Is this legit?

[Phil McDonald]

Does anybody know who this is?

While looking at Google search results I noticed basically the same site for commercial appraisers coming up in multiple locations, so I looked broader and saw that it is probably in every market all over the country.

This seems to come up at the top of the Google map results, without an address, and at the top of the Google ad results for each location. Each site is essentially the same, reviews are the same and not specific to the area. It seems odd that there is no information on any actual appraiser associated with the site or an exact company name. I looked up a couple of the prompted names “your city” commercial appraisers and they are not registered business names.

Did the locksmith Google maps scam now come to the appraisal profession? Who is actually doing these appraisals?

Does anybody know who this is and if they are a legitimate appraisal company with appraisers in every market in the entire county? The reviews refer to Marc, Steve, and Brian, so they must be three very busy guys traveling the county!

Here are just the ones I found, I am sure there are many more…

http://www.pascocommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.hudsonrealestateappraisers.com/

http://www.baltimorecommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.browardcommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.lakecountycommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.fresnocommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.bocaratoncommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.solanocommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.hillsboroughcommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.fayettecommercialappraisers.com/services/

http://www.milwaukeecommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.friscocommercialappraisers.com/services/

http://www.cincinnaticommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.coloradospringscommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.dallascommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.chicagocommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.lasvegascommercialappraisals.com/

http://www.denvercommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.portlandcommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.seattlecommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.sandiegocommercialappraisal.com/

http://www.sanjosecommercialappraisers.com/

http://www.memphiscommercialappraisers.com/

 

[Elliott]

Commercial Real Estate Appraisers in Portland [Free Quote]

Commercial real estate appraisal firm serving Portland, OR. Call us today: (503) 374-1072

www.portlandcommercialappraisers.com

Weird. If I were looking for a commercial appraiser, I'd rapidly become suspect. Reminds me of Eliot Appraisal (no affiliation with moi) that would call and try to affiliate because they had an assignment in my area (Big Mistake). I know the firms below are the local big dogs who actually havve 'real' names:

https://www.irr.com/PORTLAND

Home | Moscato Okoneski & Associates

www.mohportland.com

 

[CGinMN]

My guess is that they are using paid and organic search to generate commercial leads, which they then either sell to local appraiser, or contract with local appraisers to complete.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

They pay google no doubt

 

[Overimprovement]

It's corelogic expanding into the commercial realm. They have 3 johnnies, licensed in each state, with nationwide data access and they pay local commercial agents to do the 'inspections' for them.
Just kidding, had you all though didn't I? Well, I think I am kidding...

 

[Charles West]

I clicked on the first link and my spam filter went crazy. Clickbait at its finest.

 

[sputnam]

My guess is that they are using paid and organic search to generate commercial leads, which they then either sell to local appraiser, or contract with local appraisers to complete.

Exactly. You can pay Google to push your site to the top. You can pay Google to advertise on the search results page based on the subject of the search. A talented web page designer can also include terms on the web page that push the site higher in the search results.

 

[Elliott]

I was curious what it costs to get 'search optimization' and found this:

"$5,000-$10,000+ per month​

Here is where you will find most of the high-profile SEO agencies with an established track record of success in competitive markets. Very often, this price can give your business access to a dedicated SEO team that employs professional content managers, copy editors, web development experts, conversion specialists, account executives, link outreach specialists, and analytics experts that will guarantee success and provide you with all the support you need.

$10,000-$20,000+ per month​

Ambitious companies with higher goals tend to work at this level with an SEO partner that will oversee the whole process from the beginning to the end. Your business not only gets access to a senior SEO team at this budget, but this investment is likely to drive extraordinary results because the entire project is well-funded, which provides more opportunities for your search partner to perform.

You can make this type of investment for at least a year if there’s lots of competition on the market you are trying to dominate. In fact, it’s not uncommon for companies targeting the most lucrative keyword spaces to spend well over $100,000 a month on SEO campaigns."

 

[CGinMN]

The cost of professional SEO is not worth it for most appraisers. If you’re a national firm it might make sense. That said, learning SEO basics is pretty easy. Once you understand keywords research, all it takes is writing some content, and more importantly, positive google reviews and you can rank #1 pretty easily. I would expect the top 20 most populous metros to be more competitive. If you have one of Waynes sites or just a placeholder site, it’s not usually going to rank well without additional work.

Once you are ranking you have to start worrying about your online reputation, because a couple negative reviews can hurt. And if your doing the job well, you’re not always going to please the customer, so negative reviews are gonna happen. That means you have to actively solicit positive reviews to counter the negatives. If you do it well enough, you can pull in a good number of private jobs. That said, these aren’t repeat customers, so they take more handholding and you have to be willing to answer the phone at all times and respond quickly to emails, otherwise you’ll lose the customer. Also, if you are too reliant on the SEO for your income, and one day google changes their algorithm, or someone decides to knock you off the top spot, your business will take a hit. So it takes regular upkeep and maintenance. For most appraisers it’s probably not worth it. But like I said in many markets, say those metros with a population under 2,000,000, it is pretty easy to get a #1 spot.

 

[Long Walk]

I dug into the Broward County site.

The phone number connects to a guy named Raymond Goergen according to a records site. Their write-up says this:
"6919 West Broward Boul, Plantation, FL 33317 is the residential address for Raymond. This address has been used for business registration by 307 companies. These are some of the names: Plantation Junior Woman's Club Foundation Inc and Plantation Junior Woman's Club, Inc. 37 persons linked to this address. Their names are Adrienne Dixson-Shelton, Diana Velez, and 35 others. Raymond uses the landline number (954) 302-3283 (Broadwing Communications, LLC)." No other digital footprint that I could find. ICANN shows the domain registered to Domains by Proxy, LLC in Tempe, AZ (a registration privacy provider). No appraisal licensing record in FL shows for Raymond. No record of the business on the FL SOS corporation or fictitious name search tool. No ads, so the scam looks like they are selling referrals to local appraisers.

Broadwing may be the actual entity and their reviews on Indeed.com suggest scam.

Long Walk's Scam Alert(c): 98.67%