Adjustments March 2015
We recently sat down with one of our clients and discussed ways to increase volume. Their reply was: "Improve your overall quality and reduce the need for corrections." One of the top ways to improve quality is to increase our focus on adjustments within the Sales Comparison Grid. Unsupported, missing, inconsistent or across the board adjustments erode the credibility of the report and create risk for the end user. Well supported and accurate adjustments mitigate this risk and reduce the need for correction requests from our mutual client. Are you writing a report now? This will just take a moment of your time: Adjustment commentary must include logic and reasoning. Sorry, but boilerplate commentary such as " water view adjustment was made from paired sales analysis" is not adequate and raises a red flag for our client. Include your logic and reasoning to lower this red flag. For example: "Comparable 1 is noted to have a superior water view in relation to the subject property. The view adjustment is supported by a paired sales analysis of Comps 1 and 3 which reflects a 7.5% market reaction." Remember, the end user is relying on the data and analysis provided to understand how the market reacts to salient features of the subject property and comparable sales. Inconsistent, missing, or across the board adjustments also raise a red flag. If you are unable to bracket significant property characteristics, across the board adjustments must be supported by detailed commentary and the supporting data must be quantified. Again, canned commentary such as " I was unable to bracket the site size due to limited comparables" is insufficient. Our mutual client is looking for that extra effort shown here: "A search was made within the subject's neighborhood boundaries, but no closed sale was available to bracket site size. Site is not an over improvement, as there are other properties within the neighborhood of equal or greater site size (insert addresses for support). Site adjustment is supported by neighborhood land sales (insert addresses for support)." Our clients are just looking for that extra logic and reasoning that will lower the red flag. By adding supporting data that is quantified, we can collectively improve the quality of reports delivered to our mutual client. With our combined effort, let's give our client a reason to turn up the volume!