Appraisal Marketing

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The holidays offer a great opportunity to reach out to contacts and prospects to drum up more orders. Click to view..

It’s been my experience that originators look at the process of ordering, reviewing, and receiving appraisals as inefficient. The problem isn’t appraisers, however, who are on the leading edge of mortgage technology. Lenders don’t seem to take advantage of technology to decrease the inefficient, often manual, processes. Despite readily available technology, many originators and AMCs do it the hard way — fax or e-mail the appraiser an order, call daily for status, request the appraisal via e-mail and hope it gets to them, call again if it doesn’t, call again if there are questions about the report, and then manually type the information from the appraisal into the loan software. Later, if there’s a question and the originator can’t find the PDF, they call the appraiser again for a copy. Sound familiar? Click to view..

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Believe it or not, you have access to change what Google says about you. Just like every page has its own content, every page has its own Page Title and Page Description. The Page Title is your Google listing. It’s the link in blue that shows up as the main entry for that page, and it’s also what a user will click to come to your site. Click to view..

The release of XSites Desktop, featuring the Energizer plugin, has a lot of people looking at their XSites and seeing how they measure up. (For more details on the Energizer, see our article on XSites Desktop on page 6.) Our beta members were all comparing their scores and bragging about how they were able to boost them. So, it seems fitting this month to take an actual appraiser’s site and do a before and after — not just improving the XSite Energizer score, but boosting its appeal to search engines and website visitors. The objective here is to demonstrate simple things ordinary people can do to have a more effective site. In other words, we didn’t get our graphics department involved or recruit anyone for copy editing. Click to view..

Here’s a story about one appraiser who makes working for AMCs work for him. Many appraisers choose not to work for Appraiser Management Companies (AMCs) because, they complain, the top priority of AMCs is getting appraisals fast and cheap — with quality a distant second. This story is about one appraiser who disagrees and has found a way to work with AMCs ethically and profitably Click to view..

In the April issue of AppraisalPress, we published, “Is Your Website Getting Orders? 3 Ways To Keep From Missing Out”. We wrote it for people that were about to give up on the web because they weren’t getting orders on their XSite. Click to view..

We just released the XSites Desktop, bringing many of the core XSites tools directly onto your PC. Before XSites Desktop, your XSite was like a coworker, but in another room or another building, so it wasn’t always convenient to seek her advice or help. With XSites desktop, it’s like she’s sitting at the desk right next to you. Click to view..

In the middle of a challenging market, appraiser Anthony Lamandre is htting some of his highest income levels ever. Anthony was kind enough to share his time and explain the tactics he's been using that have lead to his continued success. Click to view..

An appraiser’s website should be informative and educational. We’re happy to keep our customers from reinventing the wheel when it comes to things like an appraiser glossary, what different designations may mean, a home buyer checklist, etc. Our pre-built content is one of things customers tell us they like the most about XSites. Sometimes people start with our pages and customize them a little, and other times, what we’ve provided works just fine. Click to view..

A great blog goes a long way to increasing your non-lender business, boosting search engine rankings and establishing yourself as the real estate expert in your area. Here are five quick tips: Click to view..

Successful marketing isn’t easy. Lukewarm messages will be ignored or not seen by decision makers in the first place. Overly aggressive messages might turn prospects off. You want to find that sweet spot where potential clients develop a positive perception of you and your services and decide to do business with you. You’ll need to be prepared, professional, determined, and avoid some common mistakes. Click to view..

HUD announced last month that during the first quarter of 2008, FHA mortgage originations doubled, going up to 181,900. And they also changed their FHA approved appraiser guidelines, opening the doors to more appraisers. As many appraisers nationwide look for ways to broaden their available services, this is welcome news indeed. Click to view..

I love it when a customer does something original with an XSite. It’s inspiring to see customers do things out of the box with their business and then extend that innovation onto the web. So, when we found Hillary Koester’s www.TaxAppealExpress.com, I knew we needed to spotlight her efforts. Click to view..

As the Appraiser XSites Product Manager, I often browse through customers’ sites and look for anything out of the ordinary or innovative. Recently, I came across www.PointerAppraisal.com, owned by Russell Kitzberger, and immediately noticed a lot of things they were doing right. Click to view..

Proactive appraisal shop, Appraisers of Las Vegas, has seen a volume increase despite in their down market thanks to a 25% to 30% increase in web referrals, a solid reputation, creative niche marketing and hard work. Click to view..

What if you could pay for your yellow pages ad only when someone called you from it? That same idea is what makes pay per click such a good investment for appraisers. Click to view..

I’m sure every appraiser would love to own the first website that comes up in search engines when someone looks for an appraiser. But, there are over 8.6 million results in Google™ for the word “appraiser”. Click to view..

You have to be extremely direct, accessible and credible to sell appraisal services to attorneys. Click to view..