How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in North Dakota: Requirements, Steps, and Costs

To become a real estate appraiser in North Dakota, you start with the apprentice appraiser permit: you must be at least 18, hold a high school education or its equivalent, complete 83 hours of Board-approved qualifying education, pass an open-book examination on North Dakota appraisal law, clear a criminal history record check, and register a supervisory appraiser before the permit issues. The North Dakota Real Estate Appraiser Qualifications and Ethics Board (the Board) regulates the profession and issues four credentials: apprentice, licensed, certified residential, and certified general.

The North Dakota path at a glance

North Dakota keeps the national five-step path intact and adds a state law examination, supervisor registration, a fingerprint-based background check, and its own fee schedule. The national guide, How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser: Steps, Requirements, and Costs, explains the shared path in full, so this guide covers only what North Dakota adds.

The state's regulator is a five-member board appointed by the governor: one public member, one financial industry representative, and three appraisers, at least one of whom is experienced in agricultural property appraisal. Members serve five-year terms. For the certified residential and certified general levels, the Board's requirements may not exceed the Appraisal Qualifications Board (AQB) qualification criteria, and its requirements summary effective January 1, 2026^[1] adopts the national criteria with no state-added education hours.

Earning the apprentice appraiser permit

The apprentice appraiser permit is North Dakota's entry credential, the state's name for the trainee level, and it requires education, a state law exam, a background check, and a registered supervisor, but no experience hours. Under North Dakota Administrative Code 101-02-02^[2], every permit applicant must be at least 18, have a high school education or its equivalent, possess good character, and agree to follow the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

The 83 hours of qualifying education

An apprentice applicant must complete 83 hours of Board-approved qualifying education covering the AQB core curriculum, and the coursework must fall within the five-year period immediately before you apply. The package breaks down as 30 hours of basic appraisal principles, 30 hours of basic appraisal procedures, the 15-Hour National USPAP Course, and an 8-hour Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations course. On top of the 83 hours, you must also complete a course oriented to the requirements and responsibilities of the supervisory appraiser and the apprentice appraiser.

Where to take the courses

Only education from providers the Board approves counts toward the permit, and the Board publishes its approved qualifying education course list and education provider list on its website. Checking those lists before you enroll keeps your hours from being rejected at application time.

The open-book state law examination

Apprentice applicants must pass an open-book examination covering North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-23.3 and North Dakota Administrative Code title 101, and the Board posts the exam on its website. The exam tests the state statutes and rules you will work under, and you answer with the source texts open.

The application and background check

The application must be completed in its entirety, notarized, and submitted with all fees paid, or the Board will not process it. Alongside it, you submit a criminal history record check package: the Criminal History Record Check Request Form (SFN 60688), the Personal Authorization Form (SFN 51156), two completed fingerprint cards, a fingerprint verification form, and a $40 fee by check or money order payable to the North Dakota Attorney General, per the 2026 application form^[3]. Under North Dakota Administrative Code 101-02-01^[4], the apprentice application fee is $300, and fees are not refundable or pro-rated. Under North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-23.3^[5], the Board must require statewide and nationwide criminal history record checks, all background-check costs fall on the applicant, and grounds for denial include a felony conviction or crimes substantially related to appraisal practice.

Registering your supervisory appraiser

Before an apprentice permit issues, you must register the name, office, and address of each supervisory appraiser with the Board on its prescribed form, and the registration takes effect only when both the supervisor's and the apprentice's forms are received and approved. The supervisor must be a certified appraiser who meets the AQB's supervisory requirements, registers with the Board, and has passed the open-book state law examination. Either the supervisor or the apprentice must notify the Board in writing within ten days of ending the supervision.

