Five Tips for Shorter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Each year, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer additional information or have steps added to their data gathering - all to guarantee their client is presented with the best data. In order to stay current with the continuously changing requirements, Tillapaw Appraisal is constantly researching additional tools and improving processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our customers. Since Tillapaw Appraisal knows that time is important to everyone, here are a handful of things you can do to hasten the process every time you order an appraisal with Tillapaw Appraisal:

Are you ordering appraisals online? With online ordering, you receive automatic e-mail confirmations that the order 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 retype information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether the order was received.
Complete and accurate subject property information is essential. There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to 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 — though be advised that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.


	You're always welcome to contact us if you have any questions about your property or an appraisal we're working on for you.

Are you letting us know up front any details of the property that might make it unique? Cookie-cutter houses are relatively easy to appraise. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how differing characteristics contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. At the time you order your report, be sure to let us know if there are unique elements of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we'd find out on our own, knowing them as early as possible makes your report arrive more quickly.
Does the homeowner know what to expect? One of the most inefficient parts of the appraisal process is confirming an inspection date with the occupants of the home. Many current homeowners are justifiably uncomfortable with the notion that a stranger wants to come in their house, look around, and make numerous notes. Under the impression that it will increase the appraised value, a few homeowners think they need to make the place spotless before the inspection . So they delay the appraisal inspection until it is cleaned.

Hearing from you -- a trusted party with whom they already have a business relationship -- some 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. Our website has lots of pages of helpful information about the appraisal process for homeowners. Please feel free to share it with your customers. Tell them to call us if they want to familiarize themselves with the staff and our services. And tell them it's to their benefit to set the appointment promptly!
Our website is a great resource for tracking 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 can be viewed instantly online. There's no easier or faster way to keep track of the status of your report.