Dustin Harris/Appraiser coach

[J Grant]

Your last post was good and insightful, Mark!

 

[ockyappraiser]

Thanks. And I hope you don't hear me as advocating for slam dunk appraisal reports or short cuts. Every year at end of year I "put everything on the table" in how I do my business. . .from systems, to report writing, to research, collections, client list, etc. Then evaluate how to do it better. I read some of Dustin Harris' blogs and was simply curious how he does what he says he does.

The most sucessful business people in history rarely had good ideas themselves. They simply stayed open to other peoples ideas and continually refined their own businesses to improve what they do.

 

[Non Sequitur]

My, my, my how the topics have changed over the last year. It wasn't that long ago that we were whining about AMCs dominating the business and appraisers leaving the profession due to lack of work. Now, we are discussing appraisal "coaches" and technology to increase our productivity. The appraisal business is cyclical and there will be slow days ahead. Productivity will not be issue again.

Very true, there's not much original with the Appraiser Coach. It wasn't all that long ago the guy selling his appraisal van franchises stopped by selling the same ideas. When business slowed, the vans ran out of gas.

Find your happy medium and realize that fastest is not best if quality suffers, but failure to not acknowledge technoligical advances will also lead to your demise.

I agree.

But the Appraiser Coach, the franchise van guy, and many others all have one thing in common: Filling out the Fannie form fast, send in the report and move on to the next one. Nothing about true appraising, nothing about verifying sales and sales data, nothing about analyzing data, nothing about what to do when something complex pops up, etc.

This guy is all about filling out forms, nothing else. Don't let the banged up iPad fool you.

 

[jnordquist]

I myself will be looking at additional methods to speed up the process. I am going to try a typing service or the coaches service or something different for the year 2013. Here's the bottom line, if the end result suffers in quality by one keystroke versus what I write....it's terminated. From what I understand you still pick the comps, and write a lot of the report but some of the data entry that could be done by someone else is. I will try one or two and report back.

I already use two monitors, a brand new PC, Disto, Android tablet with Total and print nothing on paper but that does not eliminate the issue of me personally typing in general public data and borrowers names in the reports.

I've gone the specialty and complex work route also, so that gets me an extra $150-200 to sit here and research and type for an additional 3 hours.

 

[J Grant]

I will be getting an Iphone 5 to search comps in the field for additional MLS if I need another comp rather than go back to office.

Having someone else type in data is good, though for me right now seems almost as much trouble to prepare data for them to type....

I am absorbing information about the properties as I type and often it will spur me to do additional research. I find that research that can make a crucial difference in the report. If everything is pretyped, there is a tendancy to call it done and move on to the next , which is valid in some cases but a shortfall in others. I think that real appraising, ie, analyzing market data, not just transcribing it, reflecting on market conditions and not just filling them in, real appraising requires a certain amount of time in each report, and that time is not "wasted". Charge more for that time, but don't eliminate it.

That person taking a bit of extra time to measure a house or walk a property is not just robotically measuring, they are gathering information...how is the construction of the house, close up? Cheap, or well built, thick wall concrete or thin? What is that noise in the background...traffic sound, which realtor swore isn't there. And so on. Someone rapidly clicking a laser and hurrying on won't absorb any of that.

 

[ockyappraiser]

"Having someone else type in data is good, though for me right now seems almost as much trouble to prepare data for them to type.."

As an experiment, I timed how long it took me to pull all public data on the subject (PVA, FEMA, FFIEC, plat, deed, etc. Also pull sales in the subdivsion and the public data on them. I then typed that into the report and saved all of this to the workfile section in the Wintotal software. Took 1 hour. The thing is that the actual typing of it was probably only 20 minutes. The rest of the work was the actual research, downloading and saving to the workfile.

I tried one of the typing services for two reports last year. I would pull all the data and put into a pdf and send in with my alamode .zap file. True to their word, it came back 6 hours later. However, I took me another 20 minutes or so to go back through, check, and correct/revise things to get them like I wanted them. When I told the rep this, he said that their typists "learned" how I wanted it more over time. Not sure there is much of a real time savings here.

I am doing some experimenting with the flow of things, however. For this month I'm going to input everything I can from the desktop before going out, transferringn to the tablet. All possible comps will be transferred into the tablet as well. Then seeing how long the on site inspection takes, and comp pics/inspection. Finally, looking at how long it takes to do the adjustments and reconciliation when I return. In other words, looking at the process in three steps of: initial research and input, on site field work, and reconciliation. Then see where things can be improved.

I appreciate everyone's comments on what they are doing. Typically discussions on improving the process just end in name calling on these forums. After reading posts for the last 10 years on the forum, I have become convinced the appraisers as a group are some of the most backward in technology of those in the entire process (title companies, lenders, realtors, home inspectors). I would be willing to bet that the majority of appraisers still use pad, pen, tape and a single computer and monitor at the office.

 

[Non Sequitur]

As an experiment, I timed how long it took me to pull all public data on the subject (PVA, FEMA, FFIEC, plat, deed, etc. Also pull sales in the subdivsion and the public data on them. I then typed that into the report and saved all of this to the workfile section in the Wintotal software. Took 1 hour. The thing is that the actual typing of it was probably only 20 minutes. The rest of the work was the actual research, downloading and saving to the workfile.

