Mr. Smithmyer earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1978, with a double major in Earth Science and Land-Use Planning.

He started his professional career working for a consulting engineering firm in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania where he was responsible for construction quality control, as well as soils and concrete testing and environmental impact studies on various projects.

After his work in Pittsburgh, he joined the Atlanta based consulting firm, Law Engineering.  While at Law Engineering, Mr. Smithmyer was assigned as the Project Engineer responsible for geotechnicial quality control of the Union Carbide world headquarters in Danbury Connecticut.  From there he was assigned Project Engineer at Disney World in Orlando Florida where he was responsible for quality control on the construction of Spaceship Earth.

It was during this project when he programmed and used a computer he built (pre- IBM PC) to analyze data during construction.  After using this new technology to resolve a dispute between the contractor and Disney, he was promoted to Corporate Systems Analyst at the company’s headquarters.  He was then charged with establishing similar technology throughout Law Engineering’s worldwide offices.

After successfully completing this task, Mr. Smithmyer changed careers.  Realizing companies were adopting the new IBM PC knowing little or nothing about how to use it, Mr. Smithmyer started the country's first personal computer training center called Microtrain in Atlanta, Georgia.  Microtrain was where Mr. Smithmyer began developing his unique ability to create and deliver practical, informative and entertaining training courses.  After selling Microtrain to his partner, he joined a new startup software company, which was later purchased by IBM.  During these 5 years with startup SAMNA, he moved from the ranks of Director of Training to Vice President of International Sales and Marketing.

From there he worked with several startup companies in the capacity of Vice President of Domestic and International Sales. Finally, in 2003, after traveling worldwide for many years Mr. Smithmyer had a desire to be closer to his family and to become more involved in his real estate investment interests.

He left the hectic corporate world to pursue a career in real estate.  He became a State Registered Real Property Appraiser in 2003.  After accumulating over 2000 hours of appraisal experience he attained a State Licensed Real Property Appraiser classification in 2005.

Since then, he has attained status as an FHA approved appraiser.   Mr. Smithmyer has over 6000 hours of appraisal experience and obtained the status of State Certified Residential Appraiser in 2006.  He was licensed as an Appraiser Instructor in 2007.

Mr Smithmyer has experience in providing support to the legal community on appraiser / value issues as well as Georgia Appraiser Regulations, USPAP and other regulatory agencies.

He operates a Real Estate School and an Appraiser School which are licensed by the state of Georgia.  In addition, he has authored over 12 real estate / appraiser courses also approved by the state of Georgia.