Insights

Love Your Appraiser

Written by Shana Garrie | Jul 31, 2019 1:28:00 PM

At United States Appraisals, we know the key to getting good results for sellers and lenders is making the appraisers feel respected and valued.

Sure, our customer is the owner of the property or the lender. They’re paying for the service, after all. But the best way to give them their money’s worth is top-notch appraisal service.

That’s why we pay our appraisers every Tuesday. (They love that!) But there’s much more we do for them.

We track many metrics on appraiser performance, for example, but we use that data not just to rank them, but also to help them. We’ll seek out our top performing appraisers to get tips we can share with the entire panel so everybody can get better.

Appraiser needs were also top-of-mind when we developed Valuation Express, our service platform for expediting the first 24 hours of the appraisal process.

The “Point Click Inspect” app in Valuation Express lets our team see where appraisers are at that moment in time. We can find a qualified appraiser nearby so they can inspect the property before they leave the neighborhood. The upshot: Less travel for the appraiser, immediate results, faster turnaround.

Another way Valuation Express helps, is ease of scheduling. With “Point Click Schedule,” Valuation Express lets a seller or lender chose a time. Then our team can see availability in that time-slot for any appraiser who has shared their schedule. And once the appraiser accepts the order, they will see at a glance what to expect when they arrive.

 

Valuation Express has aids for sellers and lenders, too. Some lenders have their own panel, for example, or can only accept an appraiser from someone approved by their investors. Valuation Express is tailored to manage those needs as well.

But appraisers are getting harder to find and keeping them happy is the key to the ongoing struggle against slow appraisal deliveries. So we do our best to deliver the best apps that AI and big data can offer, but we also make sure that when an appraiser calls us, they can be sure someone will pick up the phone every time.

Paying appraisers rush fees to get a job to the head of their queue is not a good long-term solution for anybody. Appraisers can’t expedite every single job! And incentives raise the consumer’s costs. That’s why we make appraiser services a top priority.