As a response to the increased demand, the secondary market investors discontinued their appraiser approval procedures and relied on the individual lenders to qualify their own appraisers. In many cases the lenders looked again to the appraiser designations as a basis for their approval process. In some cases, the designation requirements were very strict and took years to complete. In others, it was only a matter of days, if not hours, to complete the requirements and obtain their respective appraisal designation. As part of this effort, the congress authorized the formation of the Appraisal Foundation, which is charged with establishing appraisal standards and appraiser qualifications.
Most states have various levels of licensing which are based on the appraiser's experience.
Only individuals may hold appraiser licenses. There are no appraisal licenses issued to business entities. A person who has meet the education requirements of licensing but has not yet accumulated the necessary experience for licensure. Many states are adopting various levels of licensing including a Certified Residential Appraiser license with corresponding educational and experience requirements. Therefore, when the user of appraisal services is in the process of evaluating various real estate appraisers, the use of the license can be viewed as a determination of an appraiser's minimum qualifications.