A Day in the Life: Junior Appraiser

7:30 AM: Get up, check e-mail and phone messages. No messages. Just a calendar alert about the 10 a.m. property appraisal I have to be at. I have time to for a quick run so I head out for that, then have breakfast, and get cleaned up. Check e-mail again and print directions to the office property. I’ll be meeting the senior appraiser there. It’s a new appraisal assignment so we’ll be doing a tour with the property manager and gathering as much information as we can while we’re on the site.

9:00 AM: I take the digital camera with me, make sure I have a notepad and pens that work, get in my car, and drive to the property.

9:40 AM: Arrive at the property. I’m 20 minutes early so I decide to take a quick drive around the immediate area to see what else is there. Along the way I notice a café that isn’t too crowded so I run in and grab a coffee.

10:00 AM: I’m back at the property as the senior appraiser is also pulling up. We chat for a few minutes about the details of the assignment. This is a new appraisal for a bank that’s looking to extend a loan on the 100,000-square-foot building. We walk inside and meet the property manager, who takes us on a tour of the property. The senior appraiser starts to rattle off tons of questions, and I jot down notes furiously as the property manager answers. I also take photos along the way.

12:00 PM: The tour ends. We thank the property manager and head back to our cars. On the way back to the office I meet the senior appraiser at a designated spot for lunch. We work well together and it’s one of the few opportunities during the day where we have time to sit down and chat. We discuss the appraisal and also last night’s football game.

1:00 PM: We’re back in the office. I download the photos from the property tour and type up my notes. I had a question mark next to one of the topics that the property manager mentioned and ask the senior appraiser for clarification. I revise my writing based on his answer, and then start a new engagement folder for this appraisal.

2:00 PM: I generate some standard maps that will be included in the report. Then I go online to print tax assessor information and other local jurisdiction information on the property, such as zoning. I also pull up demographic and employment statistics for the area.

3:00 PM: Conduct research on other office building sales in the submarket. Start creating a matrix of potential comparable property sales with relevant information.

3:30 PM: The senior appraiser comes over to my desk to ask for help on assembling an industrial appraisal that needs to go out the door today. Last-minute requests don’t come up often but we all have to be flexible and ready to step up when they do. This is the new priority so I put the research work on the office building aside for now. I perform quality control on the industrial appraisal, help with formatting on the document, and work with the assistant to print and bind materials to meet overnight mail deadline.

6:30 PM: Whew, done with that fire drill. The senior appraiser thanks us for meeting that deadline with such short notice. We’re a great team. I take a short break to clear my head, then go back online to check e-mails and news.

6:45 PM: I’m back to work on the new office appraisal. I review what I’ve written and check to make sure I’ve covered all of the bases for preliminary research. I refer to a prior office appraisal to see if I’ve missed anything and discover there are two more aspects I need to cover. I add these to my to-do list for tomorrow.

7:15 PM: The senior appraiser stops by to say he’s headed home and that I should do the same. I shut down my computer and am out the door five minutes behind him.