Getting schooled in the world of appraisals is, obviously, extremely important to being a successful one. While this education means a lot in the long run and sets you up with a basic skill-set to perform the job, it doesn’t give you everything you may require to perform the job at its best.
Like any profession, there are always secrets you’re going to learn only by immersing yourself in the job, and appraising is no different. Many of these secrets will probably end up being common sense over time, but it never hurts to hit the ground running with all the knowledge you can acquire. Consulting with other appraisers as well as trial by fire are often the best ways to learn, but getting a helping hand is never a bad thing.
Anow Appraisal School
With the industry constantly in a state of flux we thought we would share a few ideas on how to make the day-to-day just a little bit easier. These may not work for every single appraiser out there, but we feel that most of these secrets can apply. With that in mind, here are six things they never teach you in appraisal school.
Schedule appointments together
This is a great way to save time and maximize your time away from the office. Instead of booking an appointment, heading back to the office, then heading out to another appointment, do your best to stack them when possible. It cuts down on time spent, saves money going to and from properties, and is the most efficient way to appraise and still get things done at the office.
Technology is your friend
Many appraisers still prefer a paper approach to operating their business. While that may work for some, moving to a largely paperless approach can save time, money, and stress. Having a program that keeps all of your documents in a central safe space, that is accessible from any smart enabled device is a tremendous time and space saver. What’s more, working from remote locations, including your home, becomes significantly easier. Every office and every business is different, but taking advantage of the technology available can be a great help and advantage to any appraiser. Did they teach you that in appraisal school?
Shrink your appraisal area
This may seem counterintuitive, but shrinking your appraising area actually has many advantages. First of all, it will save tremendous amounts of time running around from property to property. It can sometimes he out of your hands where you appraise, and that could me doing appraisals at opposite ends of the city. This will waste the better part of a day that surely has other important components to it. Another important aspect of keeping a smaller area is it allows you to be better versed in the comps of said area. Keeping track of all the comps from disparate areas of a city can be quite challenging and certainly requires a lot more work. These things all count towards your bottom line.
Understand your comps
Knowing what the market is doing and knowing what is going on in your area of business is hugely important to your success. This may seem obvious but not everyone takes the time do understand the comps within their area. Yes, this will take quite a bit of time, but it will pay serious dividends in the future. It’s something you’re expected to know and should have an encyclopedic knowledge of.
Use multiple monitors
This won’t be in any lecture you receive in appraisal school but it can be quite useful. Any appraiser will have dozens of things going on at once and will need to have a large amount of information in from of them at any time to answer any and all queries. Having two monitors may seem like a luxury to some and may not be easily available to all, but it’s extremely helpful for those doing quite a bit of business. Luckily, monitors can be purchased for a very reasonable sum should your company not be able to provide an extra.
Avoid extremes in homes
While you should have an encyclopedic knowledge of your area and all the comps in it, if there is a home in your area that sticks out on the extreme end of things regarding size it’s probably best to avoid. This is important because homes like this won’t have much bearing as comps due to be outliers in the neighbourhood. A home with significantly smaller or larger square footage won’t effect the average size home in the neighbourhood, and thus won’t make any real difference on comps, other than to throw them off.