A Few Steps to Shorter Turn Times

Appraising is a constantly changing profession. Commonly, it seems, appraisers are asked to include additional information or have steps added to their appraisal process. All to ensure their client receives the best information available. In order to stay current with the always changing requirements, RWA Appraisals is constantly researching new tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for faster. Since RWA Appraisals knows that time is important to everyone, here are a handful of things you can do to accelerate the process whenever you order an appraisal with RWA Appraisals.

Always order your appraisals on the Internet.: By ordering online, you automatically receive e-mail confirmations that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. It's the single biggest time saver available to both of us! We don't have to manually enter information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether the order was received.
Are you providing complete and accurate data about the subject property?: Having just one number incorrect on the street address can really unnecessarily delay 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. We even welcome lists of recent sales from the area — remember, however, that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.
Are you letting us know up front any details of the property that might make it distinct?: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how differing elements add 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 put on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's prone to flooding. These are things we'll find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner is likely to make your report arrive sooner.
Did you make the homeowner of the home aware of what to expect?: One of the most tedious steps of the appraisal process is setting an inspection date with the occupants of the home. Many homeowners are understandably apprehensive with the fact a stranger wants to come in their house, look around, and make abundant notes. With the notion that it will make the house appraise higher, a few homeowners feel they ought to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection. And will delay the inspection until the house is cleaned.

Hearing it directly from you -- the person they are working with on their loan -- a little bit about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't affect their home's value one little bit, and can decrease the appraisal inspection time. Our website has several pages of relevant information about the appraisal process for homeowners. I encourage you to share it with your customers. 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 soon!
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 is available instantly to you online. There's no faster way to keep track of the status of your report.