Upgrading to licensed, certified residential, or certified general

North Dakota adopts the national criteria in full: 158 hours of qualifying education for the licensed credential, 200 for certified residential, and 300 for certified general, with experience minimums of 1,000 hours over at least 6 months, 1,500 hours over at least 12 months, and 3,000 hours over at least 18 months respectively, per the AQB criteria effective January 1, 2026^[6] and the Board's requirements summary^[1]. The state adds two rules of its own: your education and experience must both be complete before you sit for the national examination, and a passing exam result stays valid for 24 months. What each credential permits you to appraise is fixed by state rule:

These scope limits come from North Dakota Administrative Code 101-02-02^[2] and the Board's classification and scope of practice summary^[7].

The college education rule and its exception

Certified residential requires college-level education, and certified general requires a bachelor's degree or higher. For certified residential, the Board accepts 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, 30 semester hours of CLEP examinations, or a combination. The Board also adopts one further national alternative: no college-level education is needed if you have held the licensed appraiser credential for at least five years with no adverse, final, non-appealable disciplinary action in the five years before applying.

Logging experience hours under North Dakota rules

You log every appraisal in an experience log the Board reviews at upgrade time, and North Dakota caps how many hours a single assignment can earn. The log must record the report date, the property address and type, a description of the work you performed, the scope of your supervisor's supervision, the hours claimed, and the supervisory appraiser's signature and certification number, and you must keep a separate log for each supervisory appraiser, per the 2026 application form^[3]. All claimed experience must have been obtained after January 30, 1989, comply with USPAP, and conform to Standards 1 through 6, according to the Board's experience requirements^[8].

The Board sets maximum credit per assignment by property and appraisal type: a full single-family appraisal earns at most 8 hours, a farm homestead under 100 acres at most 16, and a commercial multi-tenant appraisal at most 80, while condemnation appraisals earn 1.5 times the full-appraisal credit. To earn credit on a report, you must sign it, sign the certification, or be conspicuously credited for significant professional assistance; photographing, typing, measuring, and collecting sales do not count. There need not be a traditional client for the work to qualify, and there is no maximum number of years over which experience may be obtained. The Board randomly selects reports from the log for USPAP-compliance review, and after you accumulate at least 50% of your required hours you may voluntarily submit one work product for an educational board review, with the Board agreeing not to initiate a complaint from violations found in that review.

PAREA as an alternative to a supervisor

North Dakota accepts a Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) program approved by the AQB in place of traditional supervised experience, with credit caps that depend on the program and the credential. Completing an approved Licensed Residential PAREA program gives you up to 100% of the licensed credential's hours, up to 67% of certified residential hours, and up to 33% of certified general hours, none of which counts toward certified general's nonresidential requirement. Completing an approved Certified Residential program gives up to 100% for both licensed and certified residential and up to 50% for certified general. PAREA certificates carry no expiration dates, and partial completion earns no credit. The Appraisal Foundation's PAREA overview describes the programs, and the Board's application carries the credit rules.

Taking the national exam in North Dakota

PSI Services administers the Uniform Licensing and Certification Examinations for North Dakota, and the exam fee is $130. After the Board confirms your eligibility, PSI imports your record and sends a confirmation letter with an Examination ID number, and you register at test-takers.psiexams.com/ndrap or by phone at 800-345-6559, according to the PSI candidate bulletin^[9].

PSI offers the exams at test sites in Bismarck (two locations), Minot at Minot State University, Grand Forks at the University of North Dakota, and Fargo at the Fargo Training and Testing Center. Each exam has 110 scored questions plus 15 non-scored questions, with 4 hours allowed for the licensed and certified residential exams and 6 hours for certified general. A scaled score of at least 75 on the 0-to-110 scale passes, and score reports are issued immediately. Registration fees are not refundable or transferable, but you can cancel or reschedule without forfeiting the fee if PSI receives notice at least 2 days before the appointment; a no-show, late arrival, or missing ID forfeits it. Bring one signed, photo, unexpired ID and your own financial calculator, since calculators are not provided and cannot be shared, and arrive at least 30 minutes before the appointment. If your calculator is programmable, bring the written manual so the proctor can clear stored programs.

