At HVA, Inc., we have appraised numerous property types ranging from vacant land to large mixed use developments. We don’t specialize in any one property type, however, due to the high volume of appraisals conducted here, we have appraised numerous properties that are considered specialty uses such as churches, schools, medical offices, and bank branches. Listed below are properties we have appraised over the past several years:

Why aren’t service oriented companies providing better service to their clients and customers? Why is it that when you order a product like furniture or computers and the delivery is promised on a certain date, you find yourself waiting only to receive a phone call late that day or the day after saying that the delivery was held up. Then when the product is delivered, something is missing or damaged and you end up waiting weeks for the replacement. Why is it that you have a 10:00 doctor’s appointment and find yourself in the waiting room for 45 minutes to an hour only to be escorted to an exam room where a nurse asks a few questions and you sit there for another half hour? Then the doctor drops in for five minutes. And, why do you order an appraisal and don’t hear anything from that appraiser for two or three weeks? Then, at the last minute the appraiser tells you he doesn’t have all the information? I don’t understand why service is so poor?

After working in the real estate appraisal business for almost 20 years, I realized something was missing. My customers are mostly lending institutions; banks, mortgage brokers, insurance companies, etc. They typically order appraisals on commercial real estate on behalf of their borrower who desires to secure a loan with that property. Everyone is almost always in a hurry and they often wait to order the appraisal after all due diligence is complete. The appraisal process typically takes two to four weeks.

The industry is extremely fragmented and dominated by small appraisal shops that typically have one owner and a couple of staff appraisers. The MAI designation is the gold standard of our industry. It will often take five to ten years to achieve this prestigious designation so the barrier to entry is high. MAI designated appraisers are very skilled at what they’ve been trained to do, appraise real estate. Unfortunately, when it gets very busy, you can’t just add more appraisers at the drop of a hat. Most appraisers work harder and became less assessable to their clients and often quote drastically higher fees and increase delivery dates to slow down the work. It is a very frustrating feeling not being able to provide an appraisal to a reliable customer but its better than making a promise that can’t be kept.

Much of my prior experience has been working for large appraisal companies that supposedly have more business knowledge and supporting services. However, what I have found with larger appraisal companies was that they were not that well managed and everyone was just going as fast as they could multi-tasking and putting out fires. Someone hire up makes a promise to a customer that a subordinate has to make happen and that person already has made commitments to others. They seem to drop the ball more often than not. I kept pondering the question of how to hire and manage a large enough staff to handle fluctuations in volume and still provide a good quality product at a reasonable price with no hassles with quick delivery.