Lets be honest, shall we? As a profession, appraisers are pretty good at complaining about whats wrong with the industry and “how I can’t believe clients (certain banks) treat us this way, blah, blah, blah.” And most of our complaints are well justified…actually more than justified. But what makes the perfect client? Is there a perfect client out there?

Well, I just had my annual meeting with my perfect client. The following criteria defines my perfect client in order of importance to me.

A perfect client:

* respects our judgement and NEVER pressures us to hit a number to make the loan.
* treats us with respect and every employee is friendly, fair and professional.
* meets with the appraisal panel 1-2 times per year, NOT to load us up on their requirements and problems, but to find out HOW each market is behaving, that the appraisal panel covers.
* genuinely wants the real value on all appraisal assignments and appreciates honesty when there are issues with the borrower’s value estimate.
* tells us they want to know the real value (over and over because we are in disbelief), with the reasoning that the value needs to be a constant they can rely on and will make an underwriting decision based on credit or other assets if they still feel comfortable with the deal.
* pays us a fair fee for our services and does not play appraisers against each other to get the lowest bid…and pays us in a reasonable period of time.
* has reasonable turn-around time expectations.
* provides us accurate information in the initial appraisal order.

Who is this perfect client? I’ll never tell. With so few out there, you need to go find your own. 😉


One Comment

  1. pcampbell October 21, 2005 at 6:07 am

    Well said! Your synopsis is what the most successfull companies call a “Win, Win ” situation. Both sides win and nobody loses = a healthy, long lived and profitable busines.

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