Which one of our appraisal expenses should we cut?

[moh malekpour]

Lets face it; we are in economic tough time. Our costs of living are getting more expensive and our business income is getting smaller and we are under pressure to cut some of our appraisal costs in order to survive but which one.
Appraisers have two types of expenses:
1-costs that are essential if we want to practice appraisal as a fee appraisers such as our CE and license renewal fees, current appraisal software cost, at least local MLS subscription fee, a computer and online access cost, a camera and measuring instruments costs, a car with auto insurance and costs of gas.
2-Costs that we don’t need to have but it is important and sometimes necessary to have them such as E & O insurance cost, professional organization membership or affiliation fees, appraisal software maintenance subscription fee, multi data source subscription costs, office rent and utility costs, computer annual or seasonal upgrade costs.
If push comes to shove, which one of not essential costs should we cut or we should stick with them no matter how tough it gets.

 

[liznindy]

I have lowered the amount of E & O I carry....

...I downgraded my appraisal software support plan to the lowest available...

I am thinking of getting rid of the office phone (but I also use it for fax, so this is likely not an option)...

I have never paid membership dues to an appraisal organization but must continue to be a member of the NAR, IAR, MIBOR (local board).

Office is at home, so no way to cut there...

ONE expense (marketing) which continues to be a GOOD one is my listing on Appraiserusa.com.

 

[Alison Swain]

Liz:

Drop your fax line and go with efax or one of the other electronic services. I did that 3 years ago and have never looked back. Plus, if I lose the original faxed order, all I have to do is go back into my email and reprint it. The client never knows the difference since they send out their faxes the same way they always have.

 

[Elliott]

I saved a bundle of money by switching my car insurance to Geico.

 

[Offshore]

An expense that can be cut is continuing education. Instead of booking an entire day in advance and not knowing how busy you will be that week for a live CE course , I take online courses for everything thing permissible, currently anything but USPAP. You can take the online course over several days at your own pace, nights , weekends, a slow work day or whenever. The cost is much less than live CE and the added bonus is you don’t have to listen to some boring windbag tell corny jokes for several hours.

 

[Ruben Ramon]

In my market, a lot of landlords are desperate for tenants. Could you get cheaper office space or even move home?

 

[Bill_FL]

I swirched to myfax.com years ago. Gives clients an 800 number for my fax number too. at $10 a month, its the way to go. Also, I have no phone lines. My cell phone is also a wifi phone. So, at home or in the office, it jumps on the wifi network for free phone service. On wifi, I dont get charged minutes.

 

[Greg Bell]

Magic jack ...Bueno..

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

saved a bundle of money by switching my car insurance to Geico.

you can afford a car??

Home phone goes. our phone finally will upgrade to DSL soon. I will dump my satellite dish. Switched from earthlink. to a non-descript yahoo address. Those changes alone cut my expenses over $100 a month. No professional society dues to speak of... AI's recently announced "cut" is to $275 a year. Who are they fooling? Our local bar association is cheaper.

No to Supra key. cheaper paper when I buy. All supplies are vetted thru the internet and I rarely go to an office supply place if I can find it on line. "Free Shipping" saves me a bundle since the closest office store is $25. Between sales tax and gas expense, it shaves several hundred per year on supplies.

Turning the computers off at night. Ditto AC in the office. turn off the lights unless needed. I try to double up on inspections so I am doing 2 or more at a time. With slow biz that is not always an option. Also, study my maps to make sure I am taking shortest route to shoot comp pix (for farms a day of comp pictures might be a 100 mile trip or more.)

I am charging mileage for more things. BTW, 58½ ¢ per mile after July 1.

 

[Metamorphic]

I'm wondering if a motorcycle would be a viable option. 60% or more mileage.