If you wanna know why we hate training someone

[Terrel L. Shields]

I am typing this slowly for some of you who might not think very fast. Yesterday I made an appointment. 3 properties. One buyer. One is the strip mall w/ the office of the buyer (a lawyer) in a town of 2000. Also buying adjacent lot with a house in foreclosure. House is junk and he intends to expand the stripmall type office building. Third house to appraise is a family dwelling. Trainee to do dwelling. Trainee is faxed whole appraisal request. I do the commercial two tracts.

A local Realtor owned the strip mall which houses an Insurance business the Realtor used to run also, not very long ago I might add, and my trainee is native to the area. Realtors office is on other side of town. The Insurance office is still called the same as it always was the INSURANCE SHOP.

I called the trainee, who knew the lawyers name, "meet me at Mr. Smiths office in JOHN DOES OLD INSURANCE SHOP ACROSS FROM THE BANK (our client)" Where does she end up? At JOHN DOES Real Estate office a mile from the bank. The lawyer had clients waiting and the house occupant had stepped out, so he ran me over to the house which did not allow me time to even play my hunch that MS. Clueless was on the other side of town. I inspect the interior first to allow the lawyer to get back to work asap. By time I was done, clueless had already left the Real Estate office and went home. Of course, trainee is too cheap to buy a cell phone or beeper and apparently doesn't think I own one either.

If this one a once in a couple of years event, fine. If I am not making myself clear, ask. That kind of "bust" happens at least once a month. Are you willing to be a professional, or just want a job?
Ter
Cert. Gen.

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

I'm typing my response slowly, too. You know, I hate to admit it, but I can see where there could be a misunderstanding about where to meet. And can your trainee afford a cell phone? I think I would be more worried about how the trainee does the appraisals I assign to him/her.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Afford a cell ph.? At $29/mo. what is not to afford? I save that on gas each mo. Not to mention she and husb. own two farms. I spent 2 hr. shredding her last appraisal. Off by $80,000??? The reason I mentioned across from the bank was to make sure she knew where it was.

How little time am I saving over just doing it myself? 15 minutes? 30?

Promise, I will have both commercial reports done before she finishes this one.

 

[Mountain Man]

Ter, Feel better today? Just sit her down and explain that this deal is not working out, give a little ultimatum. I too have worked with trainees, and even other licensees, that lacked motivation. One thing about this bizniz is that if you can't manage yourself, or your time, you will STARVE.

 

[Ross (CO)]

Ter, I can see that this was a frustrating day and hopefully a redeeming outcome for that third report will put things back on track. It has not been my opportunity, or my challenge, to create a mentor/trainee relationship yet. I have always felt that can only occur when I am on the brink of turning away assignments because there are only 24 hours in the day and completion deadlines can not be met. Back in the winter months I was very near that brink. I had kindled a possible new client in their new office, right here in town, with all kinds of expectations about their projected volume of assignments, and the office was only about 2 miles from my house. It then became learned that they expected comp-search "reports" to precede most of their orders.....and nothing was ever sent my way. Gee, I wonder why. In those same weeks I was getting calls from several new registered appraisers in town and would be asked of any possible shared-work relationships. I posed the notion ( to two ) that each should begin by appraising their own home. Do the full 1004, with all the data filled in to the best of their ability, measure and sketch it, get all the comp pictures, and assemble a final report. At that time I would gladly meet with them and we would review what each had done. Was perfection expected ? Not in the least. I encouraged ANY phone calls during their process of getting this task done. Ask a question and I will answer as best I could. What I did expect (but never required) was that within at least 1 WEEK I would have been called that they were ready to meet and show me their reports. Two weeks later I called one of them and found out that neither had started yet. That was all I needed to know to secure any decision on possibly working with them. For me, this will be a benchmark "test' for any considered trainee in the future. I believe it is an un-complicated and easy report for a newcomer to write, and do so without personal bias. Just tell me the most-probable value of your house and show me how you got there. If that cannot be done reasonably then I might as well not extend a real assignment. I still get regular calls from prospective new appraisers and I will almost always engage a lenghty conversation to casually interview them. It is amazing how so many feel that this profession has many, many open doors and they want a piece of the pie. I still suggest that many should be selling homes if they want the BIG bucks !

 

[Judy Whitehead (Florida)]

What a great idea - have them appraise their own home! I think you came up with something good. Most of the "registered" appraisers that contact me have already been to school and didn't have a clue how hard it would be to get a job. I, like you, almost maxed out this year, but I am training my youngest son, and I found out that cut down on my ability to do as many appraisals as I would ordinarily. If I hire anyone else at this point, it will be a certified appraiser that I would only have to supervise until I was certain he/she could do the work properly. Just don't have time to train any more.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I will always work by myself for that very reason. I was appalled at the quality put our by other appraisers when I was training and the things they blatantly ignored or tried to slip by without batting an eye. I decided back then I could never trust any body else with work I was responsible for. I might train my kids to be an appraiser, but I am not sure I would trust them either. Maybe I should train them to be aprpaisers to get even with them. (those last two lines are only half true).

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Actually, I did hire a trainee once who had worked for one of the mortgage crunchers. He got his licensed restricted over some of his work. It was harder breaking her of bad habits than it was starting from scratch. "paired sales" adjustments were just figures taken from Marshall and Swift for fireplaces, bathrooms, etc.

I know newbies have a tough time making the money stretch. I did, too. I was under employed in the oil business when I started, married, new house, and had to retrain and try to sit wells for an oil company part time to survive. No more than I managed to find a mentor than my wife decided she wanted to move to Tulsa...without me. I drove a 1976 3/4 truck for a year and one-half. 8 mpg. After 1 year the mentor decided she wanted to write songs full time (not so bad at it.) and dropped her C. G. I found another mentor in OK, and one is AR. Both are dead now. Thru it all, I was able to get work partly because I had experience in cold calling on clients from my Oily days and was able to get work by this direct connection..mind you I am not talking years after I started. I am talking within weeks after I completed classes and with fewer than 10 appraisals under my belt. I was upfront about my lack of experience, but at the time, banks were really short of appraisers and I managed to get on the vendors list of the big one - Walmart's bank group ARVEST. Lucky? A little, but sometimes you make your own luck.

Along the way I learned a few things, read a lot, poured over other appraisal reports. I also figured out that a cell phone is a must. A fax was a must. A business line & yellow page exposure is a must. The Yel Page business alone brings in most of the cost of telephone. There is a time when you can be TOO TIGHT with your money. No, you don't need a Highway billboard, but the basics are important.

Listening skills are developed in sales. And those skills translate into not blundering around when working for the other guy. You only go thru the embaressment once of calling back some lawyer or banker and asking, "what and who do you want appraised? I forgot." because you did not take and keep notes when talking on the phone.

it is zen and the art of appraising. Skills needed to make the job work smoothly. It is more than education. It is more than skill or good computers.