You're Biggest Mistake..

[Jonathan Winters]

So what decisions did you regret as a rookie?


The type of school you attended to get your license? Should you have done the classroom or the take home lessons?

The licensed appraiser you trained under?

Signed a disappearing ink contract?

What about the first temtation to go with a number hitting format?

Purchased some defective & obsolete yet expensive technology?


What made you slap your palm against your forehead in your early years?

 

[wyecoyote]

My first regret is only going for the license instead of the certification all I needed was 15 additional class hours at the time. Doh!!

The second was not getting in writing the fee split increases because when it came down to getting the increase of fees they didn't remeber stating the fee increases. :evil:

 

[Dee Dee]

So what decisions did you regret as a rookie?

What made you slap your palm against your forehead in your early years?

Hands down....I regret not listening to already established appraisers who warned me that this profession could someday become obsolete, that I'd constantly be competing for work with unethical people within my own profession, and that the politics involved in dealing with lenders is the hardest part of the job. The notion that I would be disrespected and easily disposable seemed absurd at the time. Silly me, I was certain that if I did my job well, stood by my ethics and worked hard that I could rise to the top and everyone would acknowledge my accomplishments and expertise.

Like most rookies I was convinced that these old timers were just selfish greedy people who wanted to scare me away from the profession and hog all the big bucks for themselves. Now I realize that they were being completely honest.

That was 5 years ago, and the smiling optimistic gal with rose-colored glasses has been replaced with a leather-necked, often skeptical b*tch wearing brass-toed boots. If I made a list of what I didn't know then compared to what I know now it would be easy to write volumes, and I'm still learning. When I look back I'm amazed at how incredibly naive I was. But back then nobody could have convinced me otherwise...I had to find out for myself.

 

[Richard Carlsen]

#1 Leaving my 100-foot tape at 2 different houses with resulting 20 miles of extra driving just to get it back.

#2 Not getting into USPAP sooner. It took me nearly a year and a half to finally understand most of that stuff that I had in class.

#3 Not seeing earlier that the appraiser that I was working for was giving me the outlying orders and keeping the cream close to town for himself.

#4 A couple of dumb assignments I let myself get talked into that I was not really qualified to do.

Actually, I had a fairly good experience as a "rookie" since I had almost 20 years in the real estate business before I picked up tape and camera.

 

[Caterina Platt]

1) Back when I was working for my mentor, he rigged up his network in kind of a cheapster fashion. His MCS program was set up so that the picture data base was only accessible through his machine. One day I saw the tech guy create a pathway to his machine on mine and transfer over some data. I thought to myself "Hey, this could work. Then I won't have to wait until he's gone to finish my reports..." I retraced the tech guys steps, found the picture data base, and pulled in the photos I needed. The odd thing was that it made me rename them and save them. I didn't think anything of it at the time. Next day, George goes to pull up pictures and place them in a report. The thumbnails are visible, the files still look they exist. But no pictures save on the form. Hmmm. All the photos I didn't use or save.... they got DELETED! The entire database had to be physically reshot! 8O 8O

2) Not becoming a Realtor and staying in Denver in 1991. Instead I listened to my parents. "We miss you guys. You should move back home."..."Tink, (my nickname) you'll never make it as a Realtor. They'll eat you alive. You're too nice. Remember all the trouble your Grandmother had as a Realtor?" I moved back to the 'Land of Entrapment' and we starved for 4 years. How could I have forgotten that the reason I left NM in the first place was because the job market stunk???? (I did finally get my license in 1995) In the meantime, Colorado's market went thru the roof. We would have made a killing on our condo in Lakewood..... At least the silverlining to this cloud is that New Mexico remains a non disclosure state and AVMs aren't nearly as prevalent here.

3) Spending $200 on Mercury. (the Alamode convertor for Lighthouse). I was on the fence as to whether my business would survive without having to cave and do the Lighthouse thing for Landsafe and Valu IT. I have never used Mercury, never purchased Lighthouse. And I'm not going to! Still in business without those yahoos. Knock on wood.

4) Not finishing college back before I had children. :roll:

 

[Jonathan Winters]

Wow, some of these must have hurt..

Ooh... yeah, the uh.. kid thing..
the mistake of all mistakes..

ryan: Is there a credibility difference between license and certification?
" " take home lessons and a classroom education?

Richard: When you say you should've gotten into USPAP sooner, what do you mean?

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Not learning to say "NO". Seems I am always the person who ends up with the projects no one else wants...like secretary of this , secretary of that. Learn to be protective of your time. Do not over commit. Set realistic volume levels. Don't burn yourself out.

 

[Mountain Man]

I learned to keep extra batteries around for the camera and MLS Key. The batteries in my camera or MLS key only die when I am 50 miles away from the nearest store. :x

Oh yeah, I also keep an extra tape in the car. The tip will only break off when you are the furthest from any hardware store. 8O

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Always carry an extra set of batteries AND a back up card for your digital camera. I keep the original 4 meg card in a case in my glove box along with a set of batteries.

Some of our appraisers here carry a disposable camera as a back up. Just purchased a brand new Kodak 215 with a 20 meg card on ebay for $94.00. The retail on the camera was $399 and the card was $50... so that was a very nice deal!!! It's a good thing too, because the card door on my DC 210 just broke. Think I can still use it without the door.

 

[Jonathan Winters]

M Leggett:
Sounds like we both have the same type of luck. I call it "Winters Luck" (it's just a play on words, I love my family). I'll definitely consider back-ups for the small parts.


Are there any "between the lines" phrases appraisers hear from lenders, LO's, or AMC's that you found out about the hard way?