As a fee or bank appraiser, is your productivity lagging behind your peers? Are you stuck at a red light?
USPAP defines Appraiser’s Peers as: other appraisers who have expertise and competency in a similar type of assignment. Does that include business productivity expertise and competency?
Appraisers as risk management professionals tend to be risk averse. Makes sense. But is there a cost of being risk averse to adopting new appraisal and workflow software? Save $1, just to lose $50?
Our highest and best use
We are the don’t-pull-out-into-traffic-quickly kind of profession. We tend to be critical thinkers with a strong research gene. We’re the think-it-through kind of people. Being hesitant can be good in your personal and professional life. It’s safe, then again “A ship in harbor is safe – but that’s not what ships are built for.”
So, what are we built for?
Are we solely appraiser technicians or could we be something more? Could we be business people with an entrepreneurial attitude delivering a superior service or product? Not just manually ordering, creating or reviewing reports. Day in day out. Rather managing our firm or department that shows off our business productivity expertise and competency.
Since most of us are buried in a sea of endless tasks, we can’t improve. We repeat the same processes set by past predecessors. Rinse and Repeat. Tomorrow’s process will be exactly like yesterday, repeated to the end of your career.
An appraisal and environmental platform is the lifeline of your department. A comp database and report writing tool is the lifeline of your appraisal firm. What’s your current technology color? Green, yellow or a full stop red light?
Alright Alright Alright
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey covers his life’s adventures in story form. The title Greenlights means – go, carry on or advance. Some takeaways from the book include the concept of green lights momentum. What it requires to move your appraisal firm or department forward.
6 Momentum ideas for green lights
- Endurance
- Consideration
- Intent
- Skill
- Speed
- Discipline
Yellow Lights = Meh
Red Lights = Frustration
Identify the red lights that slow you down. Appraisals with mistakes, late, or worse, fell through the cracks and were never started. So how can catch more green lights? Buy back your time.
Green lights can be engineered and designed. We can create more green light opportunities. Schedule them out in our future. It does require hard work, willpower and conscious choices. It takes change and discipline to stop the business of a typical workday to evaluate software that can make a huge different to your work productivity…lowering stress that leads to happiness.
We’re responsible for our own green lights
Catching green lights is also about timing. What gets measured, gets done. Your service level agreements (SLAs). Reporting will create green lights for you and your appraisal department.
5 Reports for your appraisal dept.
1. Job Manager Assigned vs. Vendor Report Received
2. Review vs. Review Due Date = Days in Review
3. Reviewer Acceptance/Start to Review Completion Date
4. Vendor Original Delivery Date vs. Review Delivery Date
5. Report Returned to Vendor & Received from Vendor
For fee appraisers, the green light often comes down to your appraisers’ gross hourly production. Smaller green lights include a huge drop in the fatiguing copy and paste grind we do without good software.
5 Foundational elements for fee appraisers
- Develop a high touch client culture
- Have in-place senior management that acts like the owner
- Create documented playbooks spelling out repeatable processes
- Fix haphazard technology with consistently implemented software
- Establish a collaborative work environment with ongoing initiatives
“I’m too busy” is an easy response not to change. Is it time to create green lights in your position as an appraisal department manager, chief appraiser or fee appraiser? See how YouConnect can transform your appraisal department. DataComp Suite can create green lights for your appraisal firm.
Look for your green lights.
