How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser in Virginia: Requirements, Exam, and Fees

To become a real estate appraiser in Virginia, you complete 83 hours of qualifying education, obtain an Appraiser Trainee license from the Real Estate Appraiser Board, log supervised experience, pass the national licensing exam through PSI, and apply for an independent credential. The Real Estate Appraiser Board, housed in the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR), administers every step. Virginia applies the Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) Real Property Appraiser Qualification Criteria effective January 1, 2026, and adds requirements of its own: mandatory fingerprinting before you apply, a fair housing education requirement written into state law, and a fee schedule that took effect January 14, 2026.

How Virginia regulates real estate appraisers

The Real Estate Appraiser Board licenses and certifies every Virginia appraiser and also regulates appraisal management companies (AMCs), the firms that route lender orders to independent appraisers. The board sits within DPOR, and the federal Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) oversees the program. A June 2026 ASC compliance review^[1] awarded the program a "Good" finding and counted 2,986 state-credentialed appraisers on the National Registry.

Under Code of Virginia chapter 20.1^[2], the terms "appraiser" and "appraisal" belong only to people the Board has credentialed. Since December 31, 1992, it has been unlawful to appraise real estate for compensation in Virginia without a license, and an unlicensed assistant may assist only under the direct supervision of a licensed or certified appraiser who reviews and signs the report.

Virginia issues the same four credentials as every other state, and the AQB 2026 criteria^[3] set the numbers Virginia administers:

For applications received on or after January 1, 2026, Virginia judges education and experience against the AQB's January 2026 criteria, incorporated by reference under 18VAC130-20-30^[4]; earlier applications were judged under the 2022 criteria.

The path every state shares

The Virginia sequence is the national one: qualifying education, a trainee credential under a supervisory appraiser or a PAREA program, logged experience, the National Uniform Licensing and Certification Examination, application to the state board, and renewal with continuing education. The national guide, "How to Become a Real Estate Appraiser: Steps, Requirements, and Costs," explains each shared step in full, including the exam's structure and the logic behind the experience hours. The rest of this guide covers what Virginia adds to that path.

Virginia's appraiser trainee requirements

An Appraiser Trainee in Virginia completes 83 hours of pre-license education plus a supervisor course, and the Board issues the trainee license only to candidates who already have a certified supervising appraiser. The trainee license application^[5] requires the 83 hours to be finished within the five-year period before you apply, across four real estate appraiser courses:

• Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations: 8 hours
• Basic Appraisal Principles: 30 hours
• Basic Appraisal Procedures: 30 hours
• 15-Hour National USPAP Course: 15 hours

USPAP is the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, the national standards and ethics code your exam and future reports run on. You must also complete an AQB-approved course on the requirements and responsibilities of supervising appraisers and appraiser trainees, and so must your supervisor.

The supervisor must hold a Certified Residential or Certified General Virginia appraiser license in good standing, and must not have been subject to disciplinary action within the last three years that affects legal eligibility to practice, per the Trainee Supervisor Verification Form^[6]. That form must be submitted with your application and carries no fee of its own.

The trainee application fee is $117.50 under 18VAC130-20-90^[7], effective January 14, 2026. The application form collects $132.00 in total: the statutory fee plus a technology fee of $7.25 per year for the two-year license. There is no experience requirement at the trainee level. Sequence matters in practice, because supervisors prefer candidates who have finished their coursework, and experience logged before the trainee license is issued does not count toward a later credential.

Fingerprints come before the application

Every Virginia appraiser applicant must submit fingerprints before applying for a license. Effective January 1, 2017, fingerprints go to the Virginia Central Criminal Records Exchange for a state and national criminal history record check, per the PSI candidate information bulletin^[8]. The fee is $52.00, made up of $27.00 in state processing and $25.00 in PSI processing, and processing can take 4 to 6 weeks.

Fingerprints are taken electronically at PSI's Virginia test sites during regular testing hours. Once fingerprinting is done, your license application must reach the Board within 45 calendar days of the Board's receipt of the fingerprint results, or you must pay to be fingerprinted again before a license can be issued.

Qualifying education for the independent credentials

Licensed Residential requires 158 hours of qualifying education, Certified Residential 200 hours, and Certified General 300 hours, following the AQB core curriculum, and all of it must be completed within the five years before you apply. The DPOR appraiser license application^[9] prints the course tables for each credential.

