Some Suggestions for Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. On a regular basis, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer additional information or have steps added to their process. They do this extra work to ensure their client has the best information available. To stay current with the always changing requirements, Crest Appraisal Services is constantly acquiring additional tools and improving processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for faster. Since Crest Appraisal Services knows that time is important to everyone, we've listed some things you can do to accelerate the process on any appraisals ordered with Crest Appraisal Services.

Always order your appraisals electronically.: By ordering online, you automatically get e-mail notifications that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip single-handedly will save the most time! No longer do we have to re-key information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether we got the request.
Make sure that the subject property information is accurate and complete.: Being just one number off on the street address can really unnecessarily interrupt 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 are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.
Are you letting us know up front any characteristics 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 features unique to a property contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. When you order your report, let us know if there are unique details of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we'd find out on our own, knowing them as early as possible is likely to make your report arrive more quickly.
Set proper expectations with the homeowner.: One of the most time consuming tasks of the appraisal process is confirming an inspection date with the occupants of the home. It's understandable for a homeowner to be apprehensive with an outsider looking in every square foot of their home, taking pictures, and making numerous notes. One common belief is that they must make the place spotless before the inspection, with the belief that will increase the value. So they reschedule the inspection until the house is cleaned.

Coming from you -- the person they have been working with on their loan -- a little knowledge about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't increase their home's value one little bit, and can go a long way toward trimming the time it takes to inspect a home. I encourage you to point your clients to our website, where we have several pages of helpful information for homeowners as well as others about the appraisal process. They can even call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment quickly!
Why not our website as a resource to follow 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 we complete each important milestone in an assignment, that information is instantly available to you online. It's never been faster to keep track of the status of your report.