The main purpose of a property appraisal is to determine the fair market value of a home or commercial property. It’s one of the last yet key steps in the property buying process that happens after the seller accepts the offer. Appraisers then need to begin working with a lender.

Getting started in the profession of property appraising typically requires a strong commitment to planning, networking and willingness to handle day-to-day mundane tasks.

In this blog, we discuss the top tips you can follow before you get into your appraisal meetings or appointments to improve your efficiency –

1. Follow Safety Protocols

In the light of COVID-19, appraisers across the board have had difficulties managing their appraisals. As a result, appraisers now need to strictly follow all the safety protocols and take prior consent from clients before entering their premises to protect the safety of all parties involved.

To ensure that the business keeps on moving at a steady pace, appraisers need to ensure that –

• All COVID-19 pandemic protocols such as social distancing, wearing of masks all the time, washing hands, and sanitizing of spaces needs to be followed.
• There is minimal contact between people including appraisers, buyers, sellers, their agents and closers.

2. Be Thoroughly Prepared

To ensure that you are fully prepared, here is a list of items you should consider carrying in your car for any situation.

• Mask
• Hand sanitizer
• First aid kit
• Portable battery & air pump for car
• Roadside kit
• Flashlight
• Sunscreen
• Shoe covers
• Extra batteries
• Hard hat / regular hat

3. Tech-Readiness

Technology can be a crucial tool for appraisers to leverage more business and optimize their time efficiently. It is, therefore, important for every appraiser to invest in technology to serve better and faster with higher degrees of accuracy.

Some of the things that you can do for being tech-ready before you get into your meetings include –

• Keeping everything ready to help you with using and entering the data into appraisal reports from the field notes and research records.
• Prioritizing things such as organizing of the office, automating the bookkeeping, and monitoring the active appraisal orders. Also, in between office tasks, find time to read appraisal reports and create a Word template for narrative appraisal reports.
• Using robust appraisal tracking software such as Anow to get rid of manual job logs, phone & email tags. Use the software to get more insight into every facet of the business, reduce your mouse clicks, simplify your data entry and make your day smooth and hassle-free.

4. Keep Your Entire Work File Available Readily

A property appraiser’s job involves handling multiple facts and data sources in the preparation of a report. They use a range of sources including the internet, interviews with industry experts/professionals, and their own observation notes for the completion of an appraiser report.

Repeatedly calling your admin for all such basic property information or driving back and forth from the office to check on small things is a complete waste of your time. Instead, you could use that time to complete more appraisals.

Since there are way too many details to recall, it is essential to keep a record of all that information in a work file. Among the things that an appraiser needs to include in the work file include –

• Complete client details such as name, address and identity
• Original copies of all previously written reports, documented on any type of media
• All other important data, information, and documentation required to support the appraiser’s opinions and conclusions documentation
• Details and summaries of all oral reports or testimony including the appraiser’s signed and dated certification

5. Integrate Your Calendar

Use a good property appraiser tracking software that helps you integrate your calendar and to-do list to keep track of all your important deadlines, along with providing automated reminders.

Among the other things that your software should be able to do include –

• Directly integrate your personal and business calendars to give you one clear simplified view of your entire day
• Allows you to set up your Google and Outlook 365 calendars within no time so that they 2-way sync with whatever appointments you have entered
• Lets you accept appointment requests through your existing website and send clients text messages and email reminders
• Sends reminders about an upcoming appointment
• Lets you reschedule appointments and notify clients about the change

6. Map Out All Your Orders In Advance

Another important thing to keep in mind before entering your property appraising appointment is to map out all your orders in advance. Be strategic about planning your day from your phone so that you can not only save time while driving but also maximize your availability to accommodate more orders.

Using the Anow Mobile App, you can ensure to be efficient in getting from one inspection to the next and prioritize your daily route in the palm of your hand without any hassle.

Also, be strategic about setting inspections as this can have a massive impact on your scorecard. Make sure to set the inspections for your orders faster so that you’re not constantly jumping between calendars and everything you need is right on your cell phone.

To Wrap It Up..

When it comes to the real estate appraisal business, planning and organization are key to maximizing productivity and efficiency. To ensure this, appraisers should always look out for ways to save time and increase the total number of orders they complete each month.

Anow’s appraisal tracking software is a great tool that gives you the ability to manage all your orders, clients, fees, and much more using one single, unified platform. Additionally, the platform offers an array of easy-to-use features including a map, an email, invoices, calendar and various financial analytics tools to help you further improve your workflow and business as a property appraiser.