Heather Placer, a sales associate with Long & Foster Real Estate, the largest privately owned residential real estate company in the United States, has been elected vice president of the Virginia Chapter of the Appraisal Institute.

The Virginia Commonwealth Chapter of the Appraisal Institute represents members from southwest Virginia to Charlottesville to Richmond. The membership also includes appraisers in Hampton Roads and parts of Northern Virginia. The Appraisal Institute is a global professional association of real estate appraisers, with nearly 20,000 professionals in almost 60 countries throughout the world. Its mission is to advance professionalism and ethics, global standards, methodologies and practices through the professional development of property economics worldwide.

Placer joined Long & Foster Real Estate last year as a commercial real estate specialist. She has been a commercial appraiser for 20-plus years and holds the MAI and SRA designations.

Placer holds a master’s degree in real estate valuation from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MBA from Old Dominion University.

For more information, visit LongandFoster.com.