My name is Greg Wood. I am a Certified General appraiser with over 18 years experience. This post is the first in a series of articles on my journey as a Zaio zone owner. This is not intended to be a series cheerleading for Zaio, but rather an honest portrayal of why I bought my single zone in Torrance, CA, and an ongoing diary of the ups and downs of bringing my investment operational.
When I first heard of Zaio over a year ago, I was less than impressed. My first reaction was, “Why should I pay to get appraisal work…I’m doing OK.” Frankly, a real turn-off was the price. I am pretty cheap…still driving my Ford Explorer after 6 years…and $9,000 is a lot of money for me. I dismissed the idea for several months, but kept seeing the ads, mailers and emails.
Then work started slowing down. A large portion of my workload is AMC work (I know, I know, I can hear the screams already), and after they dropped their fees paid to their appraisers twice in one year, I was beginning to sweat. So, among other things, I decided to take a closer look at Zaio. I attended a sales presentation and went home much more intrigued than I had been.
You mean, I can get paid for all the appraisals sold in my zone, and I don’t even have to sell myself to potential clients?? That’s great! (did I mention how much I HATE selling?) This looked like a cakewalk.
And the problem with the big fee was resolved at the presentation. A nice feller from the leasing company was willing to finance “my zone” (see how quick that happened) for a very small down payment and $343 per month. I don’t have any debt other than my mortgage and my wife’s car…$343 was a very doable number in my budget.
OK, so the money problem is resolved, but how about the really big question?
Is this worth me paying any money at all? This decision took me the next 3 or 4 weeks. Now, when it comes to due diligence, I am not Ken Verrett. He sat down for weeks crunching the numbers with his Bright Horses, played out scenarios and, for all I know, got the NORAD computer involved in the whole thing.
Ken Verrett had pie charts, Excel spread sheets, financial geniuses (genii?), and probably Madame Zora, the fortune teller, adding her two cents too. The problem is, I am not Ken. I don’t have a degree in Economics, I haven’t been a bank regional manager, and I don’t have any Bright Horses.
I’ve pretty much just got me. My lovely wife trusted me to make the right decision (big help THAT was in the decision department). So I did what I knew. I read. A lot. Everything I could find on the web about Zaio and their probable competition. I did a lot of role playing, but with just one guy it’s not nearly so much fun.
Along with the rest, I thought and read about where the appraisal business is going. I noted that virtually every field of endeavor in business has changed significantly over the past several years. With the advent of computers and the web, customers want things better, faster and cheaper, and most often they eventually get just that. Although the appraisal industry is constantly amazing us with new products, services and research sources, the fact is that we aren’t as advanced a profession as most.
Essentially, the appraisal process is the same now as it was 18 years ago, when I completed my first appraisal…getting my research from microfiche records, using a 100 foot tape to measure the property, taking my pictures with a 35mm camera then running to the 1 Hour photo place to get three sets of pictures developed, writing up my report by filling out a preprinted form from Forms and Worms, gluing my photos to the photo pages, and hand delivering the report to my client. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t do ANYTHING the same way anymore, but the process is the same. And with the advent of the computer things have changed and will undoubtedly change much more.
I didn’t know at the time, but many of these cloudy concepts of the future have been explained very well in a book I read recently, The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman. He has given a much more solid description and explanation of the ideas that I was intuiting in a much less well defined way (I heartily recommend the book, regardless of what your stance on Zaio might be).
So I looked at what I had learned about Zaio, and what I had learned about the appraisal business and business in general. In my mind, if Zaio didn’t work out, then someone else would improve on the idea and it would work, but I didn’t see anyone on the horizon that was even close. Long before the WAMU / EAppraiseIT mess, I was suspicious that the AMC game (which does control a huge number of appraisals) would also be changing. There are too many problems with AMCs that will force a sea change in the way they do business. But that’s another article for another day.
So, I decided to buy a zone. Yes, I’m sure that legions of my fellow appraisers would and have done a much more thorough analysis of the Zaio concept and potentials, but this isn’t about you. I promise to relate the truth as I know it, whether it is good or bad for me or Zaio. I put down my $500 to Zaio, signed my lease documents, paid my first and last months’ lease payments, and became the proud owner of California zone 060 in west Torrance, with in excess of 13,000 homes.
And so, my journey began.
Author: Greg Wood - A Better Way Appraisal Service 1262 Beryl St #122 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 - Phone: (310)374-2055 Toll Free Phone: (800)464-4705 Fax: (310)943-1782 E-mail: [email protected]
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