"I would rather have you hate me for who I am than love me for someone I'm not." Wise words from a blues song I heard the other day.  What does that have to do with commercial appraising you may ask?  Probably not much.  But stay with me for a second. 

Ask yourself, "What kind of appraiser am I?" Pick one that best describes your appraisal career:  passionate about the business, money motivated but little else, strive to learn new things, enjoy teaching younger appraisers or do you find yourself just going through the motions.  If it's the latter, you are not alone.  Many appraisers, whether they have been appraising for three or 30 years, often find themselves in a malaise, stalled out without much gas.

So what's the problem - are you tired of appraising?  Ask yourself who you think you are.  I don't mean to get existential Friedrich Nietzsche on you, but what image do you project to your other appraisers in your office, other local appraisers in your market or your customers?

Mr. Nietzsche said "The doer alone learneth."  I think he was talking about momentum with a positive attitude.  People that sit back and ponder what they should do, could do, maybe do, don't really get anywhere.  It's the people that try new things who get places.  Often times you do make mistakes.  But then again if you make no decisions you will be like that Chinese saying, "a ship in the harbor is safe but eventually its bottom rots out."

Do a gut check to determine if you, as an appraiser or owner of the firm, have an open attitude for positive change.  Without it, I guarantee you will not be passionate about anything in your career.  Different things motivate different people in the appraisal profession.  For some meeting new clients might be fun.  It might be creating and implementing office systems that are motivating.  For others, focusing on appraisal volume and consistently achieving stated monetary goals can be rewarding.

Resist the easy "we have always done it this way" copy and paste mentality and evaluate better ways of performing your trade.  Challenge yourself to be the best in your market.  Your clients should be singing your praises as the best appraiser, the "go to" person.  Don't just schlep along your appraisal life scratching out a living.  Start moving in a forward direction.  Look for ways to enhance your appraisal professionalism and of course your hourly wage.

Take advantage of various tools (including software, hardware and office systems) to substantively increase your appraisal production volume, report quality and ultimately your job satisfaction.   In addition to our software products DataComp (in-house comp management software), Edge (report writing application built into Word) and Appraisal Manager (web-based appraisal workflow), we now offer consulting to appraisal firms to help them sort through their needs.  Yes, like anything else in life, it does require time and money.  Don't be cheap.   After all, it's your career.

If you  have an appraisal "best practice" you would like to share, please forward to Jeff.