What's a RE professional?

My wife is an RE appraiser and owns a 3rd of her own Appraisal LLC. for the purposes of claiming the maximum amount of passive losses from rental properties we want to know if she qualifies as a RE Professional (if our income exceeds the 150k)

the IRS lists the people in these areas of the RE trade as pros: Develops it, constructs it, acquires it, coverts, rents or leases it, manages it or brokers it

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p925/ar02.html#d0e909

i believe this excludes an appraiser but then on page 77 of Rich Dad’s RE Advantages (written by an atty and CPA) i found this quote following the above IRS list…

“One other way to qualify as a RE Professional is to actually have a job in the trade, such as being an agent, broker,appraiser, or contractor.”

this confirms what to me makes common sense but my personal CPA says she isnt and it appears that the IRS list above agrees with him. where does the Rich Dad author get the “other ways” to qualify??

it seems like a crazy question but is an appraiser a RE Professional?

Thanks

uh… “rents it” is one of the criteria. these ARE rental properties, no?

managing multiple properties plus appraising. she probably qualifies.

750 hours/year is mentioned in some IRS publication I’ve read. that’s not much. 1/3 of a full time job.

Unfortunately, neither the law nor the IRS tells us whether an appraiser is a qualified real estate trade or business for a real estate professional. Only four business categories are mentioned – builder/contractor, rental owner, property manager, and real estate broker.

While the tax code is silent on this question, we can still look to state law. If your state’s real estate brokerage licensing act includes appraisers in the definition of brokerage, then I say your spouse can justify claiming real estate professional status provided she meets the 50% and 750 hour participation rules.