Some Steps to Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Regularly, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer extra information or have steps added to their research. They do this additional work to ensure their client has the best data available. To keep up with the always changing requirements, Straughan Appraisal Services is always seeking new tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for quickly. Since Straughan Appraisal Services knows that time is important to everyone, here are some tips you can do to hasten the process on any appraisals ordered from Straughan Appraisal Services.

Order your appraisals on the Internet.: When you order online, you automatically receive e-mail confirmations that the assignment was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This is the single biggest time saver available to both of us! We don't have to re-key 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.: Having just one number incorrect on the street address can really add unnecessary time to 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. Even a list of recent area sales is welcome — remember, however, that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.
Are you letting us know up front any elements of the property that might make it unique?: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. What takes time is analyzing how details unique to a property contribute 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 characteristics of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's predisposed to flooding. These are things we would find out on our own anyway, and knowing them early on will likely make your report arrive more quickly.
Do the occupants know what to expect?: One of the most time consuming parts of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the occupants of the home. It's understandable for a homeowner to be apprehensive with an unknown person inspecting every square foot of their home, taking photos, and making lots of notes. Not uncommonly they think they ought to make the place spotless before the inspection, having the thought that will increase the value. So they choose to not schedule the appointment until they can get around to cleaning.

Hearing from you -- the person they are working with on their loan -- a little info about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't change their home's value one little bit, and likely go a long way toward trimming the time it takes to inspect a home. Our website has lots of pages of useful information about the appraisal process for homeowners. Please feel free to share it with your clients. Have them call us if they want to meet the staff and learn more about our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment as soon as possible!
Use our website 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 we complete each important milestone in an assignment, that information is instantly available to you online. There's no faster or easier way to keep track of the status of your report.