As lending policies continue to change, the appraisal industry is forced to react with an increasing amount of process and product changes. Building professional relationships with non-lending business is more strategic now than ever. Although this is an opportunity many appraisers would be excited to make, one big question most appraisers face is, “Where do I start?”
On February 12th, 2019, the Chief Operating Officer with Anow, Keith Ellis, will be hosting a live webinar absolutely free to all appraisers. The goal of this free webinar will be to provide appraisers the information they need to bring a greater level of success to their business using non-lending work.
Buzz: Keith, thank you for joining us today. We wanted to give the readers a glimpse into the upcoming webinar, Building Non-Lending Business – Techniques, Technology and Customer Stories. Can you give us a sneak-peek into the nuts and bolts of the discussion?
Keith: We recently launched our partnerships with the National Association of Appraisers (NAA) and the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). In that time, we have experienced an increasing amount of interest from organizations who help appraisers generate non-lending appraisal business.
For those who need a little back story, Anow is an appraisal office management solution that powers thousands of appraisal offices. We feel it is important to talk to our customers about what they are doing and what parts of Anow they are using to generate non-lending business.
The majority of our customers have been very successful, and many have received higher fees per order. Even if an appraiser picked up two incremental orders a month, that would be almost $10,000 in new revenue per year. Hopefully, that sparks some interest.
Buzz: What new tools can appraisers expect to walk away with after this webinar?
Keith: The webinar will be a practical “how to” session designed to instruct appraisers on what is needed in order to generate non-lending business. We will even dive into the tools and technologies one should use to help build their own business.
There are many success stories from our customers. In the webinar I will take the opportunity to share a few of these. I think sharing these stories will allow appraisers to better understand and visualize their opportunities. We will also discuss common myths about how to go about generating opportunity.
Lastly, the incoming President of the NAA contributed a digital sales kit to distribute to the individuals attending the webinar. Attendees will be able to download the kit after the webinar is complete.
Buzz: Why is this topic so relevant for the industry right now?
Keith: For many appraisers across the nation, business volumes are down from where they were, and order volume is expected to continue to decrease as the market continues to soften. In addition, the increased use of appraisal waivers from Fannie and Freddie, and the introduction of hybrid appraisal products will also impact the number of appraisal orders.
Looking into the future, as these impacts are felt across the appraisal industry, that non-lending, realtor, accountant, lawyer, or direct consumer, business remains more stable and could conceivably be a large source of opportunity for many appraisers.
Buzz: Do you think there is an untapped area of success for appraisers in non-lending business?
Keith: The short answer, yes! I’d like to highlight D.S. Murphy. What a great company. I had the privilege of sitting down with their CEO Scott Murphy two weeks ago in Atlanta to talk through what his firm does. He has over 80 appraisers, 40% to 50% of his work volume is non-lending. His point was, “Keith… it’s huge for us. I’m amazed more appraisers don’t simply go out to real estate agent offices and talk to them.”
Buzz: How do you anticipate this webinar will help appraisers?
Keith: I’d like every appraiser attending the webinar to experience non-lending work as a way of bringing more profit into their business. Whether appraisers tune into this session, or many of the other sessions available, the information provided is all about building the business of appraising. We will be sharing several great and easy ideas that people can implement into their own business.
Buzz: Before we conclude this Q&A, is there anything you would like to add?
Keith: I think one of the biggest challenges for appraisers is trying to increase business while the appraiser is already busy with appraisal work. It’s always going to be that way, and for those in a private practice, you end up being a jack of all trades, juggling more work while finding the right amount of time to build business. You never want to wait until your slow to build business.
I can’t speak for all appraisers, but many have come to Anow because they needed to simplify their lives. Somehow appraisers need to find ways to make the order volume easier to manage and deadlines easier to track while putting the tools for growth at their fingertips. If an appraiser attended this session and thought, “Hey, this is super easy!” I’d be absolutely delighted.
Buzz: : Thank you for joining us Keith. Register now for this live webinar sponsored by Anow here.
