Susan McKey Appraisal Services: Using Technology to Improve Your Customer Experience
At Susan McKey Appraisal Services, technology is the name of the game. We always research the latest in high-tech tools. From smart phones, to laptops, GPS, you name it. Call us geeks. Call us nerds. Call us what you will, but by all means, call us at 225-216-0095 for appraisal orders in East Baton Rouge County! Why? We're glad you asked.
If you asked any number of appraisers, most would agree that appraising is more complicated than it used to be. We put quality first, but we know that turnaround time is a big concern for many clients. So, the logical place to save time is in our daily workflow. The appraisers that have continually embraced new technology have been the ones able to bring their customers more accurate reports, better customer service and faster turnaround times.
Ordering and Tracking
In the past, most of our orders were ordered via fax and were confirmed with phone calls once we arrived at the office. Often, in this scenario, it might of taken quite a while to hear back to see if the order could be taken. These days, when orders are entered on this website, we receive a text message on our phones. We can even log into this site from the field and send back an e-mail confirmation – including the time and date for the inspection if we've been able to talk to the occupant.
When you order from Susan McKey Appraisal Services you can expect us to be concerned about your deadlines. We use our resources to reduce waiting between communications since the speed at which we get things done directly effects your bottom-line. Through features on this website, we can actually speed up the entire appraisal process.
Data Gathering Tools
The appraisal process is nothing if not a detail-oriented activity. We spend a great deal of time gathering both specific information about the subject property and general data about the local market and developing trends. Once again, technology has stepped in to help Susan McKey Appraisal Services.
Instead of using paper forms and pencils and then re-keying all the information back at the office, don't be surprised to see us with a tablet PC or collecting data using an application written for our phones that even lets us sketch a floorplan right on the spot. And instead of using an outdated tape measure, more and more appraisers are starting to use laser measuring devices that are quicker, more accurate, and can get into places that normal tape measures have always had problems with.
All of this technology ensures that the final report is as thorough and accurate as possible, requiring fewer call-backs and revisions. A real money saver for busy appraisal clients.
Appraisal Report Delivery
At a very minimum, you can expect us to deliver your final report electronically as a PDF. Generally our clients are most comfortable with receiving PDFs attached to their e-mail. It's a lot faster than the old days when everything was on paper. But, we've even been able to improve on e-mail with how you receive your report with this website.
Everyone knows how frustrating it is to lose a file. Or have you ever had problems sending or receiving an e-mail because of the file size? We have the technology to overcome those problems, too. When we deliver an appraisal through this website, the client is e-mailed a download link to retrieve the PDF. So, at that point, it doesn't matter if all the extra photos and maps in the report result in a large file that would normally be blocked by e-mail. And the best thing is that the file will be hosted on this site for 90 days. So if anything happens to the file, you can log back in here and retrieve it again without even calling us or waiting for us to get to a computer so we can send it again.
Digital Workfile Technology
It would be great if appraisers could complete an assignment, give it to the client and never worry about seeing that document again. However, appraisals are employed to show the condition of a property on the inspection date. Therefore, appraisers need to keep their reports for 5 years in case any disputes or other matters arise regarding the property.
Here again, Susan McKey Appraisal Services leverages our investment in technology to improve service. By storing every aspect of the appraisal - notes, sketches, supporting documentation and calculations - along with the appraisal electronically, we can pull up the entire file whenever it's needed and recall precisely what that job was about.
We just wanted to give you a little bit of insight into how we use our technology daily. Investing in the right tools, along with the appraisal know-how that you've grown to expect allows the appraiser to deliver reports quicker, more efficiently and with higher degrees of accuracy.
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