Commercial Real Estate Appraiser

Why Tobler is building a different type of firm

Our goal is to be the most appraiser-centric firm in the market: the most appraiser-favorable fee splits, a business model designed to help entrepreneurial appraisers build long-term careers, and the best technology platform.

Tobler raised $3.2m to create the modern commercial real estate appraisal firm. Our goal is to discover the productive frontier of appraisal with new technology and a re-imagined business model.

We're growing across the U.S. and are looking for an experienced commercial appraiser to help build Tobler's presence in Birmingham and the surrounding markets.

A different compensation model

Earn 60% of appraisal fees on work you originate and produce.

You receive 50% of the appraisal fee on every report you produce, plus an additional 10% procurement fee when you bring the assignment or client to Tobler. There are no production tiers or thresholds.

When you first join Tobler, we provide a salary during an initial onboarding and ramp period while you establish bid flow and begin building your market.

• Stock options — own a piece of the company.
• Healthcare — access to company healthcare plans.
• $2,500 annual education stipend for licensing, continuing education and professional development.
• $300 per month office stipend for local office expenses.
• Data subscriptions paid by Tobler so you have the tools and market data needed to do the job.
• Business development support — our technology identifies active lenders in your market, and we help you build relationships with them. The goal is to help you create a durable book of business.
• Proprietary appraisal technology built to reduce repetitive research, data entry and report-production work. Come see a demo and judge it for yourself.

Hire trainees without taking an income hit

The Tobler Trainee Development Program is designed to solve the economics of building a team from Day 1 through Day 1,000.

Once you demonstrate sufficient bid flow, Tobler pays for a trainee. They spend their first two weeks being trained in the Tobler system by former appraisers.

Tobler absorbs the trainee's compensation and initial training cost, so your income does not have to take a hit while they ramp. Our goal is for adding a trainee to be accretive to your practice from Day 1.

And the economics stay aligned as they grow. When the trainee becomes certified and begins producing work independently, you can continue earning procurement fees on business and client relationships you originated. Their success does not have to come at your expense.

The model is designed to be win/win: trainees get a path to become successful appraisers, local leaders get a path to build capacity and a team, and everyone benefits as the local book of business grows.

There is one requirement: demonstrate the bid flow to support the additional capacity.

Who You Are

We are building Tobler for entrepreneurs who happen to be commercial real estate appraisers.

You want to build something of your own: a reputation, a book of business, career-long client relationships, a team and, over time, a significant local appraisal practice.

There are plenty of big appraisal firms for appraisers who want to be the 400th appraiser at a giant company.

You are willing to win business. That does not mean doing it alone. We work with you to identify the most active lenders in your market, give you the tools and support to build career-long relationships with them, and pay you when those relationships generate business.

You want to become a local leader. Someone known and trusted in Birmingham's commercial real estate community. You want the economics, technology and support to build a team around you as your practice grows.

If that sounds like you, this is the opportunity:

• Become a local leader. Build your reputation and become Tobler's local leader across Birmingham, Central Alabama and surrounding markets.
• Build your book. Develop direct relationships with banks, lenders and other appraisal users and turn them into career-long relationships.
• Produce excellent work. Complete commercial appraisal assignments independently across a range of property types.
• Leverage a growing network. Share data and referrals with Tobler appraisers in neighboring markets and work together to serve regional clients.
• Build a team. As your bid flow grows, the Tobler Trainee Development Program gives you a path to add capacity without taking an income hit — with economics designed to stay aligned as trainees grow into independent appraisers.

You should have an active Certified General Real Property Appraiser license and experience completing commercial real estate appraisals independently. MAI designation or candidacy is a plus, but not required.

Why It's Worth a Conversation

Commercial appraisal is changing. AI will produce transformative changes across professional services, from law, to accounting, and yes, appraisal. We believe it will be a bigger change than the advent of Excel and Word.

But AI will not automate appraisers away. Instead, we believe it will give entrepreneurial appraisers more leverage and create an opportunity to build a better kind of appraisal firm.

The big appraisal firms have terrible employee retention numbers. We think there's a reason for that.

At many of them, appraisal isn't the core business, and Main Street markets aren't the core focus. At Tobler, appraisal is the business. And our success depends on finding great appraisers in markets like Birmingham and giving them the economics, technology and support.

We take a long-term view, and we want to work with long-term people.

If what we're building sounds interesting, schedule a confidential conversation. Come see the technology, meet the team, and decide for yourself.