5 Tips for Faster Turn Times

Appraising is a constantly changing profession. Commonly, it seems, appraisers are asked to provide additional information or have steps added to their process. They do this extra work to guarantee the end user has the best information available. In order to stay current with the constantly changing requirements, (208) 782-0233 is always acquiring new tools and tweaking processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our clients. Since (208) 782-0233 knows that time is important to everyone, here are a few tips you can do to accelerate the process when you order an appraisal from (208) 782-0233.

Order your appraisals on the Internet.: With online ordering, you automatically get e-mail notifications 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 manually enter information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether we received the order.
Are you providing complete and accurate information about the subject property?: There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to add unnecessary time to an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name are good data to include with the request. Even a list of recent sales from the area is welcome — though be advised that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.
Tell us up front of the property's distinct characteristics.: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. 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. When you order your report, let us know if there are unique details of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's prone to flooding. These are things we will find out on our own anyway, and knowing them early on makes your report arrive quicker.
Let the occupants know what to expect.: Confirming an inspection time and date with the homeowner can be one of the most inefficient parts in the appraisal process. It's understandable for a homeowner to be uneasy with an unknown person inspecting every square foot of their home, taking pictures, and making lots of notes. With the notion that it will make the house appraise higher, a few homeowners believe they have to make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by. So they choose to not schedule the appraisal inspection until it is cleaned.

Coming from you -- the person they've been working with on their loan -- a little info 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 time it takes to inspect a home. Please feel free to point your clients to this website, where we have many pages of helpful information for homeowners as well as others about the appraisal process. They can even call us if they want to meet the staff and learn more about our services. And tell them it benefits them to set the appointment soon!
Are you using our website as a resource to follow 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.