A trainee upgrading to Licensed Residential completes 75 additional hours under the AQB 2026 criteria^[3]: Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use (15 hours), Residential Site Valuation and Cost Approach (15 hours), Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches (30 hours), and Residential Report Writing and Case Studies (15 hours). The Board's application form re-lists the 8-hour Valuation Bias and Fair Housing course in its upgrade table, so a trainee who already completed that course counts it once; only an applicant who never took it needs the extra 8 hours.

State law adds its own requirement on bias training. Before any of the three independent licenses can issue, Code of Virginia 54.1-2013^[2] mandates a minimum two-hour course covering fair housing and appraisal bias, and the Virginia Fair Housing Board reviews that course annually. The 8-hour Valuation Bias and Fair Housing course in the qualifying curriculum satisfies it.

Certified Residential also requires college-level education. The DPOR application^[9] accepts a bachelor's degree in any field, an associate degree in business, accounting, finance, economics, or real estate, 30 semester hours in specified topics, CLEP exam equivalents, or a combination. One exception waives college entirely for appraisers who have held the Licensed Residential credential for at least five years with no adverse, final, non-appealable disciplinary action in the preceding five years. Certified General requires a bachelor's degree with no exception.

How much experience Virginia requires

Licensed Residential requires 1,000 hours of appraisal experience obtained in no fewer than 6 months, Certified Residential 1,500 hours in no fewer than 12 months, and Certified General 3,000 hours in no fewer than 18 months, including at least 1,500 hours of nonresidential work that demonstrates use and understanding of the income approach, under 18VAC130-20-30^[4]. All experience must fall within the five years immediately preceding your application, supported by written reports or file memoranda, though the Board can extend that window for serious illness, military service, or similar good cause.

You report each assignment separately on the Board's experience log, and the Board caps the hours it grants per assignment by property type and value range using its approved experience charts, per the DPOR experience requirements page^[10]. Review appraisal experience counts for at most 1,000 of your claimed hours, at least half of it in-field, and real estate consulting experience for at most 500 hours. Ad valorem property tax appraisal experience counts, with extra verification of your supervisor's certification.

After the Board reviews your application and experience log, it mails a letter requesting five specific sample appraisal reports, which are reviewed for USPAP compliance. Upgrade applicants must submit a new experience log demonstrating all the hours the higher credential requires.

Does Virginia accept PAREA instead of supervised experience?

Yes. Under Code of Virginia 54.1-2013.2^[2], the Board must accept a completed Practical Applications of Real Estate Appraisal (PAREA) program in place of traditional supervised experience. A Licensed Residential PAREA program earns 100% credit toward Licensed Residential experience, 67% toward Certified Residential, and 33% toward Certified General. A Certified Residential PAREA program earns 100% toward Licensed Residential or Certified Residential and 50% toward Certified General. Per The Appraisal Foundation^[11], you must finish your qualifying education before starting a PAREA program.

The Virginia licensing exam

PSI administers Virginia's appraiser exams, the fee is $125 paid directly to PSI, and a scaled score of 75 on the 0-to-110 scale passes. You must obtain Board approval before scheduling: submit the license application with your education and experience first, and allow two weeks for processing of exam applications, per the DPOR Real Estate Appraiser Board page^[12]. Once approved, you schedule through PSI's website or by phone at (855) 340-3910.

The format, per the PSI candidate bulletin^[8]: the Licensed Residential and Certified Residential exams each carry 110 scored questions plus 15 unscored ones in 4 hours, and the Certified General exam carries the same question count in 6 hours. You must pass within 24 months of the Board's approval to test under 18VAC130-20-30^[4]. USPAP is the most heavily weighted content domain on the Licensed Residential exam at 22%. Reschedule at least 2 days before your appointment or you forfeit the fee. Bring one valid signed photo ID and your own financial calculator. Test sites include Alexandria, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Roanoke, Stafford, Tazewell, Vienna, and Virginia Beach, plus Johnson City, Tennessee and Salisbury, Maryland.

What a Virginia appraiser license costs

A trainee applicant pays a $117.50 application fee, and an applicant for an independent credential pays $252.50, with the exam and fingerprint check billed separately. Under 18VAC130-20-90^[7], effective January 14, 2026, the application fee for Licensed Residential, Certified Residential, and Certified General is $252.50 per credential, whether you apply by examination or by reciprocity, and the Appraiser Trainee fee is $117.50. All fees are nonrefundable and not prorated.

