Some Steps to Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. On a regular basis, it seems, appraisers are asked to provide more information or have steps added to their data gathering. All of this is to ensure the end user is presented with the most useful information. In order to keep up with the constantly changing requirements, Don Hess Appraisal Services is continuously seeking additional tools and improving processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for in less time. Since Don Hess Appraisal Services knows that time is important to everyone, here are a few things you can do to lower turn times whenever you order an appraisal with Don Hess Appraisal Services:

  1. Are you ordering appraisals online? By ordering online, you get automatic e-mail acknowledgements that the request 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 manually enter information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether we got the order.

  2. Are you providing complete and accurate data about the subject property? Having just one number incorrect on the street address can really add unnecessary time to an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name is great information to include with the request. We even welcome lists of recent sales in the area — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.

    3. If you have any questions about your property or an assignment we're working on for you, you're always free to contact us

  3. Be sure to let us know about the unique details of this property. It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. Most of an appraiser's time is spent 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 you order your report if there are unique features 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. These are things we will find out on our own anyway, and knowing them as early as possible makes your report arrive more quickly.

  4. Does the homeowner know what to expect? Confirming an appointment with the homeowner can be one of the most time consuming tasks in the appraisal process. It's understandable for a homeowner to be apprehensive with a stranger inspecting every corner of their home, taking photos, and making numerous notes. Under the belief that it will make the house appraise higher, some homeowners think they need to make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by and will put off the inspection until they have cleaned.

    Coming directly from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- a little information about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't make a significant difference in their home's value, will help move the process along for everyone. Please feel free to point your customers to our website, where we have many pages of useful information for homeowners and others about the appraisal process. Have them call us if they want to become familiar with the staff and our services. And tell them it benefits them to set the appointment promptly!

  5. Are you using our website as a resource to keep track of the status of your report? 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 is available instantly to you online. There's no faster or easier way to keep track of the status of your report.