New Trainee - How many residental appraisals can you do in a week?

[bzaccheo]

I'm new to the Appraisal Industry. I keep hearing differing answers to this question. As an experienced appraiser, how many appraisals can you do a day without compromising the integrity of the appraisal(doing all the appropriate work)? 1 a day? 2 a day? More? Less?

I'd love to hear from experienced appraisers regarding this. I want to know what reasonable goals I can set for myself.

Thanx in advance.

 

[Kevin A. Spellman]

It is not how many you can do, it is how many are being offered for you to do. Most appraisal requests are purchases today in my service area. The refinance requests are probably 25% of the appraisal requests. Read as many appraisal reports you can and you will come to your own conclusion how many you can do. I could only do one a day: call for the appointment, perform the research, inspection, verify the data, write and then review on report within a five-eight hour period. No one gets the same property to appraise every day, so your work changes daily.

 

[BRCJR]

I'm new to the Appraisal Industry. I keep hearing differing answers to this question. As an experienced appraiser, how many appraisals can you do a day without compromising the integrity of the appraisal(doing all the appropriate work)? 1 a day? 2 a day? More? Less?

I'd love to hear from experienced appraisers regarding this. I want to know what reasonable goals I can set for myself.

Thanx in advance.

It really depends on the type of market area you work.
What some (I have never seen in my market) call cookie cutters maybe more than one.
In a rural (semi-rural) area maybe less than one. I have some that can be done in 6 to 8 hours and some that take 14-16 hours.

Many times this is an assignment in my market:


Drive 30 to 45 minutes to subject. Spend 1 to 1.5 hours at the subject property. Drive the comps 1 to 1.5 hours (try finding Rt 6 Box 419 with no mailbox and bad MLS directions), go to courthouse to verify 1 hour. Add the additional 2 to 3 hours of MLS and public record searches for sales, market analysis for the segment of the market you are appraising, add this all together and you are somewhere in the 8 hour range and have not written the report yet.

I guess to answer your question, it depends on your market. Do you do all the work or do you have any type of assistance?

That is really a hard question to answer--as it depends on many aspects of your market.

My final thoughts for you, do not focus on quantity, focus on quality. Things will be better for you in the long run and scheme of things related to this profession.

 

[TC]

Anywhere from 10-15 is standard in my area.

TC

 

[Lee Lansford]

When I began as an appraiser 25 years ago, I remember asking my Supervisor Appraiser how could he do "so many" appraisals each week!

His correct response: "Experience!"

 

[JRS at OBX]

It all depends. I am assuming you are talking about residential appraisals. I try to get one per day. If the house if complex then it may take me two or three days. Sometimes you get an easy one that only takes a few hours.

 

[Metamorphic]

MHO - Anybody doing more than 1 maybe 1.5 in a long day, without some real unusual factors (2 model matches in the same tract, house you did recently, nearby comps you already have in the data base, short drive times, etc etc) is probably not doing good work. If you're actually "writing" new material for the report 1/day is a stretch. For a trainee, it should probably take 2 days/report. I do mostly rural properties and we often spend 6 hours inspecting, measuring, and selecting and driving comps plus travel time. We've got 3/4s of the day gone and not one word of the report on punched into the computer. Its not even like I can start working on the lap top while my super drives cause the roads are so windy.

 

[bzaccheo]

Thanx for all the great input.

I'm doing residential appraisals over two counties (rural and inner city). I'm just getting started so I really don't know much. I'm just trying to get a feel for what experienced appraisers are able to complete during the week. I know every job is different and some will take exponentially longer than others. I'm not trying to figure out the magic formula, but I was wondering if there are things experience appraisers do to make things quicker (i.e. stacking inspections in the same area, doing all the research for as many properties as you can ahead of time.. etc.). I keep hearing completeing 2 appraisals a day is possible, but reading the posts in this thread make me believe, if you are doing 2 a day you are either extremely lucky to get like properties or you are skipping some things in the process.

And at what point are you doing redundant work? We haven't spent more than about 30 min at the property inspecting it and it seems adequate. I'm not sure if we spent more time that we would be any more familiar with the property (granted these are standard ramblers with 3 beds 2 baths. Nothing very special.)

I know I'm asking very broad questions. Every job is different.. The amount of time it takes to do an appraisal will very every time, but it seems about 5-7 hours an appraisal is an accepted average for an experience appraiser. At least thats what i'm getting from this thread.

 

[OSU Beavers]

I cover a wide area so I am out on an inspection one day then in verifying data and writing the report the next day.

 

[Jim Onderisin]

Given the increased demands of the "new forms", 5 to 7 hours per non-complex urban or suburban appraisal is a good estimate for an experienced appraiser. So, in a 40-hour week you might be able to do 5 to 8...if you are experienced...if you are disciplined... if you are lucky.