5 Steps to Quicker Turn Times

1. Are you ordering appraisals online? With online ordering, you automatically get e-mail confirmations that the request was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip single-handedly will save the most time! No longer do we have to re-key information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether the order was received.
   
   
2. Complete and accurate subject property data is key. There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to unnecessarily delay an appraisal assignment. And if you have a tax parcel number, plat map number, subdivision name or anything else that uniquely identifies the property, please pass it along. We even welcome lists of recent sales in the area — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.
   
   

	If you have any questions about your property or an assignment we're working on for you, you're always free to contact us



3. Are you letting us know up front any elements of the property that might make it distinct? Cookie-cutter houses are relatively easy to appraise. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how unique features add to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. Let us know up front when you order your report if there are unique elements of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we will find out on our own, knowing them early on makes your report arrive quicker.
   
   
4. Set proper expectations with the homeowner. One of the most inefficient tasks of the appraisal process is setting an inspection date with the homeowner. Some current homeowners are understandably uncomfortable with the notion that an outsider wants to come in their house, look around, and take lots of notes. A common belief is that they should make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by, with the notion that will increase the value and will reschedule the appraisal inspection until they have cleaned.
   
   Hearing from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- some knowledge about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't make a significant difference in their home's value, will help move the process along for everyone. Our website has numerous pages of relevant information about the appraisal process for homeowners. I encourage you to share it with your clients. Have them call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. Remind them it's in their interest to set the appointment promptly!
   
   
5. Are you using our website as a resource to keep tabs on your report's status? Why are you still playing phone and fax tag when our website offers up-to-the-minute status updates available online, anytime, 24/7? As each important milestone in an assignment is completed, that information can be viewed instantly online. There's no easier or faster way to track your report's status.