5 Tips for Faster Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Every year, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer additional information or have steps added to their process. They do this additional work to ensure their client receives the most useful analysis. To keep up with the always changing requirements, Parkway Appraisals is constantly acquiring additional tools and tweaking processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for you. At Parkway Appraisals we know that time is important to everybody, so below are a few items you can do to hasten the process on any appraisals you order from Parkway Appraisals:

Always order your appraisals online. By ordering online, you get automatic e-mail notifications that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This is the single biggest time saver available to both of us! No longer do we have to manually enter information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether the order was received.
Verify that the subject property data is accurate and complete. 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. Even a list of recent sales in the area is welcome — however, remember that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.


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

Be sure to let us know about the property's distinct features. It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. What takes time is analyzing how elements unique to a property add 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 features of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's susceptible to flooding. These are things we'd find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner makes your report arrive faster.
Did you make the occupants of the home aware of what to expect? One of the most time consuming steps of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the current homeowner. It's understandable for a homeowner to be apprehensive with a stranger inspecting every corner of their home, taking pictures, and making lots of notes. Under the impression that it will increase the appraised value, many homeowners think they need to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection . So they delay 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 many pages of useful information for homeowners and others describing the appraisal process. Have them call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. And tell them it benefits them to set the appointment quickly!
Our website is a great resource for tracking your report's status. 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 is instantly available to you online. It's never been easier to keep track of your report's status.