5 Tips for Shorter Turn Times

The appraisal profession is evolving continuously. Commonly, it seems, appraisers are asked to include more information or have steps added to their appraisal process. They do this additional work to guarantee the end user gets the best data possible. In order to stay current with the always changing requirements, Appraisals By Law is continuously testing additional tools and tweaking processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for you. At Appraisals By Law we know that time is important to everybody, so below are some items you can do to accelerate the process each time you order an appraisal from Appraisals By Law:

Are you ordering appraisals online? By ordering online, you automatically get e-mail notifications that the assignment was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. It's the single biggest time saver available to both of us! We don't have to retype information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether the order was received.
Make sure that the subject property data is accurate and complete. Being just one number off on the street address can really unnecessarily interrupt 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 — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.


	You're always free to call us at 5208297433 if you have any questions about your property or an assignment we're working on for you.

Let us know up front of the property's distinct features. It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. What takes time is analyzing how elements unique to a property contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. When ordering your report, let us know 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, and it's predisposed to flooding. These are things we will find out on our own anyway, and knowing them as early as possible will likely make your report arrive more quickly.
Let the occupants know what to expect. One of the most time consuming parts of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the homeowner. Many homeowners are clearly apprehensive with the idea that an unknown persons wants to come in their home, look around, and take copious notes. Many commonly think they must make the place spotless before the inspection, with the notion that will make the house appraise higher and will put off the appraisal inspection until it is cleaned.

Hearing it directly from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- a little knowledge about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't affect their home's value one bit, will help move the process along for everyone. Please feel free to point your clients to our website, where we have multiple pages of relevant information for homeowners and others describing the appraisal process. They can even call us if they want to familiarize themselves with our staff and services. And tell them it benefits them to set the appointment promptly!
Use our website to verify 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 track your report's status.