I think Americans are trained to view a great meal in terms of how many pounds of food they get rather than taste. I might be over-generalizing somewhat, but I just got back from Rome and I can tell you smaller portions with lots of taste is where it's at. It also leaves plenty of room for tasty red wine.
Often times when we appraisers think about increasing office efficiency, it comes down to an all or nothing proposition. In other words, if I can't substantially increase efficiency without investing hardly any time, I'm not interested. I'm too busy cranking out appraisals the way I did in 1992 to really seriously look at solutions.
I do like to make fun of my appraiser brethren and "sisteren". I'm sure there are many appraisers that are much more efficient than I, but I want to share one tip. First of all, for those of you that have the typing skills of a six-year-old (that would include me), Dragon Naturally Speaking word recognition software is excellent. This newsletter was created using this product.
The accuracy of this type of software is much better than even a few years ago and they now have the ability to add text and graphics with one command. Imagine...you can create a library of boiler templates which reflect a text and graphics that can be inserted in Word directly. For example, I can be dictating a section of the Highest and Best Use and say the words "insert Hillsborough County CG zoning". The software inserts my pre-saved boiler plate which describes this zoning classification in text, plus a chart presenting building setbacks, floor area ratio, maximum building height, etc.; all with one command.
I know we are all busy, but take the time to do one thing that will improve your office efficiency. If you haven't already, I recommend you buy
DataComp, our comp management software and
EDGE, our commercial appraisal report writing application. The latter is built into Word, requires little training and allows the use of Dragon Naturally Speaking. The synergy of DataComp, EDGE and Dragon is worth your time.
Don't take my word for it. Go to this
link, Using Voice Commands, Creating Custom Voice Commands and view the demo.
