Blog

Let’s pretend you are a young, a 20-something who just passed the bar exam.  Because you are are new to the world of lawyering: in debt up to your earlobes and have no clients, you start out small.  By small, I mean you open up a small office in some obscure (and slightly scary)...

It was recently brought to my attention, by a reputable appraiser I might add, that the use of third-party inspectors may be a violation of USPAP.  Or more specifically, that an appraiser relying on a third-party inspector for information (without knowing their name), may be a violation of...

One of the things I get questioned about most often by my fellow real estate appraisers is my use of virtual assistants (or ‘VAs'). It’s common knowledge in the industry that I use VAs, and I tend to get the same few questions over and over again: ‘why do you use them’,...

Anyone who’s followed me for a while knows that I have three main aims. I want to help real estate appraisers make their business more efficient, more effective, and generate more money.

People almost always assume that making more money relies only on cutting costs. This is completely...

A little while ago, I attended the annual AI (Appraisal Institute) Conference in Texas. It wasn’t my first time there, but I was still struck by just how few of the attendees were residential appraisers like myself; the vast majority were commercial.

A fellow residential appraiser had...

Here’s a question I get asked pretty often, both online and in person at my real estate appraisal workshops: ‘Should I pull my comps before or after the appraisal inspection?’ Well, the answer is… it depends. What it depends on, primarily, is whether or not you have the...