A Few Hints for Faster Turn Times

Appraising is a constantly changing profession. Regularly, it seems, appraisers are asked to present additional information or have steps added to their appraisal process. They do this extra work to guarantee the end user receives the best data possible. To keep up with the continuously changing requirements, Daily Appraisal is constantly researching additional tools and tweaking processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for quickly. Since Daily Appraisal knows that time is important to everyone, here are a couple of items you can do to accelerate the process when you order an appraisal from Daily Appraisal.

Always order your appraisals electronically.: When you order online, you receive automatic e-mail confirmations that the assignment was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip alone will save the most time! We don't have to manually enter information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether we got the request.
Make sure that the subject property information is accurate and complete.: There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to unnecessarily slow down an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name is good information to include with your request. Even a list of recent sales from the area is welcome — remember, however, that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.
Are you telling us up front any features of the property that might make it unique?: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. What takes time is analyzing how differing features add to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. When ordering your report, let us know if there are unique details of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition built on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we'd find out on our own, knowing them as soon as possible is likely to make your report arrive quicker.
Set proper expectations with the occupants.: Confirming an appointment with the homeowner can be one of the most inefficient parts in the appraisal process. It's understandable for a homeowner to be uncomfortable with an outsider inspecting every corner of their home, taking pictures, and making copious notes. One common belief is that they ought to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection, believing that will make the house appraise for more money. So they reschedule the appraisal inspection until they can get around to cleaning.

Coming directly from you -- the person they've been working with on their loan -- some information about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't affect their home's value one little bit, and likely shorten the time it takes to inspect a home. Our website has multiple pages of helpful information about the appraisal process for homeowners. I encourage you to share it with your clients. They can even call us if they want to become familiar with the staff and our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment quickly!
Use our website to track 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. It's never been easier to keep track of your report's status.