"Pessimism" and "success" both have three s's.  Are you a pessimist, optimist or just pragmatic?  If it's the latter then you are a pessimist.  Pragmatic is a code word for somewhat disengaged from the process, much less being passionate.

I talk to a lot of commercial appraisers.  Some are pretty easy going and go about their appraisal profession.  Others constantly worry about the next job and potential liability.  Is this where you thought you would be professionally and personally at this point in your life?

I love this passage from a book called Tattoos on the Heart  by Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest working in gang neighborhoods in LA.  "There is nothing "once and for all"  in any decision to change.  Each day brings a new embarking.  It's always recalibrating and reassessing of attitude and the old, tired ways of proceeding, which are hard to shake for any of us." 

I'm certainly guilty of that...struggling to make change.  The funny thing is though, once I made the conscious decision to change the way I provided appraisal services, the new ways of doing things became quite easy.  The "we've always done it this way" mentality went out the window.  It doesn't matter if you're a solo appraiser or large firm, the impact to your efficiency is significant.  

I think there are some bright spots in our industry such as the pending Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) new accounting standards, which will likely result in requiring lenders to re-exam their restructured debt and could compel them to reclassify some loans as troubled.  In addition to this accounting change, bank regulators are also putting pressure on lenders to reclassify some of their receivables as troubled debt restructurings.  I think this might facilitate the pace of recovery by working through troubled loans that should've been dealt with a few years ago.  Psychics predict that banks will start lending (in earnest) in 2012 and are currently hiring and training loan officers.  Guess what, appraisals will be required in both instances.

If you're an optimist now is a good time to implement new comp management, report writing and appraisal workflow applications.  If you're a pessimist, you should be concerned about losing your competitive edge.  Either way, now is the time to do something.  Re-exam how you do things.  Start doing new things that make you more productive.  Stop doing things that don't.  It's not that hard, but then again it is.

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