The $80 National Registry assessment applies to every permanent license applicant under federal financial institutions law, and it is refunded if you fail to qualify for licensure. On top of the statutory fees, the DPOR appraiser license application^[9] collects the technology fee, so an upgrade application totals $144.50 for the two-year license term. Effective July 1, 2026, a Technology Fee of $7.25 per year applies to certain fees under 2026 House Bill 30 and remains in place through June 30, 2030, per the DPOR Board page^[12].

Renewal and continuing education

Virginia appraiser licenses run on two-year terms, and each term requires 28 hours of continuing education, the AQB national baseline, of which 7 hours must be the National USPAP Update course, per the AQB 2026 criteria^[3]. On or after January 1, 2026, a Valuation Bias and Fair Housing Laws and Regulations course is also required: at least 7 hours the first time you complete it, unless you finished the 8-hour version in qualifying education, and at least 4 hours each subsequent time, per the DPOR Board page^[12].

Every course must be approved by the Board or the AQB. The Board cannot grant credit simply because another state's licensing body approved a course, so confirm approval with the provider before registering, and keep your transcripts, certificates, or letters of completion as proof, per the Board's continuing education FAQ^[13].

Renewal has firm deadlines. The Board mails a renewal notice, but not receiving it does not excuse you from renewing, and the date your payment is received, not the postmark date, controls. You have a 30-day grace period after the expiration date to renew without penalty; after 30 days you must reinstate by paying a reinstatement fee, and two years after expiration reinstatement is no longer possible, so you must reapply as a new applicant under current requirements, per the DPOR Board page^[12]. Active-duty military members can receive up to a five-year extension of renewal requirements, certain military spouses receive expedited processing and a temporary 12-month license, and veterans can seek reimbursement of exam costs from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Reciprocity and temporary practice

An appraiser licensed in another state can obtain a Virginia credential without repeating the path, if the Board finds that the other jurisdiction's requirements are substantially equivalent to Virginia's, under Code of Virginia 54.1-2016^[2]. The reciprocity rule, 18VAC130-20-40^[14], requires applicants to be at least 18 years old, verify they have read and understand Virginia appraiser law and Board regulations, and disclose any disciplinary action by any board, plus certain misdemeanor convictions within five years and all felony convictions. The Board may deny licensure after considering a disclosure, or approve the applicant anyway. The application fee is the same $252.50 as for examination applicants, and the Board can require experience verification and sample reports if your home state's requirements fall short of Virginia's, per the DPOR application^[9].

Out-of-state appraisers on temporary business in Virginia can hold a temporary license. The fee is $75 under 18VAC130-20-90^[7], and the application is filed through DPOR's online system, per the Board page^[12]. Nonresident applicants must file an irrevocable consent to service of process on the DPOR director, under Code of Virginia chapter 20.1^[2].

Working as a Virginia appraiser

A Licensed Residential appraiser may appraise non-complex 1-to-4 unit residential properties with a transaction value less than $1,000,000, and complex 1-to-4 unit residential properties with a transaction value less than $400,000, under 18VAC130-20-15^[15]. Certified Residential and Certified General appraisers face no transaction-value ceiling.

Every licensed and certified appraiser must follow the standards of professional appraisal practice and code of ethics the Board has adopted, and must authenticate each written report with a signature, license designation, and license number, under Code of Virginia 54.1-2017^[2]. Reports for federally related transactions must be written.

Business entities can provide appraisal services if each appraisal is prepared and signed by a licensed individual and the entity registers with the Board, at $160 under 18VAC130-20-90^[7]. Appraisers engaged through an AMC must disclose the actual fee paid as part of the report. For pay, the Board's guidance document on customary and reasonable fees^[16] adopts the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Roanoke Regional Loan Center Appraisal and Inspection Fee Schedule as a schedule AMCs may use to presume they are paying appraisers properly.

Start the Virginia appraiser path this week

The shortest route to a real estate appraiser license in Virginia runs through the trainee credential, and three moves this week put you in the pipeline. What the credential is worth after that depends on the level you reach and the client base you build.

First, download the Appraiser Trainee License Application and the Trainee Supervisor Verification Form from the DPOR Real Estate Appraiser Board page^[12], and complete your fingerprints at a PSI site, since the background check can take 4 to 6 weeks and the exam application processing adds two more. Second, enroll in the 83-hour pre-license package, finishing all four courses before you approach anyone about supervision. Third, contact Certified Residential and Certified General appraisers in your market about a trainee position, verifying each prospective supervisor's license standing with the Board. The licensing section answers questions at (804) 367-2039 or REAppraisers@dpor.virginia.gov, at 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23233.