helping an appraiser

The Beginning of a New Life

Principles are tremendously important tools we can use in our lives to affect change. A principle is an eternal truth. It can be applied across all circumstances, all times, all places, and it is still true. I try to share principles with those I work and interact with each day, including you. These principles aren’t […]

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How Does Grammar Impact Your Credibility

You might consider this actual headline from a well-known website, “Mountain lion found in tree tagged by researchers”. Why would researchers need to tag a tree?  Have trees recently started migrating? Did those researchers tag that tree with a GPS tracker?  Since the researchers were dealing with a tree, did they really think it was

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Improve Appraisal Reports in 10 Steps

Dave Towne, an appraiser out of Washington State, contacted me about ways for appraisers to improve their reports.  Since Dave does a lot of review work and sees a lot of peer reports So, while the podcast with Dave lasted almost one hour, what follows is a précis of that podcast just hitting the highlights. 

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Who Can Complain About Appraisals

  Time to get on my soapbox and complain about a complaint filed against me (not a charge, but merely a complaint). I did an appraisal of a multi-family property near my office. The property owner/borrower called me to complain about the appraisal since it came in far less than she thought it should (not

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Can the Same Form Have More Than One Property on it?

Lots of folks have asked me, “Dustin, can I appraise two different properties on the same appraisal report at the same time?”.  Now understand I am not a USPAP instructor, I am an appraiser, so I’m going to answer this question as best I can. The question before us is legitimate, and one which I

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Protecting Against Embezzlement in Appraisal Office Delegation

Many of you know my method when it comes to delegating in my appraisal business and even in my personal life. I first know what I am worth per hour; meaning, I know how much I can make per hour. I will then delegate anything that I can pay someone else less to do. For

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Hire Slowly and Fire Quickly

As part of your appraisal business, how slowly should your hire?  How quickly should you fire? Since we are human, we tend not to look at hiring someone to fill an important position until we are so inundated with work, so far behind the eight-ball as it were, that we make the position of hiring

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Should Adjustments Actually Be Done?

How much credit should we give ourselves when it comes to making adjustments? Making adjustments is controversial. USPAP says nothing about adjustments – it does not require us to make them. They are a GSE construct. So, should we real estate appraisers stop making adjustments? Clients pay us for opinions of value, so our adjustments

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COD At The Door?

In the past, it was common for appraisers to collect their fees directly from the borrower at the time of the property visit (i.e., at the door).  I would take credit cards, checks, or cash while at the door. Many years ago, this was common. Now, however, that rarely happens and we usually have to

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