5 Suggestions for Shorter Turn Times

The appraisal profession is constantly evolving. Often, it seems, appraisers are asked to include more information or have steps added to their data gathering - all to guarantee their client receives the most useful analysis. In order to keep up with the continuously changing requirements, Tamara Tidwell is always seeking new tools and tweaking processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our customers. Since Tamara Tidwell knows that time is important to everyone, below are a handful of tips you can do to accelerate the process when you order an appraisal with Tamara Tidwell:

  1. Are you ordering appraisals online? With online ordering, you automatically receive e-mail confirmations that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. Ordering online is the single biggest time saver available to both of us! No longer do we have to re-key information from a fax, and nor will you wonder whether the order was received.

  2. Confirm 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. We even welcome lists of recent sales from the area — though be advised that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.

    3. If you have any questions about your property or an appraisal we're working on for you, you're always free to call us at 573-620-2560

  3. Are you letting us know up front any features of the property that might make it unique? It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter house. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how differing features 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 characteristics of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition built on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's predisposed to flooding. While these are things that we will find out on our own, knowing them early on makes your report arrive faster.

  4. Set proper expectations with the occupants. Setting an inspection time and date with the homeowner can be one of the most tedious parts in the appraisal process. We understand that a homeowner may be uneasy with an outsider looking in every square foot of their home, taking photos, and making abundant notes. Not uncommonly they think they need to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection, with the notion that will make the house appraise for more money and will reschedule the appointment until they can get around to cleaning.

    Hearing from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- some information about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't increase their home's value one bit, will help move the process along for everyone. Our website has numerous pages of helpful information about the appraisal process for homeowners. I encourage you to share it with your customers. Have them call us if they want to familiarize themselves with the staff and our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment as quickly as possible!

  5. Our website is a great resource for following the status of your report. 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 or easier way to track your report's status.