signature and your supervisor's on every page, and keep residential and commercial work on separate logs. Before approving your exam eligibility, the Board reviews samples of the appraisals from your log, submitted by email as PDFs and by mail as hard copies.

Certified General

The Certified General credential requires 300 hours of AQB-approved education, 3,000 hours of logged experience obtained in no fewer than 30 months, and a Bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited college or university, per the Pearson VUE candidate handbook^[1]. At least 2,000 of those hours must be in the general, meaning non-residential, category, under rule 876 IAC 3-3-9. The AQB 2026 minimum is 3,000 hours in 18 months with 1,500 non-residential, so Indiana again demands more supervised time. Commercial, industrial, and land work all fall within this credential's scope, which is why it is the target for appraisers moving beyond residential practice.

Take the exam through Pearson VUE

Pearson VUE administers every Indiana appraiser exam for test dates of March 3, 2025 and beyond, a change the PLA announced on February 21, 2025 on the board home page^[8]. You can reserve a seat only after the PLA approves your application and sends an approval-to-test letter, and reservations must be made at least 48 hours in advance. Walk-in testing is not available.

Scores are scaled from 0 to 110, with 75 the passing mark on all three exams, per the Pearson VUE candidate handbook^[1]. Results are provided immediately at the test center and are good for 1 year. The trainee exam is a state-specific test covering valuation principles, legal considerations, and USPAP; the Certified Residential and Certified General exams are the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations the AQB develops. Prerequisite coursework must have been completed within 5 years of your exam.

What an Indiana appraiser license costs

State fees are separate from course tuition, and a certified credential adds higher issuance fees to the trainee outlay. The full fee schedule from the PLA licensing page^[5] is:

After the issuance fee is paid following an "Issuance Approved" notification, the license is issued within 24 business hours. Separately, 12 U.S.C. 3338^[9] allows states to collect an annual National Registry fee of up to $40 from each appraiser who performs appraisals in federally related transactions.

Renewal, continuing education, and reinstatement

Indiana appraiser credentials expire on June 30 of even-numbered years, per the ASC registry data^[3]. To renew in active status, you must complete 28 classroom hours of continuing education within the two-year reporting period, and at least 7 of those hours must be in the current 2024/2026 USPAP, requirements the PLA licensing page^[5] grounds in rule 876 IAC 3-5-1. Renewal fees are $110 for trainees and $190 for Certified Residential and Certified General credentials, active or inactive. Renewal notices go out about 90 days before expiration.

Two exemptions and traps are worth knowing. A licensee first licensed within the last 185 days of a two-year period owes no continuing education for that cycle. And a license expired for 3 or more years requires reinstatement: a fee equal to the current initial application fee, 28 continuing education hours for each missed renewal (84 hours after 3 missed renewals, with 7 in current USPAP), and a written explanation of why the license lapsed. Trainee reinstatement also requires a current supervisor form and the supervisor's certificate of completion for the Supervisor/Trainee course.

Move an out-of-state license to Indiana

Indiana certifies out-of-state appraisers by reciprocity: you hold a credential in another state, which the PLA verifies through the ASC National Registry, pay a $100 application fee, and pay the same $190 (first year of the cycle) or $150 (second year) issuance fee as in-state applicants. The federal basis is 12 U.S.C. 3351^[10], which requires states to reciprocate when the other state's program is Title XI compliant and its requirements meet or exceed the receiving state's.

For shorter assignments, the Appraiser Temporary Permit costs $150 and lets a licensed out-of-state appraiser work on a specific Indiana assignment. The permit expires 1 year after issuance or when the assignment is complete, whichever comes first, and an appraiser may receive up to 4 temporary permits per calendar year.

Does Indiana accept PAREA?

Indiana has been moving to accept PAREA through rulemaking begun in 2025. The vehicle is LSA Document 24-631^[11]: the proposed rule was published January 8, 2025, heard February 17, 2025, and republished with a second comment period May 7, 2025. The rule's economic impact statement said it "will remove unnecessary barriers to entry into the appraisal profession." Final adoption dates do not appear on the docket page, so confirm current PAREA acceptance with the PLA before relying on it for your experience hours.

After certification: joining the FHA roster

Certified Residential and Certified General appraisers in Indiana can join the FHA Appraiser Roster to appraise homes financed with FHA-insured mortgages, the loans whose FHA appraisal standards are set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Trainee credentials do not qualify. Per HUD's roster instructions^[12], you apply online through FHA Connection after your ASC National Registry record shows "AQB Compliant: Yes," and your license number and type must exactly match the registry or the application errors out. New credentials can take 30 to 35 days to appear on the registry after issuance, per the ASC's published guidance^[13], so build that lag into your plans.

Your first steps in Indiana

Begin with the PLA real estate appraiser licensing page^[5], which carries the current applications, fee schedule, and rule citations. Then work forward: enroll in the prerequisite courses (Principles first), file the trainee application and schedule fingerprints after the received date, pass the Pearson VUE trainee exam, and approach certified appraisers about supervision once your license is in hand. If you already hold hours from another state, request your ASC registry record before filing the reciprocity application, and check with the PLA on PAREA if you want to substitute it for part of your supervised experience.