The California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers (BREA) is a division of the California Department of Consumer Affairs responsible for real estate appraiser licensing and certification in California.
Activities
The California Real Estate Act has two core components: licensing and enforcement.[1][2] Both licensing and enforcement functions are required by the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC), the federal government organization which oversees all state real estate appraiser licensing agencies.[2]
Regulations require the application for a real estate appraiser license to include their social security number.[4] Pursuant to SB 237,[5] the licensing Unit also performs background checks on appraisal management companies in order to register them as required.[1]
Accreditation
BREA is responsible for the accreditation of educational courses and providers for real estate appraisers and has reviewed and approved over 1,800 pre-licensing and continuing education courses.[1] In addition to the real estate appraisal related courses offered by the community college, University of California, and California State University systems, over 90 proprietary schools provide appraiser education.[1]
A new Regulation Z (12 CFR226) of the Truth in Lending Act was adopted in 2008 (73 FR44522) to help prevent the improper influence of appraisers and to reduce the chances that appraisers would be pressured to "hit" certain target property values or return pre-determined, unsupported valuations when appraising real property.[2]