Tennessee commission approves Lisonbee Bond practicum pathway for licensed appraiser experience hours

The Tennessee Real Estate Appraiser Commission voted April 21 to approve a practicum pathway submitted by provider Melissa Bond that will allow trainees to earn the experience hours required for licensure as a licensed appraiser in Tennessee.

The education committee, chaired by Dr. Mark Sunderman, reviewed the program in a 9:00 a.m. committee session and recommended it for the full board. Committee members asked detailed questions about who would deliver instruction, instructor credentials, how in-person site visits would be handled and the program’s required experience assignments. The full commission then accepted the committee’s recommendation and approved the pathway by voice vote.

The commission’s decision limits the approval to the program as described: experience hours only for the licensed-appraiser pathway (not a certified residential or certified general pathway). Commission staff said any material change — for example, a different lead instructor or an upgraded certification-level course — would be treated as a separate approval and must return to the education committee and full commission for review.

Provider Melissa Bond told the committee she will be the program manager and lead instructor and that she will “get a reciprocal license for Tennessee. So I, as the manager of the program and the lead instructor, will, go ahead and get a reciprocal license in Tennessee.” Bond said she plans to do “80% of the instructing” herself and to use a small roster of national instructors for parts of the curriculum. She listed named instructors based in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Idaho and North Carolina who she described as national USPAP instructors and certified distance-education instructors.

Bond described the program structure: trainees complete a sequence of assignments over roughly seven to eight months, culminating in 20 practice appraisals performed “completely on their own” at the end of the program. She said those practice assignments would not be delivered to lenders or clients; they would be submitted only to her for review and graded to the standard of a client assignment (for example, evaluated under FHA assignment conditions if a trainee is told to prepare an FHA-style appraisal). Bond also said the students will write a set of reports and that she counted about 32 reports in the program schedule.

Commissioners raised the 20-appraisal requirement as a potential limitation: one committee member said they “wish that there were more than 20 appraisals because I feel like she's got several different appraisal types that she's doing, which means it may be only 1 or 2 appraisals, of each type of property.” Bond said she personally conducts the field visits and that she will select trainees by geographic area (for example, grouping students from Middle Tennessee East or West) so that in-person site visits can be accomplished at a central location.

Bond said roughly “40-ish” students have completed her earlier practicum offerings in other states and that her first-time national exam pass rate is about 82 percent so far; she described three students who did not finish the program for personal reasons and explained she documents disciplinary and failure decisions. Bond said she is planning to license her program to other education providers over time and to introduce a separate certification-level course (certified residential) later; the commission clarified that such a certification-level offering would require a separate approval.

Commission staff and committee members told the board that the approval is narrowly scoped: it covers only the licensed-appraiser practicum as submitted, not the broader continuing-education curriculum or future franchised providers. Staff told commissioners that any “material change” (for example, a different lead instructor or a provider franchising the program) would be reviewed and could be expedited if the course content remained materially the same.

The commission discussed apprenticeship and sponsor-based pathways as alternatives and framed the practicum as an additional option to expand capacity where sponsor relationships are scarce. After discussion, the education committee moved to recommend approval; the full commission seconded the recommendation and voted in favor. No recorded dissent was entered into the meeting minutes and staff said the motion carried by voice vote.

The commission and staff said they will monitor program performance and compliance with Appraiser Qualifications Board (AQB) guidance and USPAP requirements. Commissioners noted that the scope of the approval is limited to experience hours under the licensed-appraiser pathway and that Bond’s planned certification-level offering will require a separate submission and review.

Details and next steps: the education committee’s recommendation will be reflected in the commission’s administrative records; Bond indicated she will obtain Tennessee reciprocal licensure as lead instructor and will be available to answer follow-up questions at the full-board meeting. Bond also asked staff for a phone number to call in later that day when she had to travel unexpectedly.

Why it matters: Tennessee has been seeking ways to expand the pool of appraisers and reduce geographic gaps in appraisal capacity. The commission framed the approval as creating an additional, supervised pathway for experience hours — not as a replacement for sponsor-based training or required qualifying education.