Five Tips for Quicker Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Often, it seems, appraisers are asked to supply additional information or have steps added to their process. All to ensure their client has the best information to be had. To keep up with the constantly changing requirements, Barnes Appraisal Company is constantly testing additional tools and tweaking processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for quickly. Since Barnes Appraisal Company knows that time is important to everyone, we've listed some tips you can do to accelerate the process on any appraisals you order from Barnes Appraisal Company.

Are you ordering appraisals online?: With online ordering, you automatically get e-mail notifications that the assignment was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip alone will save the most time! We don't have to re-key information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether we got the request.
Complete and accurate subject property data is crucial.: There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to add unnecessary time to 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 in the area — though be advised that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.
Be sure to tell us about the property's unique elements.: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. What takes time is analyzing how differing features 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 characteristics of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's prone to flooding. While these are things that we will find out on our own, knowing them sooner is likely to make your report arrive sooner.
Set proper expectations with the occupants.: Confirming an appointment with the homeowner can be one of the most time consuming parts in the appraisal process. It's understandable for a homeowner to be uneasy with an outsider inspecting every square foot of their home, taking photos, and making abundant notes. Having the thought that it will make the house appraise higher, some homeowners think they ought to make the place spotless before the inspection. So they choose to not schedule the appointment until they can get around to cleaning.

Coming from you -- a person they have been working with on their loan -- a little info about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't make it more likely their sale will close, and can go a long way toward trimming the time it takes to inspect a home. I encourage you to point your customers to our website, where we have lots of pages of relevant information for homeowners as well as others about the appraisal process. Encourage them to call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment promptly!
Use our website to track your report's status.: No more phone and fax tag. Up-to-the-minute status updates are 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.