A Few Hints for Quicker Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Every year, it seems, appraisers are asked to provide additional information or have steps added to their research. All to guarantee their client is presented with the best data possible. To keep up with the constantly changing requirements, DRB Appraisal Services, LLC is continuously acquiring new tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for you. Since DRB Appraisal Services, LLC knows that time is important to everyone, below are a couple of tips you can do to decrease turn times whenever you order an appraisal with DRB Appraisal Services, LLC.

Order your appraisals on the Internet.: When you order online, you automatically receive 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 retype 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 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. Even a list of recent sales in the area is welcome — remember, however, that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.
Are you letting us know up front any elements of the property that might make it unique?: It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. What takes time is analyzing how details unique to a property contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. When ordering 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 predisposed to flooding. While these are things that we will find out on our own, knowing them as soon as possible makes your report arrive more quickly.
Let the homeowner know what to expect.: One of the most inefficient tasks of the appraisal process is setting an inspection date with the homeowner. We understand that a homeowner may be uneasy with an unknown person inspecting every corner of their home, taking pictures, and making abundant notes. Not uncommonly they think they ought to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection, having the thought that will make the house appraise for more money. So they delay the inspection until the house is cleaned.

Hearing from you -- a person they are working with on their loan -- some information about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't increase their home's value one little bit, and likely go a long way toward trimming the time it takes to inspect a home. Our website has many pages of relevant information about the appraisal process for homeowners. I encourage you to share it with your clients. Have them call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. And tell them it's to their benefit to set the appointment as quickly as possible!
Use our website to verify your report's status.: Phone and fax tag are a thing of the past with up-to-the-minute status updates available online, anytime, 24/7. As each important milestone in an assignment is completed, that information is available instantly to you online. There's no faster way to track the status of your report.