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Why
hire a technically advanced appraiser?
Appraisers are, by far, the most technical agents in the real estate world. By
necessity, they have been drawn into the digital world at a pace not seen by
their colleagues. The appraisal process is one that lends itself to technology.
Technology has provided the customers with shorter turn-around times and a much better final valuation report.
Ordering:
Let's start at the beginning. Millions of real estate transactions are
processed each year in the United States. Almost all of them require some sort
of appraisal. Technology has allowed savvy appraisers to reduce the amount of
work their client's need to order, track and receive appraisals. In the past,
the primary mode of interaction between an appraiser and his clients was the
telephone and fax machine. Clients would send requests via fax, and then often
follow it up with a phone call to make sure it was received. Tracking the
progress of the appraisal meant more phone calls - a disruption for both the
client and the appraiser.
But the modern, technologically advanced appraiser has a better method. Using
tools like this web site - complete with the ability to order appraisals on-line
- allows clients to shave valuable time off the process of ordering and tracking
appraisals.
Data Gathering:
Appraisers spend a lot of their time gathering both specific information about
the subject property and general data about the local market and developing
trends. Once again, technology has stepped in to help appraisers. In the past,
the inspection process has been both time consuming and difficult. To top it
off, appraisers then had to come back to the office and transcribe their field
notes into the appraisal file itself. No longer.
On the other side of the data gathering coin is the general data. The Internet
has revolutionized the ability of appraisers to get quality data in a fraction
of the time it once took. Where once an appraiser would spend hours finding the
right location maps and then rubbing on decals, the modern appraiser gets his
maps with a few mouse clicks, complete with location markers. And flood maps?
Likewise just a few clicks away using services like A La Mode's FloodSource.
Standardized addressing, accurate postal coding, census tract information, are
all at their fingertips. This ensures that the final report is as complete and
accurate as possible, requiring fewer call-backs and revisions. A real money
saver for busy appraisal clients. All this means that the appraiser can get the
report done and delivered to the client in a fraction of the time it once took.
Report Delivery:
The report is done. Modern appraisers
have forsaken the old print-and-snail mail route for a much more efficient
electronic delivery system. Utilizing Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF)
files, an appraiser can deliver a complete, multi-page report, complete with
digital photos and maps, through simple e-mail. Now, instead of waiting for the
daily mail, or paying for expensive courier services, appraisal customers can
simply log into their email system and retrieve all the appraisals at
one time. Without wasting and paper printing the appraisal, it can be routed to
the appropriate loan officer or title company in the blink of an electron.
Digital Workfile:
It would be wonderful if appraisers could complete a report, deliver it
and never worry about seeing that document again. But one of the purposes of an
appraisal is as a legal document outlining the condition of the property at the
time of sale. So appraisers must keep their reports for 5 years, allowing them
to recall any appraisal at any time to either defend the valuation or to be used
in other legal proceedings.
Here again, the digital appraiser leverages his investment in technology to
improve service. By storing every aspect of the appraisal - notes, sketches,
supporting documentation and calculations - along with the appraisal, the
professional is able to retrieve that report at any time within the five years
and recall just what that report was about. And this data is not stored in boxes
stacked 5 deep in some rented warehouse. Instead, the digital appraiser uses
technology like a la mode's Digital Workfile to electronically include all
supporting documents as part of the appraisal file. These files are stored
securely on searchable media, where the appraiser can
find them in a fraction of the time required in the past. This helps appraisal
clients by giving them immediate, virtual access to any appraisal they've
ordered within the past 5 years.
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