This is the same problem I run into, the typing/filling in the blanks/boxes of the Fannie forms with public and subject data takes the least amount of time. The time killer is research, analyzing data, and then typing something other than boilerplate. I have yet to see the Appraiser Coach, or anyone else, address the real appraising part of what we do. It's just "pick three while driving to the next appointment." Never mind properly developing the cost approach or typing a reconciliation that isn't boilerplate.

I am doing some experimenting with the flow of things, however. For this month I'm going to input everything I can from the desktop before going out, transferringn to the tablet. All possible comps will be transferred into the tablet as well. Then seeing how long the on site inspection takes, and comp pics/inspection. Finally, looking at how long it takes to do the adjustments and reconciliation when I return. In other words, looking at the process in three steps of: initial research and input, on site field work, and reconciliation. Then see where things can be improved.

I think you're on the right track, and I'll add this isn't something the Appraiser Coach touches on: The actual "appraising." That can't be delegated to a typist.

I appreciate everyone's comments on what they are doing. Typically discussions on improving the process just end in name calling on these forums. After reading posts for the last 10 years on the forum, I have become convinced the appraisers as a group are some of the most backward in technology of those in the entire process (title companies, lenders, realtors, home inspectors). I would be willing to bet that the majority of appraisers still use pad, pen, tape and a single computer and monitor at the office.

I don't believe this is a fair assessment. Appraisers are some of the first professionals I know who jumped at tech: digital cameras, computers and software, e-mail delivery, etc. Debating whether or not sending info to the "cloud" so someone in India can type your report, does not mean appraisers are backwards.

 

[sctwaa]

I think you are on track, I time many of my processes to see how I can speed things up. I look at it as I get paid so much per file. If I can tweak 5-10 min here or there I up my pay per hour. I even look at things like how efficient am I writing reports when kids are home vs. paying for an extra day at day care or for them to do an after school activity so I get an additional 45 min of uniterrupted time to type. These are efficiency things not quality issues. I know I have to spend an hour or so typing just my comment pages, but if I can laser measure the house in 20 minutes vs. 25 with a tape and more of that 20 minutes is spent looking at the structure, finishes and layout of the house, that is more efficient and better quality. I use the GPS and map feature on my smart phone, but also use the map feature of my MLS and cut out 20 minutes of driving, I'm more efficient and quality hasn't suffered. Personally I can hardly wait until my son can drive. I'll pay him to drive me so I can work on the report while on the road. Get to talk to my kid more and get some work done - win/win.

I personally wouldn't use the appraiser coach or any other co to write my reports, but I watched this new mastermind webinar thing Dustin's started; the last webinar was interesting. It was a panel of 4-5 appraisers talking about what they are doing to be more efficient, types of clients they were getting, how they could get better quality clients, etc. I got a couple of nuggets to consider. I might pay the $ for that if I can improve and build on ideas to increase my efficiency, get better higher paying clients for the same work. So I'll see, that may be worth it. I could also gather a group of forward thinking appraisers, get together twice a month on Skype and have the same thing.

 

[JTip]

Appraiser coach.....anything for a buck......."Drive byyyyy the comps! GO! GO! GO!" "Confim your sales! HEY! HEY! HEY!" Please.....

The 5 minutes you save by measuring with a Disto vs. a tape WILL be eat up when the stop light gods hit you with every red light on the route. I do have a D5 (love it) and would not trade it in ever, but I can confirm it has not extended my recreational time.

I am not convinced that a tablet will save me any time. Perhaps a sketch program, but I can pencil a sketch faster than a Asus Transformer will boot up. So I don't know....

My personal time saver is to utilize the comp database, essentially mastering your market area, knowing the specific neighborhoods and which ones are comparable. Just your basic appraising stuff.

Like making a burger, you can get all complex, fast and fancy but when you get back to the basics/fundamentals you will end up with a superior product.

 

[J Grant]

There is nothing wrong with, and benefits to, efficiency in using a GPS when driving, a disto if it works for you, entering on a tablet in the field instead of jotting notes (though I personally don't see the huge time savings of the latter). And if an appraiser can hire an assistant to type or make appointments, fine.

But, res appraisers who speciaize in mtge related work have to realize there are only reports one can credibly do in a week, no matter how efficient they are.

What these appraisers fail to grasp is that instead of endlessy trying to become mroe "efficient" and faster, they would be better off using more content and analysis in their reports, even if it takes 10 more minutes (gasp!), and increasing the quality and value to the client, and charging more. Actually, 10 minutes isn't enough. It probably takes a half hour or more to put real thought and analysis into a report vs just trying to stick in comments to make it look more thorough.

Clients are not stupid and end up paying for the product they get. Especially now with master shared data bases, the secondary market and lenders can pull up reports from the same appraiser and compare hundreds of reports.

When they see the same comments recycled over and over and the same comps stuck in the same report for months, they know what was done. And when they get reports back in 24-48 hours, they know after awhile the report was raced through to get it in. So they will pay for what they got, a minimum . It devalues the whole profession, I don't see how that is "forward thinking" at all.