Following his fathers lead, Tate entered the real estate appraisal profession immediately out of college after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration with Finance and Marketing options in 1991. For two years he appraised residential properties followed by four years of appraising a variety of commercial properties, mostly for lending purposes. He has worked as a staff appraiser for the Federal government for the past twenty-three years with two land management agencies first with the DOI Fish and Wildlife Service and now with the USDA Forest Service. Currently he is the Regional Appraiser for the Intermountain Region (the National Forest System lands in Nevada, Utah, southern Idaho, western Wyoming, and small portion of east-central California).
Tate joined the Appraisal Institute as a General Associate Member in 1996 and the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA) in 2000, earning the RPRA designation in 2001. He served on the ASFMRAs National Education Committee from 2000 through 2004, their National Strategic Planning Committee from 2002 through 2004, and their National Technology Committee from 2005 through 2007.
He and his wife Alyson have been married for twenty-seven years and have three sons. Besides family, other passions include camping, hiking, and exploring public lands.