Five Suggestions for Swifter Turn Times

The appraisal profession is evolving constantly. Each year, it seems, appraisers are asked to supply extra information or have steps added to their process. All of this is to guarantee the end user is presented with the best information to be had. To keep up with the always changing requirements, Premier Appraisal of SoCal is continuously testing additional tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our clients. At Premier Appraisal of SoCal we know that time is important to everybody, so below are a few items you can do to lessen turn times when you order an appraisal with Premier Appraisal of SoCal.

Order your appraisals on the Internet.

With online ordering, you automatically get e-mail notifications that the order 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 the order was received.

Are you providing complete and accurate information about the subject property?

There's nothing like being one number off on the street address to unnecessarily slow down an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name is great information to include with the assignment. We even welcome lists of recent sales from the area — remember, however, that professional appraisers must always do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may be different from yours.

If you have any questions about your property or a job we're working on for you, feel free to call us at

Tell us up front of the property's unique characteristics.

It's relatively easy to appraise a cookie-cutter home. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how features unique to a property contribute to or detract from what otherwise would be a property's market value. When ordering your report, let us know if there are unique elements of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition constructed, it's subject to zoning restrictions, it's predisposed to flooding. These are things we'll find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner makes your report arrive more quickly.

Let the occupants know what to expect.

One of the most tedious steps of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the current homeowner. We understand that a homeowner may be uncomfortable with an unknown person inspecting every corner of their home, taking pictures, and making lots of notes. A common belief is that they should make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection, with the belief that will increase the appraised value. So they delay the appraisal inspection until the house is cleaned.

Hearing from you -- the person they've been working with on their loan -- a little bit about the appraisal process, who we are, and especially that dusting and polishing won't increase their home's value one little bit, and likely shorten the time it takes to inspect a home. Please feel free to point your customers to our website, where we have many pages of useful 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 in their interest to set the appointment without delay!

Are you using our website as a resource to follow 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 we complete each important milestone in an assignment, that information is available to you online. It's never been faster to keep track of your report's status.