5 Steps to Faster Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. On a regular basis, it seems, appraisers are asked to present additional information or have steps added to their process. They do this additional work to guarantee their client receives the best data possible. In order to keep up with the continuously changing requirements, Lundquist Appraisals & Real Estate Services is continuously acquiring additional tools and tweaking processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for you. At Lundquist Appraisals & Real Estate Services we know that time is important to everybody, so we've listed some things you can do to decrease turn times every time you order an appraisal from Lundquist Appraisals & Real Estate Services:

Order your appraisals electronically. By ordering online, you automatically get e-mail acknowledgements that the request was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This tip alone 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 the order was received.
Complete and accurate subject property information is crucial. There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to add unnecessary time to an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name are great data to pass along with the request. Even a list of recent area sales is welcome — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.


	You're always free to contact us if you have any questions about your property or an assignment we're working on for you.

Are you telling us up front any features of the property that might make it unique? It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. What takes time is analyzing how differing features add to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. Let us know up front when ordering your report if there are unique details of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition built on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's prone to flooding. These are things we'd find out on our own anyway, and knowing them as soon as possible is likely to make your report arrive more quickly.
Are you making the occupants of the home aware of what to expect? One of the most inefficient tasks of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the current homeowner. Some current homeowners are understandably uneasy with the thought that an outsider wants to come in their home, look around, and take abundant notes. With the belief that it will increase the appraised value, some homeowners think they need to make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by . So they put off the appointment until the house is cleaned.

Coming from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- a little bit about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't make a significant difference in their home's value, will help move the process along for everyone. I encourage you to point your customers to this website, where we have lots of pages of helpful information for homeowners as well as others describing the appraisal process. Have them call us if they want to familiarize themselves with our staff and services. And tell them it's to their advantage to set the appointment soon!
Why not use our website as a resource to keep tabs on 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 each important milestone in an assignment is completed, that information can be viewed instantly online. It's never been easier to keep track of the status of your report.