A Few Steps to Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is a constantly changing profession. Each year, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer extra information or have steps added to their research. All of this is to guarantee the end user receives the best data available. To keep up with the always changing requirements, Allen Appraisal Service is always researching new tools and improving processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for in less time. Since Allen Appraisal Service knows that time is important to everyone, below are some things you can do to lessen turn times on any appraisals ordered with Allen Appraisal Service.

Are you ordering appraisals online?

With online ordering, you get automatic e-mail acknowledgements that the assignment was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip alone will save the most time! No longer do we have to retype information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether we got the order.

Are you providing complete and accurate data about the subject property?

There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to unnecessarily slow down 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 from the area — remember, however, that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.

If you have any questions about your property or an appraisal we're working on for you, don't hesitate to contact us

Let us know up front of the property's unique features.

It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how characteristics unique to a property add to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. Let us know up front when ordering your report if there are unique details of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition put on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we would find out on our own, knowing them as early as possible is likely to make your report arrive quicker.

What are you doing to make the occupants of the home aware of what to expect?

One of the most inefficient tasks of the appraisal process is confirming an inspection date with the current homeowner. It's understandable for a homeowner to be uneasy with a stranger looking in every corner of their home, taking pictures, and making lots of notes. Under the impression that it will increase the appraised value, a few homeowners think they have to make the place spotless before the inspection. So they reschedule the appraisal inspection until it is cleaned.

Hearing it directly from you -- someone they have been working with on their loan -- a little knowledge about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't make it more likely their sale will close, and likely decrease the appraisal inspection time. I encourage you to point your clients to our website, where we have multiple pages of relevant information for homeowners as well as others about the appraisal process. Have them call us if they want to familiarize themselves with the staff and our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment soon!

Easily follow the status of your report on our website.

No more phone and fax tag. Up-to-the-minute status updates are available online, anytime, 24/7. As we complete each important milestone in an assignment, that information is instantly available to you online. It's never been easier to keep track of the status of your report.