What a North Dakota appraiser permit costs

State fees run from $40 for the background check to $400 for a licensed, certified, or reciprocity application, and every Board fee is non-refundable and non-prorated. North Dakota Administrative Code 101-02-01^[4] sets the full schedule:

Licensed and certified permittees also owe the National Registry fee each cycle. The Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) set that fee at $40 per appraiser per year effective January 1, 2012, and states must collect and transmit it for all new credentials and renewals, per the Federal Register notice^[10]. Unpaid fees can be treated as cause for denial, suspension, or revocation of a permit.

Renewing your North Dakota appraiser permit

North Dakota appraiser permits expire every two years on December 31, under the amendment to North Dakota Century Code section 43-23.3-10 enacted at the 2023 legislative session. The statute requires the expiration date to appear on the permit itself and gives no other notice, so the printed date is your deadline. Some Board forms and the ASC's credential table still describe an annual December 31 expiration from before the amendment; the statute controls, but follow the Board's renewal-season instructions in practice.

The renewal fee is $350 at every level, and licensed, certified residential, and certified general renewals add the National Registry fee on top. Filing late costs $100 per month. Continuing education follows the national cycle the parent guide covers, anchored by the 7-Hour National USPAP Update Course once every two calendar years; the Board's continuing education rules sit in North Dakota Administrative Code chapter 101-04-01, and the Board posts its approved continuing education courses on its website. A permittee may request inactive status, which costs $100 to renew, bars practice, and still requires renewal; reactivation requires proof of all the continuing education that would have been required, including the most recent edition of the 7-Hour National USPAP Update Course. Permit holders must place their permit number adjacent to their signature on appraisal reports and notify the Board of a business address change within twenty days.

Reciprocity and temporary practice permits

An appraiser licensed or certified in another state can obtain a North Dakota permit by reciprocity for a $400 application fee, provided the other state's current requirements are at least substantially equivalent to North Dakota's. The reciprocity application^[11] requires certified good standing, a statement that no disciplinary proceedings are pending, documentation of the originating state's current requirements, and a completed background check, and the Board must issue or deny within sixty days of a completed application, per North Dakota Century Code chapter 43-23.3^[5]. The Board may request work product from an applicant with a disciplinary history, and the spouse of a service member stationed in North Dakota may submit military orders and current military ID with the application.

A temporary practice permit covers one specific appraisal contract, costs $250 per contract, and expires when the contract's work is complete, under North Dakota Administrative Code 101-02-02.1^[12]. The applicant files an irrevocable consent to service of process and a copy of the appraisal services contract, and may complete no more than six temporary-permit assignments per calendar year. Federal rules require the state to issue a temporary permit within five business days of a completed application, and North Dakota processed 248 temporary permits during the ASC's April 2023 to April 2025 review period, missing that deadline on 2.

North Dakota's appraiser market

North Dakota carried 319 active appraiser credentials on the ASC registry^[13] at read time: 214 certified general, 82 certified residential, and 23 licensed, a mix weighted toward the commercial and agricultural work the state generates. The apprentice level is not federally recognized, so apprentices do not appear on the registry. The ASC's May 2025 compliance review^[14] gave the North Dakota appraiser program a finding of Good and noted no compliance issues in the application process or reciprocity. Once you hold a certified credential, FHA roster work opens to you: HUD requires roster appraisers^[15] to be state certified and listed on the ASC National Registry with an AQB-compliant status.

Getting started this week

Getting started takes three moves. Open the Board's appraisers page^[16], confirm the requirements summary for the credential you are targeting, and download the current application and the Supervisory/Apprentice Registration Form. Then enroll in a Board-approved qualifying education package, and approach potential supervisory appraisers early, because your supervisor's registration must be on file before your apprentice permit issues. The Board's office is at 1725 Bonn Blvd, Bismarck, ND 58504, its mailing address is PO Box 1336, Bismarck, ND 58502-1336, and its phone number is 701-222-1051.