Safely through another week

Dear Family and Friends,
What a week this has been, some high points and some lower ones as the challenges of operating a small business in today's world present themselves.

When I've inspected a property, shot the comps photos and brought the file back to the office its next stop is Jessy's desk.  She lays out all the different sources of data and begins to enter the information in the report.  She does not make any judgements, just puts the details on paper but there are hundreds of details and she knows how to do most of them by now.

Once Jessy is through and places the file on my desk and logs the appraisal report onto the server the rest is up to me.  Once I can get to it I spread out the pages of data once again and begin putting the finishing touches, make specific comments, render judgements about various differences and similarities between the subject property and the comparable sales.

I put the photos into the report, about 20 photos for the subject property and the photos of the comparables that were shot as I drove about.  Then I ask the program to create a map showing the subject with a red flag and the comparables with green flags, I rearrange the flags to represent their relationship and then save the map, then I find the subject red flag which is pointing at the subject's property location on the map, click another button and the map become a picture taken from space, an actual picture which I then zoom to a larger more specific map showing the subject with its yard, pool, patio etc.  I memorize that second page into the report as well.

The program automatically prints the distance from each comparable to the subject property in this manner   .76 mi SW. At this point I click on a check mark and the computer begins to check everything in the report to make sure it conforms and is correct.  There are usually a few needed corrections, sometimes several and one by one they need to be considered and corrected.

Once this is completed than I look over everything and write a summary of how I arrived at the value estimate I did.  At this point I print a file copy on my trusty little printer and ask the computer program to create a PDF file of the final report and also something called the XML file.  The XML file can be read by computers at FANNIE MAE or FREDDIE MAC automatically and without it the loan is denied.  Everything is getting much more tight now, some of it is good, some of it is typical overkill and will eventually be relaxed to a workable level.  For now its very tough to get a file accepted as is, they almost always want something to be changed.  Steve does the best at getting his files accepted, he tried very hard to meet every ones expectations.  He is pretty amazing.

At this point I click on one of the icons on my desktop and put in the password for that management company, then I follow its instructions and upload the PDF or XML or both to their web site.  After that the next thing coming back is the check for the work, in 2 weeks for the good companies and up to 6 weeks for the jerks.

So that is a bit of what I do over and over again.  This afternoon Jessy asked if she could go on an appraisal assignment in nearby Clayton.  She did the sketch today as I measured the home so learned more about the whole process.  The property was supposed to be 1300 sf, that's what public record said but when we got there we found the owner had remodeled turning the house into 1800 sf and adding 2 bathroom and 2 bedrooms.  The home was beautiful, a big pool glistened in the back yard and there was a pool house, a sport court and an RV parking pad.  It was a great house and the owner was the nicest guy one could hope to meet.

After coming back to the office on Marsh creek Road, a beautiful country lane, Jessy headed home and I headed to Tracy to see another nice home.  I had a lock box code, the place was empty and the inspection went fast.

What a nice feeling it is to head home after a busy week.

So saying I send love to all,

Tim