It’s the Right Time

What is the right time? What makes the right time different from the “wrong” time. Einstein says time is relative. That it depends on who is moving and who is standing still. That’s actually quite profound when you think about it. Are you moving or are you standing still? Time is different for everyone.

So often we hear someone say “that company was just too early or they were too late to market”. There must be a right time, but what is it. How can you tell it’s the right time? Do the stars line up for us? We wish it was that simple.

History is littered with stories of companies failing because they didn’t know the right time. You are probably familiar with many. Companies like Blockbuster, Kodak and probably an appraiser favorite, 24-Hour Photo.

Kodak is one of my favorite stories because they actually invented the digital camera and it was the digital camera that put them out of business. There are a lot of lessons to be learned by studying the story of Kodak, but suffice it to say, they were not paying attention when the time came to pivot their business from film to digital. Fuji Films was a competitor to Kodak. Did you know they are still in business? When digital cameras were introduced, they knew it was the right time to pivot. With their chemical processing knowledge, they entered the cosmetics market and are now into everything from medical imaging to stem cells. Its all about knowing the right time.

When I was a little kid living in a small town called Presidio in west Texas, I used to go down to the ice plant with my mom to get a 25 pound block of ice for our ice box. The ice plant is still standing, shutter and dilapidated and I often wondered why it went out of business. Of course, refrigerators were invented and ice and ice boxes weren’t needed anymore. But why did they go out of business? The answer is they were in the ice making business and they should have been in the refrigeration business. If so, they may have noticed it was the right time to start selling refrigerators and phase out the ice making part of their business. Knowing what business you’re in helps to identify the right time.

In real estate appraising, appraisers are in the valuation business. Not the 1004 business, not the inspection business or the spreadsheet business. It’s the valuation business. This means any new tool or skill that helps you produce a valuation and keep or increase your competitive edge needs to be incorporated into your business.

Over the years, technology, population demographics, the advent of the fintechs, big data and the digital transformation movement have caused the valuation business to gradually evolve, but the actual production of an appraisal has remained fairly steady.

Today, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are retiring their appraisal forms and asking appraisers to produce reports using a new dynamic reporting format. This seems like we are entering an interesting time. Is it the “right” time? If it’s the right time, what is it the right time for?

In one of my presentations from 2019 on the future of appraising, my title slide had this quote from Yogi Berra. It said “The future ain’t what it used to be”.

I think this statement is so very true today. The question for everyone is, do we want the future to be like the past or do we want the future to be different. Freddie and Fannie have given us the opportunity to chart a new path for appraisers. Make no mistake, this is the right time to imagine what a better future would look like.

This is the right time to decide what the Appraiser of 2030 is going to be like. What is your vision for the Appraiser of 2030? Will they still be filling out forms manually, measuring a house with a tape measure, using spreadsheets and taking days to complete an appraisal? Is this what you want for the Appraiser of 2030? Or do you want the Appraiser of 2030 to be the gold standard in valuation, to be competitive, service driven, using the latest technology and be able to provide same day service? 

This is the right time to make these decisions. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have provided the inflection point. It’s now up to the appraiser community to make it the right time to chart a course for a brighter future.  It’s the right time to make sure “the future ain’t like it used to be”.