After a trip to Washington, D.C. and Chicago for some Mastermind classes, and a visit with my daughter at Michigan State, I went to work at my office in Idaho Falls to find that I had an “Official Mail” slip attached to my door. I thought that was a little strange, because the address of my office isn’t widely publicized. My first thought was that it was a package, but the slip specifically said it was a letter that I had to sign for. You probably all know what my next thought was: this was another complaint from the State Board. I was on the phone with one of my employees at the time. When I told him what I had found, he thought the same thing.
For the whole rest of the morning, I was dreading having to go to the post office and pick up this piece of mail. I didn’t want to deal with what I knew in my heart was coming. When I had a minute, I ran over to the post office to pick it up. I showed the man behind the counter my slip, and waited for him to bring me my letter. Relief flooded through me when I saw that the letter was not what I thought it was; instead of being some complaint, it was a letter from the Bonneville County Sheriff’s office.
Let’s stop and think for a moment how ironic it is that I was relieved to get mail from the county sheriff! But this is the world we live in. As appraisers, we often find ourselves in a situation where someone files a complaint against us because things didn’t go their way. It’s easy to run afoul of someone’s expectations.
This is why it’s important to make sure we are doing the best job we can do. This is why it’s important that we are honest and up front in our business dealings. It protects us in the instances where there is a complaint. When the state comes calling, saying someone has reported you, you can be confident in knowing that you have nothing to hide. However, it is a sad world indeed that this is a fear we all have to live with.
Check out The Appraiser Coach Podcast for more info on this topic:
734 When you Are Relieved to Get a Certified Letter from the Sheriff Dept VIDEO AUDIO
