Illinois Appraisal Blog

How to Get Fast Appraisal Turnaround Times from an Illinois Appraiser
January 15th, 2014 12:29 AM

By Randall J. Phillips

Appraising is an always changing profession. Commonly, it seems, appraisers are asked to supply additional information or have steps added to their research. They do this extra work to ensure the end user gets the most useful analysis that can be achieved. To keep up with the always changing requirements, Phillips Appraisal, Inc. is constantly researching new tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our customers. At Phillips Appraisal, Inc. we know that time is important to everybody, so we've listed a few tips you can do to lower turn times whenever you order an appraisal from Phillips Appraisal, Inc.:

  1. Fast Real Estate Appraisal - IllinoisOrder your appraisals electronically. When you order online, you automatically receive e-mail confirmations that the request was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. This is the single biggest time saver available to both of us! We don't have to retype information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether we received the order.

  2. Complete and accurate subject property data is crucial. There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to unnecessarily delay 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 must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.

  3. Be sure to tell us about the unique characteristics of this property. It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. What takes time is analyzing how characteristics unique to a property contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. Let us know up front when ordering your report if there are unique details 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 susceptible to flooding. These are things we'll find out on our own anyway, and knowing them as early as possible makes your report arrive without delay.

  4. What are you doing to make the homeowner of the home aware of what to expect? One of the most inefficient steps of the appraisal process is setting an appointment with the current homeowner. Many current homeowners are understandably uncomfortable with the notion that an outsider wants to come in their home, look around, and take abundant notes. One common belief is that they should make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by, thinking that will increase the appraised value. So they reschedule the inspection until they can get around to cleaning.

    Coming directly from you -- a trusted party with whom they already have a business relationship -- some information 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. Please feel free to point them to our website, where we have several pages of relevant information for homeowners and others describing the appraisal process. Tell them to call us if they want to become familiar with our staff and services. And tell them it's in their interest to set the appointment as soon as possible!


  5. 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 we complete each important milestone in an assignment, that information is available instantly to you online. It's never been easier to keep track of your report's status.
Contact Us for any questions you may have about any residential real estate appraisal, or for appraisal consulting.

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Posted by Randy Phillips, SRA on January 15th, 2014 12:29 AMPost a Comment

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