How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in New York

New York licenses real estate appraisers through the Department of State's Division of Licensing Services, and the state adds its own rules to the national requirements: 87 hours of qualifying education for the entry credential, a $250 assistant application, at least 24 months of supervised experience at every level, and a $355 application for the license or certification itself. The sections below cover how to become an appraiser in New York, step by step. This page covers only what New York adds; the shared national path, from choosing a credential through renewal, is explained in full in the companion national guide.

The shared national path, and where New York departs

New York uses the same path every state uses under Title XI of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989: choose a credential, complete qualifying education, gain supervised experience or finish a Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) program, pass the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examination, and apply to the state regulatory agency. Four departures set New York apart:

• New York holds every credential level to the same minimum experience period, longer than the national criteria, which allow as few as 6 months (State Licensed), 12 months (Certified Residential), and 18 months (Certified General).
• Both the trainee and the supervisory appraiser must complete a Supervisory Appraiser/Trainee Appraiser Course before the trainee applies.
• The examination adds state-specific questions on New York appraisal law.
• Every initial application and renewal bundles the federal National Registry fee into the state charge.

Which credentials New York issues

New York issues four appraiser credentials under Executive Law 160-h: the State Licensed Real Estate Appraiser Assistant license, the State Licensed Real Estate Appraiser license, and the two certifications, State Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser and State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser. The New York appraiser license law compilation^[1] defines what each credential may appraise.

The $250,000 cap on complex 1-4 family properties is a New York departure: the national criteria set that threshold at $400,000. A State Licensed appraiser may not appraise a residential subdivision, though a Certified Residential appraiser may appraise individual properties within one.

Under Executive Law 160-r, every appraisal report and contract for appraisal services must carry your license title and your license number. The Appraisal Subcommittee's 2025 compliance review^[2] rated New York's appraiser program "Good" and counted 3,593 state-credentialed appraisers on the National Registry.

New York qualifying education requirements

Effective January 1, 2026, New York requires 87 hours of qualifying education for the Appraiser Assistant credential, 158 hours for State Licensed, 203 hours for Certified Residential, and 308 hours for Certified General, under 19 NYCRR 1103.2 and the Department of State appraiser FAQ^[3]. The FAQ lists the assistant package as:

• Basic Appraisal Principles (course R-5)
• Basic Appraisal Procedures (course R-6)
• 15-Hour National USPAP Course on the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), 15 hours
• Supervisory Appraiser/Trainee Appraiser Course, 4 hours
• Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations, 8 hours

New York counts the supervisory course inside the assistant requirement, a course the national trainee hour count leaves out. The State Licensed total matches the national 158 hours, while the certified categories run above the national baselines. One course hour means at least 50 minutes of instruction, per 19 NYCRR 1103^[1].

RealEstateU offers New York appraiser qualifying education, and the Department approves every school that may teach it; the Become a Real Estate Appraiser page^[4] publishes the approved provider list.

Does the Certified Residential credential require a college degree?

Yes, a real estate appraiser certification at the Certified Residential level requires college-level education, but New York accepts six routes to satisfy it, per the Department of State appraiser FAQ^[3]: a bachelor's degree in any field; an associate degree in business administration, accounting, finance, economics, or real estate; 30 semester hours of specified college courses; at least 30 semester hours of CLEP examinations; a combination of those options; or 5 years holding the Licensed credential with no adverse, final, non-appealable disciplinary action in the prior 5 years. The Certified General credential accepts only a bachelor's degree or higher from an accredited institution.

Register as an appraiser assistant

You file the appraiser application with the Department of State with a $250 fee, and no examination applies to the assistant category. The State Licensed/Certified Real Estate Appraiser application^[5] lists the attachments you need, beginning with documentation of your qualifying education. Assistant-category education must be completed within the 5 years before you apply.

New York does not require fingerprints or a third-party background check for appraiser applications. The application instead asks you to disclose any criminal conviction, any pending criminal charge, and any license revocation, suspension, or denial, with written explanations and documents for each "yes" answer. A Child Support Statement is mandatory for every applicant under New York's General Obligations Law, and the application requires your Social Security or federal ID number under Tax Law section 5.

An assistant works under the direct supervision of a state certified appraiser registered with the Department, and every New York appraisal assignment, including an assistant's work, must follow the 2024 edition of the USPAP standards under 19 NYCRR 1106.1, per the appraiser license law compilation^[1].

New York supervisory appraiser rules

Your supervisory appraiser must hold Certified Residential or Certified General status for at least 3 years, be in good standing with no disciplinary action in the past 3 years that affected the legal ability to practice, complete the Supervisory Appraiser/Trainee Appraiser Course, and register with the Department through the instructor and supervisory appraiser application^[6] with its $50 fee. A registered supervisor may not supervise more than 3 trainees at one time.

You and your supervisor jointly maintain an appraisal log, with a separate log for each supervisor, recording the property type, report date, property address, your actual work hours, a description of the work performed and the scope of supervision, and the supervisor's signature and state certification number. The supervisor keeps copies of the reports for 5 years and personally inspects each appraised property with you until you are competent to inspect alone under the USPAP competency rule, per 19 NYCRR 1101.4 in the appraiser license law compilation^[1].

The Department publishes its List of Approved Supervisory Appraisers, updated June 18, 2026, on the Become a Real Estate Appraiser page^[4], which is the place to find a supervisor who is already registered.

Experience hours New York requires

New York requires 1,000 hours of qualifying experience for State Licensed, 1,500 hours for Certified Residential, and 3,000 hours for Certified General, per the appraiser license law compilation^[1]. You must accumulate the hours over at least 24 months, and a Certified General applicant's total must include at least 1,500 hours of nonresidential work. All experience must fall within the 5 years before you apply and come from time spent on the appraisal process under USPAP Standards 1-6, per the application instructions^[5].

The Department caps experience credit per assignment under 19 NYCRR 1102.3^[1]. The schedule allows up to 6 hours for a standard single-family appraisal, including a single co-op or condo, with larger allowances for complex waterfront properties and multi-tenant commercial work. Review appraisals earn 25% of the standard hours and may not supply more than 25% of your required total. The application also caps total claimable experience at 3,000 hours for Licensed, 3,750 for Certified Residential, and 4,500 for Certified General.

Not all appraisal-adjacent work counts. The Department grants no credit for comparative market analyses by real estate licensees, business appraisals, personal property appraisals, or feasibility studies, and teaching cannot substitute for experience, a position the Department restated after the Appraisal Subcommittee's 2025 review^[2] flagged the statute as inconsistent with Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) criteria. Mass appraisal experience is creditable at higher hour totals under 19 NYCRR 1102.7^[1], including 2,000 hours over 2 years for the Licensed category with at least 1,500 of them in residential mass appraisals.

Can PAREA replace supervised experience in New York?

Yes. Under 19 NYCRR 1102.5, New York accepts a completed PAREA program from an AQB-approved provider in place of part or all of the supervised hours. A Licensed Residential PAREA certificate satisfies up to 100% of the Licensed hours, 67% of the Certified Residential hours (up to 1,005), or 33% of the Certified General hours (up to 990, none of it toward the nonresidential requirement). A Certified Residential PAREA certificate satisfies up to 100% of Licensed, 100% of Certified Residential, or 50% of Certified General hours (up to 1,500). You submit the certificate of completion with your application.

The New York appraiser examination

After the Department approves your application, it mails an examination admission notice naming the approved test provider you register with, and you pay the $125 examination fee directly to that provider, per the Become a Real Estate Appraiser page^[4]. The examination application fee to the Department is already included in the original application fee, and under 19 NYCRR 1105.1 any test provider that is an AQB approved examination administrator may deliver the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations in New York.

