Pre-Screened Real Estate Appraisers

At times I find some interesting Internet websites “results” when I use a search engine on the worldwide web.  Like websites that display commercial real estate appraisers offering residential and commercial appraisal services who no longer practice, are no longer licensed and who left the business almost 10 years ago.  It’s amazing but websites come up not after several pages but near the top of the search engine results.  It just goes to show you how much attention is really paid to search results.  It must happen because their sites, which have not been taken down, just continue to exist in the ozone of the web even though the content is meaningless.

There are other websites that offer to provide appraisal services in multiple states when they offer no evidence of licensing.  They are in fact just trolling sites that try to snag a client and then sell them back to a real appraiser after they have connected with them.  Some states allow appraisers to pay referral fees if they are disclosed in their appraisal reports, so the non-appraiser website that misrepresented its ability to do the work profits.

I’m not the only appraiser that frowns on this practice yet if you do a web search you often get swamped with results of this type.  I suggest that if you are looking for an appraiser in a distant state you check their licensing in that state.  I have been licensed in AZ, ID, WI, MI and NV but I currently am only licensed in one state.  If information is out there about my past licensing I may not be able to control that but I try to control my offering of services and my licensing representations.

There are still other websites that offer to “pre-screen” appraisers for the public.  In just a “few minutes” they say that they will provide anyone with the best appraiser possible.  Again this can be either an undisclosed referral arrangement to a specific appraiser or group of appraisers who have paid the website owner or the website owner provides a name and then immediately calls the appraiser and advises them that he sent over a referral.

It’s my experience that the best way to select a party providing a service online is to read their reviews.  If they don’t have online reviews then how many years have they been in business?  With appraisers you can often go to the state regulatory site and see if they have had complaints lodged against them.  Or you can go to appraiser organization websites like http://www.appraisers.org/ that is supported by the American Society of Appraisers and check there.  Members of most appraisal organizations are monitored and you are more likely to get an actual, qualified appraiser rather than someone who is making themselves out to be an appraiser.

Most appraisers will readily offer interested parties copies of their appraisal license and a copy of their errors and omissions insurance.  You don’t need a third party to get it for you or even to suggest that you get copies, appraisers volunteer the information.  Third-party suppliers of “pre-qualified” appraisers usually have no special qualifications.  Most wouldn’t know if they were talking to a qualified appraiser if they had them on the phone. 

The problem with going to an appraisal site and depending on the third-party to “pre-screen” for you is that it usually takes more than a few minutes just to figure out who you are talking to.  I had a bank call me the other day and ask me about retail rental rates in a very specific part of town.  Having completed a report less than 10 days before I gave him all of the non-confidential information that he wanted.  As an appraiser I had the information, a third-party won’t know anything about the market where your appraisal assignment is located.

So beyond websites, “pre-screening” and yes even beyond appraisal organization membership the best way to select an appraiser in my opinion is via a personal conversation with the potential appraiser.  Ask the questions, can the appraiser answer or immediately look up information on properties similar to the one you need appraised?  If so you are likely talking to someone who is an expert on the property type and the area. 

Once you have identified an appraiser or appraisers who are qualified by you, and not a third-party website or someone who just makes referrals without knowing anything about a specific appraiser, you can move on to a discussion about the fee for the assignment.  

For more appraisal information contact Glenn J. Rigdon MA, MRICS, ASA is a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada based appraiser who can be contacted via email or via his business website known as Appraiser Las Vegas  (http://www.appraiserlasvegas.com), or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website or visit my public profile at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/glenn-rigdon-ma-mrics-asa/1a/30b/879/

Article source: http://www.appraisalarticles.com/Real-Property-Appraisal/Real-Property-Appraisal/Commercial-Appraisal//4631-Pre-Screened-Real-Estate-Appraisers.html