I’ve begun to notice that retirement is starting to creep up on me a little bit, and I’m starting to wonder if I’m really ready. I recently decided to get back into investing in real-estate in an effort to start generating some passive income. Because the market where I live is saturated with investors, I found that it’s better for me to invest in other markets across the country. Because I can’t look at the properties myself, it’s helpful to have a team of people in the area I’m looking at to help me in making my decisions. One of the people that I’ve found to be very helpful is, you guessed it, appraisers!
While looking recently for an appraiser to help me in a certain area, I ended up calling no less than four people to see if they would help. But actually getting in contact with them was harder than I expected – after phone calls, texts, and emails, I still couldn’t get anyone to respond to me! When I finally was able to talk to them, I said something like this: “I’m not just looking at getting a couple of appraisals done now; I want to develop a long-term relationship here so that I can continue having work done over the next couple years.” The first three people I talked to turned me down. When I asked why, they all said the same thing: they were too busy doing lender work.
What’s the problem here? Have you noticed, interest rates are beginning to go up. Lender work doesn’t last forever. I would jump at the opportunity to help someone who is looking for a long-term business relationship. I would bend over backward to give them priority. Why? Because those are the people who are going to give you business in the long-term.
I get it. Things can get really busy. I’ve been busy in my area. However, we cannot allow the craziness of our situation currently to obscure our vision of what will be happening in our businesses long-term. Taking care of yourself now is good, but making sure you have what you need a few years down the road is just as important.
For more information on this subject, please listen to The Appraiser Coach Podcast Episode:
