Commercial Report Writing Poll

[Ricky LaFleur]

I'm curious how much time others spend in writing up the report after everything else is done and ready to assemble. For the purpose of the poll, assume typical scope of work and common property type. I know each property is different, but maybe the report writing itself is consistent enough from one project to the next to have a meaningful poll. I'm interested in speeding up this portion of the appraisal, but I wanted to know what was achievable. Currently using narrative and copying the most recent or similar property type file and copy/paste from sections of other reports where needed. No real database, so have to either find past reports where a comp was last used or write it up again. Even saving a sale or lease write-up in Word sheet for each file in that property's folder, but I feel it's not very efficient. If you use some software that has made a difference, admin, or even work in a national firm and have off-site folks write up a chunk of it, please share your thoughts on what you find works best.

 

[Gobears81]

A database of sales and rentals is a must if you are appraising commercial full time. I use spreadsheets for this and index the search so that it can search within documents.

I have three templates (sales/income, all three approaches, and land/sales only). Thought about making more for certain property types, but didn't want to go overboard on the efficiency side, as it can take more time to get comfortable with values on some properties.

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

A database of sales and rentals is a must if you are appraising commercial full time. I use spreadsheets for this and index the search so that it can search within documents.

I have three templates (sales/income, all three approaches, and land/sales only). Thought about making more for certain property types, but didn't want to go overboard on the efficiency side, as it can take more time to get comfortable with values on some properties.

Thanks for the input. Yes, lack of database is rough on efficiency right now.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Just the writing? Probably 2 - 3 hours.
The research, analysis is the hard part.

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

Just the writing? Probably 2 - 3 hours.
The research, analysis is the hard part.

Sure, and that part is too property specific, market specific, etc. I wanted to make a poll option for 1-3hrs, but figured that was being rather optimistic. I guess each person probably varies in how far along they are when they start the report. Maybe some start updating commentary, charts, maps, etc as they write and others do it all beforehand. So, you can write up a narrative with subject info, write up sales/leases, commentary on each approach, maps, addenda and all in 2-3hrs on average??

 

[George Hatch]

I don't write very many narratives these days but back when I was writing narratives I used to dictate reports. I could dictate one in about an hour and then go back later to edit. Easier to review/edit text you didn't input than to review what you actually wrote yourself.

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

I don't write very many narratives these days but back when I was writing narratives I used to dictate reports. I could dictate one in about an hour and then go back later to edit. Easier to review/edit text you didn't input than to review what you actually wrote yourself.

That's a good idea. Any software you liked using for that?

 

[George Hatch]

I tried speech to text but before that I started with a tape recorder with a foot operated playback and a typist. Long time ago.

I don't write enough actual narratives any more to justify the effort but if I did I'd give the speech to text another shot. I'm sure there are probably several packages that would work. (I am mostly using a hybrid form/narrative thingy that is more structured than a narrative and is more flexible than a form.)

I tend to spend way more time/effort on my research than I spend actually writing.

 

[Ricky LaFleur]

It is likely a smaller portion for most, but it has the most room to improve and improve quickly in my situation. It's not like I can cut out necessary research. Seems I can easily have 6-8hrs in writing up the report for 3 approaches. Discussing each new land sale, each SA sale and support, leases and IA commentary, all that just takes time. Database or management of sales/leases would be a significant improvement. Regarding a hybrid form/narrative, I was under the impression that StartDeck may be along those lines, although I could be wrong. Someone on the forum mentioned they were planning to try it soon.

 

[Jwalker]

I can easily spend a full day of just typing. Generally takes longer though because you type for 30 minutes then answer the phone, type some more and then respond to an "urgent" email, etc etc. But if it's a property type that we've done recently then that can help cut down on the time spent.