Why hire a technically advanced appraiser

We all know them. The guys with pounds of silicon hanging from their belts. Every new gadget that has hit the market in the past 10 years has done time around their waist. Call them geeks. Call them nerds. Call them what you will, but by all means, give them your appraisal business. Why? We are glad you asked.

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. And technology has paid significant dividends to those appraisers who have invested in it. These dividends are shared with the appraiser's customers, in the form of 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.

On the way - 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. Technologies like a la mode's net.X network are advancing this concept even further, giving its users the ability to not only order appraisals, but track their progress all the way until delivery. No more annoying games of phone tag!

Data Gathering
The appraisal process is nothing if not a data intensive process. 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. The Home Appraisal Company maintains several sources of sales and assessment data needed to perform an accurate and defensible appraisal. These sources include MLS covering all of Long Island and parts of Brooklyn & Queens; Comps Inc. covering all of Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan & Orange; First American Real Estate Solutions covering the entire country; and Geo-Data.

Report delivery
The report is done. Now how is the digital appraiser going to leverage his investment in technology to improve the delivery process? Our company can deliver a report via mail, hand delivery if requested and by an electronic delivery system. Utilizing Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) files, we 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 company 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, title company, attorney, owner or any other client 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, we are  able to retrieve that report at any time within the five years and recall just what that report was about.

These are just a few examples of how our technologically advanced company and appraisers are improving the business workflows of our customers. Investing in the right software, services, gadgets and gizmos allows us to deliver reports quicker, more efficiently and with higher degrees of accuracy. All of which helps keep our costs down, and save our clients time and money.