Five Suggestions for Shorter Turn Times

The appraisal profession is constantly evolving. Often, it seems, appraisers are asked to offer extra information or have steps added to their research. All to ensure the end user receives the best data available. To stay current with the always changing requirements, Allen Appraisal Service is continuously acquiring additional tools and tweaking processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for you. At Allen Appraisal Service we know that time is important to everybody, so here are a couple of items you can do to trim turn times whenever you order an appraisal with Allen Appraisal Service.

Always order your appraisals electronically.

With online ordering, you get automatic e-mail acknowledgements that the request 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 nor will you wonder whether we got the order.

Complete and accurate subject property data is essential.

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 area sales is welcome — though be advised that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.

If you have any questions about your property or a job we're working on for you, don't hesitate to call us at

Let us know up front of the property's unique details.

It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. What takes time is analyzing how unique features contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. Let us know up front when you order your report if there are unique features of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's recently had an addition built on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's susceptible to flooding. These are things we'd find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner is likely to make your report arrive earlier.

Let the occupants know what to expect.

One of the most time consuming steps of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the occupants of the home. Some homeowners are understandably uneasy with the idea an unknown persons wants to come in their home, look around, and make lots of notes. Many commonly think they must make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection, having the thought that will increase the appraised value. And will reschedule the inspection until they can get around to cleaning.

Hearing it directly 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 affect their home's value one little bit, and likely go a long way toward trimming the time it takes to inspect a home. I encourage you to point your customers to our website, where we have many pages of helpful information for homeowners and others regarding the appraisal process. They can even call us if they want to meet our staff and learn more about our services. Remind them it's to their benefit to set the appointment promptly!

Use our website to track 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 instantly available to you online. It's never been easier to keep track of the status of your report.