Value of Connection aka Who Gets a Seat at the Table

One of my primary clients is undergoing a transformation of their appraisal purchasing process.  Currently, all the approved, qualified appraisers are invited to appear for a bid meeting.  Then, the ones who appear review the requested appraisals, consider their current workload, the review appraiser assigned to the project, distance to the properties, current information available about market data, ease of working in a particular county or counties, and then if willing and able, provide a fee estimate for completing the appraisal process and preparing the written reports.  The most efficient and qualified appraiser with the lowest fee is then given the contract.

 The new process will provide that 14 companies or individuals around the state will hold up to a five year contract to provide these same appraisals and written reports on a pre-set fee menu.  It is known as an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract (IDIQ).  Yes, when the original information came out, I had to look that up, and do a bit of research about the type of contract.  These new 'prime' contractors will be responsible for hiring the appraisers and specialty contractors to provide services in a timely, competent, and consistent manner.  Where I am currently 1 of 146 approved appraisers or 1 of 64 approved to do more complicated work, and there are 26 approved specialty contractors, the new process limits to 14 the number of folks with direct control over how appraisals and specialty contracts are assigned.


Each of those 14 'prime' is to have at least 10 approved appraisers on their list for their proposal submission to the client.  So theoretically, there would be 140 appraisers of the 146 that would 'survive the cut'.  In reality, we all have folks we like working with because of their work ethic, attention to detail, and professionalism.  Grateful I am to have been asked to join a number of teams.  It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.  I hope to get a seat at that table.

Just wow

Below is a redacted version of some emails between one of my largest clients and myself about a recent competitive bid.


On Sep 25, 2012, at 8:33 AM, "Client, Mr" wrote:

RE: Project No: ABCD-456-00(000) Georgia Co.
P.I. No. 1234567

The following contractors have been awarded the work on the above referenced project:


Contractors
Service
Awarded Bid
Blah blah real estate appraiser
Appraisal Reports (Level 2)
$ 6,135.00
No Bids Submitted
Cost to Cure



Best Regards;
Mr Client


From: Christina Holmes [mailto:christina@christina-holmes.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 9:28 AM
To: Client, Mr
Subject: Re: Project No: ABCD-456-00(000) Georgia Co Appr Bid Award

Is this the price they bid or are we missing a digit somewhere?

iPhone


Reply from Mr Client:

Actual bid


My bid? $32,600, 23 appraisals - average fee $1,417 each

Winning bid? $6,135 for the same 23 appraisals, average fee $266 each

I believe we should earn more than that for the substantial amount of education, licensing, experience, time and energy our profession requires, not to mention our court fees under these contracts are $50/hour - about 1/3 the industry average.

Just wow

bidding is a process

On my way back to the office from a competitive bid meeting, reflecting on the process. Competition is good and surprisingly there was quite a lot of it at today's bid - maybe 10 real estate appraisers for a seven parcel project. The good news was, the appraisers in the room are all long term, professional valuation folks with many years of experience. The surprise is that we call showed up. It was, as one appraiser put it, a great social interaction. Next time, I may check with the team manager before heading that way . . .

Parking

And in light of all this parking discussion, here are some prurient parking photos for your viewing pleasure!  Innovative, car park designs . . . Prurient Parking Photographs

Government WORKING!

Yesterday was a very busy one filled with all kinds of unexpected information and experiences.  From Central Georgia to Atlanta to Chattanooga, it was quite an 18 hours.

The most delightful and unexpected (other than family dinner), was our visit with the City of Atlanta Aviation Department's Vivica Brown, Deputy Assistant General Manager at Commercial Development, and Katie Stanciel, Director of Parking.  Working on a valuation analysis for them, we met to get details about income and expenses for parking.  Vivica has been very responsive and on-task about getting us information and introduced us to Katie for the details.  


This is no Mickey Mouse operation (no offense to Mr. Disney).  The Airport has more than 30,000 parking spaces - the only larger operation in the US Katie knew of is in Denver.  Their website has the following:

Parking - Domestic Terminal:

There are more than 30,000 public parking spaces at Hartsfield-Jackson, including over 10,000 in covered parking decks, 7,300 in Domestic North and Domestic South Economy parking lots, 1,300 in the Domestic Park-Ride Reserve lot and 7,800 in the Airport's Domestic Park-Ride lots. Special parking spaces are also provided for disabled passengers in each lot.

So what happened?


Lo and behold, we asked for all kinds of information and in under an hour, we had every bit!


This was IMPRESSIVE to say the least, and Katie did it with a beautiful smile and delightful attitude.  Kudos to the Aviation Department for hiring and keeping such fantastic people as Vivica and Katie.

Lateral Support

Ok, so it has been quite a bit of time since my last post.  With two teenage daughters, notice to proceed on 50 or so appraisal reports, and returning for post graduate education, left over time is in short supply.


However, this is rather important.


During my class, and particularly a quiz I just took, it occurred to me that there are always parallels in life.  We are studying property rights, and one of my quiz questions was "what is lateral support".  Defined by my text it is "The right of lateral and subjacent support is the right to have land supported by the adjoining land or the soil beneath."  Real Estate Law, Robert J. Aalberts, 2012.


What if we replace the word land by the word "value"?  Is there some particular right of property owners to be 'supported' in their values by adjacent values or 'lateral support' of other property and other financial instruments and perhaps even the fiscal policies of our government.

Consider this:  

It seems to me that our lateral support is rapidly disappearing.  Perhaps we ought to take action, quickly!

Memories, like the corner of my mind

In the past weeks, I have been working on compiling my education and experience in real estate since 1987. An amazing set of opportunities have always presented themselves, and for that I am extremely blessed.

Crazy as it sounds, eating an elephant one bite at a time has resulted in almost 1,400 classroom hours I can document (more than a few missing certificates) and better than 40,000 hours of work in my field.

Still, every day, I learn something, and many days, I learn quite a lot. Ever grateful I am and continue to be for all the wonderful, knowledgeable, patient and considerate people with whom I have been blessed to work. If you think you are on this list - a very long list - you are right.

Thank you!!