Including the cost approach as a value added service
Written by Marketing on August 3, 2006
Now that Fannie Mae makes the cost approach optional, many of you aren’t doing it anymore on single family residential assignments. Many of you still are because your clients sometimes ask for it, and you like delivering a more complete, even more attractive, report. Many of you would include the cost approach if you could upcharge for it, while some of you are reluctant to do so.
This is a case of you as a businessperson setting your terms. It’s your choice whether to include the cost approach. If a client or someone up the chain asks for it, it’s fine to say “no, I’ve decided it’s not necessary.” It’s also fine to say “sure, give me a day to get the file back out and work it out.” You decide the level of service you give your clients and what, if any, fee you’ll charge for those services. You’re the one who knows what will keep them coming back with the next assignment, what will get them recommending you to their colleagues and coworkers – and what will get them calling someone else instead next time.
For assignments where you determine a cost approach is necessary, or in cases where you want to deliver a cost approach, WinTOTAL form filling software (Athena and Aurora both) will soon integrate with Marshall & Swift’s industry-leading cost data via its SwiftEstimator. You’ll see the change automatically after next week’s Instant Customer Update.
SwiftEstimator features real-time, current, accurate cost data you can adjust for residential styles, square footages and component quality. It takes your input and fills in a cost approach directly into your report that you can be confident in. It’s a snap, it’s pay-as-you-go (though you can pay in advance) and it’s a value added you can charge for if you choose to.
As easy and reliable as SwiftEstimator is, you can default to a higher fee for a 1004 with a cost approach always included. If your client doesn’t want the cost approach and you determine it’s unnecessary, your fee could be lower – what you’re charging now.
Of course, the WinTOTAL-SwiftEstimator integration will make manufactured housing and other assignments that require the cost approach a lot easier than tracking down iffy local data from builders and figuring it on your calculator, too. And however you use it, it differentiates your practice from that of other appraisers who leave the section blank.