A Few Tips for Faster Turn Times

The appraisal profession is evolving constantly. Each year, it seems, appraisers are asked to provide extra information or have steps added to their data gathering. All of this is to guarantee their client receives the best information. To keep up with the always changing requirements, CVA Consulting Corp. is constantly seeking additional tools and improving processes to increase efficiency so we can do more work for our clients. At CVA Consulting Corp. we know that time is important to everybody, so we've listed a couple of things you can do to speed up the process whenever you order an appraisal from CVA Consulting Corp.:

Are you ordering appraisals online? By ordering online, you receive automatic e-mail notifications that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. It's the single biggest time saver available to both of us! No longer do we have to retype information from a fax, and you don't have to wonder whether the order was received.
Complete and accurate subject property information 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 in the area is welcome — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours might differ from yours.


	If you have any questions about your property or an appraisal we're working on for you, don't hesitate to contact us

Are you letting us know up front any features of the property that might make it distinct? Cookie-cutter houses are relatively easy to appraise. What takes time is analyzing how elements unique to a property 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 characteristics of the home or surrounding area -- for example, it's had a recent addition put on, it's subject to zoning restrictions, and it's predisposed to flooding. These are things we'd find out on our own anyway, and knowing them sooner will likely make your report arrive sooner.
Did you make the homeowner of the home aware of what to expect? One of the most time consuming parts of the appraisal process is setting an appointment with the current homeowner. It's understandable for a homeowner to be uneasy with an outsider looking in every square foot of their home, taking photos, and making copious notes. Thinking that it will increase the value, some homeowners believe they have to make the place spotless before the appraiser comes by . So they choose to not schedule the appointment until they can get around to cleaning.

Coming from you -- a trusted party with whom they already have a business relationship -- a little info 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. I encourage you to point your clients to our website, where we have many pages of relevant information for homeowners and others about the appraisal process. Tell them to call us if they want to meet the staff and learn more about our services. And tell them it's to their advantage to set the appointment soon!
Are you using our website as a resource to keep tabs on 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 can be viewed instantly online. There's no faster or easier way to track your report's status.