Some Tips for Swifter Turn Times

Appraising is an always changing profession. Often, it seems, appraisers are asked to provide more information or have steps added to their appraisal process - all to ensure the end user is presented with the most useful information that can be achieved. To stay current with the continuously changing requirements, Ascend Valuation Services, LLC is always seeking new tools and improving processes in order to increase efficiency so we can do more work for more efficiently. At Ascend Valuation Services, LLC we know that time is important to everybody, so below are some items you can do to speed up the process each time you order an appraisal from Ascend Valuation Services, LLC:

Are you ordering appraisals online? With online ordering, you receive automatic e-mail confirmations that the order was received, and fast, secure .PDF format report delivery. Online ordering is 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 we received the request.
Complete and accurate subject property information is key. Being just one number off on the street address can really unnecessarily slow down an appraisal assignment. Unique identifiers like a tax parcel number, plat map number, or subdivision name is great information to pass along with the request. We even welcome lists of recent sales in the area — however, remember that professional appraisers are lawfully required to do their own due diligence on comparable sales, and ours may differ from yours.


	Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about your property or an appraisal we're working on for you.

Are you letting us know up front any elements of the property that might make it unique? Cookie-cutter homes are relatively easy to appraise. Most of an appraiser's time is spent analyzing how differing elements 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 elements 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 susceptible to flooding. While these are things that we will find out on our own, knowing them early on makes your report arrive quicker.
Be sure the homeowner knows the plan. One of the most tedious parts of the appraisal process is confirming an appointment with the homeowner. Some current homeowners are understandably uneasy with the idea that an unknown persons wants to come in their home, look around, and make numerous notes. Thinking that it will make the house appraise for more money, a few homeowners feel they ought to make the place spotless before the appraisal inspection and will choose to not schedule the inspection until the house is cleaned.

Hearing it directly from you -- a trusted party with whom they are already working -- a little knowledge 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 your customers to our website, where we have several pages of helpful information for homeowners as well as others describing the appraisal process. They can even call us if they want to become familiar with the staff and our services. Remind them it benefits them to set the appointment quickly!
Use our website to keep track of 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 instantly available to you online. There's no faster way to keep track of the status of your report.