5 Tips for Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Each year, it seems, appraisers are asked to supply additional information or have steps added to their appraisal process. They do this extra work to ensure their client gets the best analysis that can be achieved. In order to stay current with the always changing requirements, C. Gaba Appraisals, LLC is always testing additional tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our clients. At C. Gaba Appraisals, LLC we know that time is important to everybody, so here are a few tips you can do to speed up the process whenever you order an appraisal from C. Gaba Appraisals, LLC:

  1. Always order your appraisals on the Internet. With online ordering, you automatically get e-mail confirmations 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 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 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 from the area is welcome — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.

    3. Feel free to call us at 251.661.8440 if you have any questions about your property or an assignment we're working on for you.

  3. Are you letting us know up front any features of the property that might make it distinct? Cookie-cutter homes are relatively easy to appraise. What takes time is analyzing how unique characteristics add to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. At the time you order your report, be sure to let us know 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 prone to flooding. These are things we'd find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner is likely to make your report arrive faster.

  4. Set proper expectations with the homeowner. One of the most time consuming tasks of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the occupants of the home. Many homeowners are clearly apprehensive with the idea that a stranger wants to come in their house, look around, and make copious notes. Thinking that it will make the house appraise higher, a few homeowners feel they must make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection . So they put off the inspection until they can get around to cleaning.

    Coming 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 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 lots of pages of relevant information for homeowners as well as others about the appraisal process. Encourage them to call us if they want to meet the staff and learn more about our services. And tell them it's to their benefit to set the appointment soon!

  5. Our website is a great resource for tracking the status of your report. 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 available to you online. There's no easier or faster way to track the status of your report.