Why hire us?
Because as this web site indicates, we are technologically advanced
over many other
appraisers.
Appraisers are, by far,
the most technical agents in the real estate world. By necessity, they
have been
drawn into the digital world at a pace not
seen by their colleagues. The appraisal process is one that lends itself
to technology.
And technology has paid significant dividends
to those appraisers who have invested in it. These dividends are shared
with
the appraiser's customers, in the form of
shorter turn-around times and a much better final valuation report.
Ordering Let's
start at the beginning. Millions of real
estate transactions are processed each year in the United States. Almost
all of them
require some sort of appraisal. Technology
has allowed savvy appraisers to reduce the amount of work their client's
need to
order, track and receive appraisals. In the
past, the primary mode of interaction between an appraiser and his
clients was
the telephone and fax machine. Clients would
send requests via fax, and then often follow it up with a phone call to
make
sure it was received. Tracking the progress
of the appraisal meant more phone calls - a disruption for both the
client and
the appraiser.
But the modern,
technologically advanced appraiser has a better method. Using tools like
this web site
- complete with the ability to order
appraisals on-line - allows clients to shave valuable time off the
process of ordering
and tracking appraisals. Technologies like
this web site are advancing this concept even further, giving its users
the ability
to order appraisals online, and track their
progress by e-mail all the way until delivery. No more annoying games of
phone tag!
Data Gathering The
appraisal process is nothing if not a data intensive process. Appraisers
spend a lot
of their time gathering both specific
information about the subject property and general data about the local
market and developing
trends. Once again, technology has stepped in
to help appraisers. In the past, the home inspection process has been
the time
consuming and difficult. To top it off,
appraisers then had to come back to the office and transcribe their
field notes into
the appraisal file itself. No longer.
Today's
digital appraiser has several tools that can aid in gathering data in
the field. All of this means that the
appraiser can get the report done and delivered to the client in a
fraction of
the time it once took.
On the other
side of the data gathering coin is the general data. The Internet has
revolutionized
the ability of appraisers to get quality data
in a fraction of the time it once took. Where once an appraiser would
spend
hours finding the right location maps and
then rubbing on decals, the modern appraiser gets his maps with a few
mouse clicks,
complete with location markers. And flood
maps? Likewise just a few clicks away. Standardized addressing, accurate
postal
coding, census tract information, are all at
their fingertips. This ensures that the final report is as complete and
accurate
as possible, requiring fewer call-backs and
revisions. A real money saver for busy appraisal clients.
Report delivery The
report is done. Now how is the digital
appraiser going to leverage his investment in technology to improve the
delivery process?
Modern appraisers have forsaken the old
print-and-snail mail route for a much more efficient electronic delivery
system. Utilizing
Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) files,
an appraiser can deliver a complete, multi-page report, complete with
digital
photos and maps, through simple e-mail. Now,
instead of waiting for the daily mail, or paying for expensive courier
services,
appraisal customers can simply log into their
company email system and retrieve all the appraisals at one time.
Without wasting
and paper printing the appraisal, it can be
routed to the appropriate loan officer or title company in the blink of
an electron.
Digital
Workfile It would be wonderful if
appraisers could complete a report, deliver it and never worry about
seeing that document
again. But one of the purposes of an
appraisal is as a legal document outlining the condition of the property
at the time
of sale. So appraisers must keep their
reports for 5 years, allowing them to recall any appraisal at any time
to either defend
the valuation or to be used in other legal
proceedings.
Here again, the digital appraiser leverages his
investment
in technology to improve service. By storing
every aspect of the appraisal - notes, sketches, supporting
documentation and
calculations - along with the appraisal, the
professional is able to retrieve that report at any time within the five
years
and recall just what that report was about.
And this data is not stored in boxes stacked 5 deep in some rented
warehouse.
Instead, the digital appraiser uses
technology to electronically include all supporting documents as part of
the appraisal
file. These files are stored securely on
searchable media, where the appraiser can find them in a fraction of the
time
required in the past. This helps appraisal
clients by giving them immediate, virtual access to any appraisal
they've ordered
within the past 5 years.
These are
just a few examples of how technologically advanced appraisers are
improving the
business workflows of their customers.
Investing in web sites, the right software, services, gadgets and gizmos
allows the
appraiser to deliver your reports quicker,
more efficiently and with higher degrees of accuracy. All of which helps
keep the
appraiser's costs down, and save you time and
money.
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