Greetings Blog Family,

You may be aware that I own an offline business and it is my desire to move the online world full time. Well, I really need to fire my offline business.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate and enjoy the revenue earned from this profession as a real estate appraiser, but the business is becoming increasingly more complicated by the day. It is really unbelievable what we have to go through now as appraisers. It is getting to the point where I really don’t enjoy the work anymore and I am really ready to move on.

My Appraisal Business

If you don’t know, real estate appraisers provide their opinion of value for real property, ie someones home, condo, townhouse, or income property. This is property is permanately fixed to the ground.  I have a residential appraisal business where I only appraise residential property, 1 to 4 units in size.

Another option would be to appraise commercial real estate, which pays a lot more. There is another educational, testing, and experience requirements that I would have to go through in order to be a commercial appraiser. Also, one could be a personal property appraiser that valuates items such as jewelry, clothing, furniture, or painting. LOL! I was trying to think of the items that are shown on the Antique road show where people have their special belongings valued by a professional.

Anyway, the residential appraisal business has been good to me for more than the past six years. It has fed my family and provided us with the opportunities we needed to get where we are at in our lives. It has provided me with a chance to be in the lives of my children and wife on a daily basis. I am one of the Fathers that they expect to be on the field trips. The school expects us to participate in all the after school and during school activities. This is only possible because my wife and I both work from home. (My wife is an online professor.)

This has been a great time and I don’t want to seem disrespectful to our opportunities, but I feel that I am ready to grow beyond the appraisal business. 

My Entrepreneurial Vision

When I was 7 years old and dreaming of owning my own business, I am not sure what I dreamt of owning, but it was not an appraisal business. I can tell you that with certainty. Factor in the state of the economy and what is happening in the lending business, it becomes obviously why I am considering moving on.

One reason is that there just isn’t a lot of business floating around in this industry at the moment to start and it doesn’t look like much is coming in the near future. Added to that reality is the fact that they sources of appraisals have changed and the majority is paying a third of appraisal fees in the past.

I don’t know about  you, but I felt like $300 an appraisal was not enough money and many of these companies are paying $100 now for the same work, same liability, and risk in a more dangerous environment. I for one don’t thing this is a very good trade off and refuse to take work for those rates. That is crap!

As homeowners and payers of the appraisal fee, I assume that you might feel like that is plenty, but look at like this. In 2009, if I wanted to match what I did in business in 2008, I would have to work three times more. That is straight up crap!

Plus, the lending laws is changing and the requirements put on appraisers is getting crazier and crazier by the day. Couple with less sales, means less comparable properties to determine value and you I for see a real problem in the future. 

Therefore, my online business skills, work ethic, and income all need to rise quickly over the course of the next few months because I cannot see myself doing this much longer. I have already had multiple times when I had to turn down an appraisal job because there is a sever lack of comparable properties to valuate a property from. Not to mention, most of the Realtors working the markets have absolutely no clue how to valuate a property, thus they are blaming us for not coming in at the values they need to sell a property.

The Bottom Line

Let me set the record straight. No, I am not saying that every realtor doesn’t know what they are talking about, JUST MOST OF THEM!!!! Second of all, it is not the appraisers responsibility or job to hit the number a person needs to make a sale, pay the realtor, cover the mortgage they own, and put some money in the sellers property. That is not our wrole. Our role is to interpet the value as demonstrated by the market through steps to determin value. Many times, this value doesn’t come out to what you might hope, especially in this current market, but understand that it is not our fault. It is just the truth of the market interpreted by appraisers.

Believe me, I am good at my business and know my material, but I have lost the fire. It doesn’t excite and challengement any longer. I am looking for a new challenge to conquer and Internet marketing, blogging, and online entrepreneurship seems to be the way for me.

I was talking to the wife the other day about not growing up wanting to be an appraiser and not really being sure of what I wanted to do, but being an online entrepreneur really seems to fit my desired lifestyle, talents, and temperament. Thus, I am going to make the mental shift necessary to begin taking this business to the next level. Thanks for listing and allowing me to remember that I am in control of my future and destiny.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!