New York adds state-specific questions on New York appraisal law, rules, and regulations to the national exam under 19 NYCRR 1105.4, so preparation built only on the national outline leaves a gap.

If you fail, you must submit a new examination application and a new $25 fee to obtain a new admission notice before you can retake the exam, per the examination application page^[7]. Assistants upgrading to a licensed or certified category must meet all upgrade qualifications and file the upgrade application before sitting the exam, and the $25 examination application fee is waived for an upgrade when the appropriate exam was passed within the preceding 24 months.

Fees and filing your application

A New York appraiser application for any licensed or certified category costs $355, which the Become a Real Estate Appraiser page^[4] breaks into a $250 application fee, an $80 federal registry fee, and a $25 examination application fee. The registry component covers the state's 2-year license term at the $40-per-year National Registry fee the Federal Register notice^[8] established for the Appraisal Subcommittee.

File by mail to the Division of Licensing Services, PO Box 22001, Albany, NY 12201-2001, with a check or money order payable to the Department of State or a MasterCard or Visa authorization. Fees are nonrefundable, and a check returned by the bank adds $20.

How long the New York path takes

The experience step sets your calendar in New York. The state credits supervised hours only when they are spread across its minimum experience period, which applies to the Licensed, Certified Residential, and Certified General categories alike, so the route to an independent credential cannot be compressed by working intensely. The parts you control, coursework, the assistant application, and exam scheduling, move as fast as the providers and the Department allow. The Department of State publishes no typical processing time for original applications, so build slack into any deadline you are working against.

Renewing a New York appraiser license

Every New York real estate appraiser license and certification runs 2 years from its issuance date under Executive Law 160-l, and renewal requires 28 hours of approved continuing education plus a $330 fee for the licensed and certified categories and $250 for assistants. The 28 hours must include the 7-Hour National USPAP Update Course, and effective January 1, 2026 every appraiser and assistant must also complete a Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations course every 2 calendar years: a minimum of 7 hours at the first renewal and a minimum of 4 hours thereafter, with the 8-hour qualifying course satisfying the requirement, under 19 NYCRR 1107.2 in the appraiser license law compilation^[1].

You are eligible to renew online beginning 90 days before the expiration date printed on the license, per the Department's renewal page^[9], and a renewed license arrives by mail in 2 to 4 weeks. The Department must receive your renewal no later than 30 days after expiration to avoid the $200 late penalty. Renewing 185 days or more after expiration adds 14 hours of continuing education per year or partial year of lateness, and 28 additional hours apply at 366 to 729 days late. A license expired more than 2 years cannot be renewed at all: you must file a new application, meet the current education and experience requirements, and pass the examination again. You must also notify the Department of a name or address change within 10 days under Executive Law 160-q.

Reciprocity and temporary practice

New York licenses appraisers from other states without examination when the other state complies with Title XI, used an AQB-approved examination, and imposes qualification requirements that meet or exceed New York's, under 19 NYCRR 1104.1. The reciprocal application costs $330 and carries a 2-year term; Appraiser Assistants are excluded from reciprocity.

A nonresident appraiser whose credential comes from a state the Appraisal Subcommittee has not disapproved may apply for a temporary license or certification for a 1-year term that cannot be renewed. The Department may grant one second temporary credential, but once it expires no more are approved and a full reciprocal application is required, per the application instructions^[5]. Temporary practice does not permit maintaining a New York office that provides appraisal services.

How to start this week

Three moves get you underway:

1. Open the Become a Real Estate Appraiser page^[4] and confirm the current fee schedule and the approved provider list before you spend anything.
2. Pick the credential you are working toward and enroll in your first qualifying course with an approved school. The assistant package is the entry point even if you intend to certify later, because the hours that count toward a higher credential are logged under a registered supervisory appraiser.
3. Contact two or three names on the Department's List of Approved Supervisory Appraisers early, and complete the supervisory course before you file the assistant application.

Start with the course: every later step, the assistant application, the logged hours, and the examination, waits on it.