4261-Real Property Appraiser

Specific information regarding this recruitment process are listed below:

• Appointment Type: Temporary Exempt: This position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process and shall serve at the discretion of the Appointing Officer. The duration of the appointment shall not exceed 36 months.
• Application Opening: June 20, 2025
• Application Deadline: July 7, 2025
• Compensation Range: $103,766 - $126,100
• Recruitment ID: RTF0157455-01132179

San Francisco is a vibrant and dynamic city, on the forefront of economic growth & innovation, urban development, arts & entertainment, as well as social issues & change. This rich tapestry of culture and ideas is sustained by our City's commitment to heighten the quality of life for the diverse population of San Franciscans and residents of the greater Bay Area. Our employees play an important role not only in making our City what it is today, but also in shaping the future of San Francisco.

Our Office

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder is responsible for fairly and accurately executing property assessment functions in accordance with the State Constitution and State and local laws. Our core responsibilities include identifying all taxable property in the City and County of San Francisco, establishing a taxable value, and applying all legal exemptions. Property broadly includes real property as well as personal property owned by businesses.

The Office is also responsible for recording documents and securing public records. We ensure each document meets recording requirements and make them accessible to the public. We record over 400 different types of documents annually, including deeds of trust, reconveyances, liens, maps, and public marriage certificates.

Additionally, the Office is responsible for collecting any transfer tax due upon a change in property ownership and performing audits to ensure the correct property value basis for taxation.

In all that we do we seek to advance the values of fairness, care, equity, and excellence in service to our diverse constituents and communities.

What We Do

Each year we prepare an assessment roll that reflects the taxable values of land, improvements, and personal property. The assessment roll is the basis for San Francisco’s property tax revenue. We enroll property tax value by discovering new construction or changes in ownership. The work of our Office in enrolling property valued at approximately $352 billion generates an estimated $4.1 billion in property tax revenue for the City and County of San Francisco. Property tax revenue represents over one-third of the City's General Fund which pays for crucial services ranging from public safety, affordable housing, and education to neighborhood improvements and health and family support services.

Our success is grounded by our Office's investment in our four strategic pillars: people, systems, services, and engagement. We prioritize a climate and culture where belonging and inclusion are advanced, staff can be their authentic selves and pursue pathways for career growth, and diverse constituencies are equitably supported with a meaningful and seamless experience through care in customer service and efficient technology systems. In line with these values, we are taking significant steps to modernize our operations, including leading a cross-departmental effort to replace the legacy property assessment system currently used to manage the City’s hundreds of billions of dollars in assessed property value. This modernization work will provide for increased security and service as well as greater integration with other City systems utilized by the Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector and the City Controller’s Office.

We are committed to developing an organization that works to address the pervasive and persistent inequities resulting from systemic racism in our society. This extends to our external engagements where our Office seeks to increase access to resources across multiple constituencies by hosting presentations, workshops, attending events, tabling at resource fairs, and more to ensure that all San Franciscans know what our office can do for them.

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder is hiring 4261 Real Property Appraisers. New hires in this classification will present and value the Assessor’s residential and small commercial cases at hearings before the AAB, including all associated prehearing conferences, hearing officer hearings and board hearings, as assigned. Under general supervision, they may also perform professional appraisal work in connection with assessing, examining, analyzing, and evaluating real property of moderate complexity for tax assessment purposes. The 4261 is the journey level class in the Real Property Appraisal series.

Essential duties may include but are not limited to:

1. Appraise various types of moderately complex real property, to establish values for tax assessment purposes, and to make and recommend changes to valuation.
2. Estimate property value by conducting site inspections and using standardized market, cost and income valuation approaches.
3. Gather and analyze information from a variety of sources in order to maintain current information on real property. Investigate complaints on property assessments; make recommendations regarding the resolution of such complaints; explain findings to property owners.
4. Perform special investigations and appraisal surveys, such as commercial area rent surveys.
5. Prepare appeal packages for properties under assessment appeal; testify and or present before Assessment Appeals Board; may present at other quasi-judicial bodies.
6. Prepare and maintain various records and reports, including those related to appraisal of real property.
7. Explain appraisal and assessment procedures to property owners and general public.
8. Interact with members of the public, City staff of other departments and City officials during the course of business.

These minimum qualifications establish the education, training, experience, special skills and/or license(s) which are required for employment in the classification.  Please note, additional qualifications (i.e., special conditions) may apply to a particular position and will be stated on the exam/job announcement.

Education:

Requires a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.

Experience:

One (1) year of experience in the past 10 years appraising real property in a County Assessor’s Office.

License and Certification:

Eligibility for certification from the California State Board of Equalization as an appraiser for property tax purposes. In accordance with the California State Board of Equalization, appointees to this class, must possess or obtain permanent certification as an appraiser for property tax purposes, within one (1) year of appointment, and must maintain certification as a condition of continued employment.

Substitution:

1. The required education may be substituted by other qualifying combinations of education and experience as described in the California State Board of Equalization Property Tax Rule 283.
2. Three (3) years of experience in the past ten (10) years appraising real property as a fee, institutional or government appraiser may substitute for the required experience.
3. Five (5) years of experience within the past ten (10) years in any of the following occupations may substitute for the required experience:

A. an accountant, financial auditor, real property appraiser, building cost estimator, architectural, civil, or structural engineer, real estate loan agent, real estate loan underwriter, right-of-way agent; OR

B. a real estate licensee, licensed by the California Department of Real Estate or equivalent agency of another state, engaged in buying, selling, leasing or managing real estate; OR

C. an appraiser aide or appraiser trainee in an assessor's office or in the  Property Tax Department of the California State Board of Equalization; OR

D. an employee, other than an appraiser, appraiser aide, or appraiser trainee, of an assessor's office or of the Property Tax Department of the California State Board of Equalization, except that such employment time shall be limited to qualifying for only two-thirds of the five-year experience substitution requirement. The remaining one-third of time shall be accumulated by other relevant experience as described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) above.

4.  Completion of a 12 month real property appraiser trainee program equivalent to the City and County of San Francisco’s 4260 Real Property Appraiser Trainee Program may substitute for one (1) year of professional experience.

Verification of Education and Experience:

Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures

Applications will be screened and evaluated for qualifying experience. Additional screening mechanisms may be implemented in order to determine candidate’s qualifications. Only qualified candidates whose experience best meets the needs of the position will be selected to continue on to additional steps in the selection process, which may include an interview. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement. Qualified applicants with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodation in the selection process must contact the Agency by phone at (415) 554-6000 or, if hearing impaired at (415) 554-6015 (TTY).

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Seniority Credit in Promotional Exams
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/CityAndCountyOfSanFrancisco1/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “I’m Interested” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please contact the recruitment analyst, Simone Goldman at [email protected].

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.