The Very Beginning

When I first began my journey, I really didn't know what to expect. What made it more difficult is the fact that I had been in my former position for 14 years. I knew my old job inside and out and could have done it in my sleep, and now here I was, trying to begin at the beginning and learn something new.

My first days were hectic. I had my very first exposure to my local multiple listing service or MLS and found it to be a very interesting tool. In fact, it is addictive! I had never seen it before, because it is a database for real estate professionals only, and we had none of those in my family. As your local MLS is good for residential and some commercial properties, I also learned how to use a product called CoStar to find commercial comparables and listings for sale. In CoStar, you can find information on everything to a billion dollar portfolio sale of multi-family properties, to a little commercially zoned lot for sale. I am not sure how much this service costs the firm that I am with, but it is a very valuable tool. They do offer a demostration of the product on their website.

If you don't have the highest skills in computer literacy, don't worry, your local MLS and CoStar are very similar to using Google. If you can use Google, or any other search engine for that matter, you can learn these two products.

Another thing that I did on my first day was read through some completed reports. They were a little intimidating at first: long narrative reports that seemed to go on forever. I had some composing and editing experience, but this was mostly smaller newsletters and websites. I also helped proofread a book for a friend a few years prior. This was going to be like working on a book every week. After you dive in and get used to it though, it is pretty easy and straightforward. Of course, by choosing to work in this field, the information is interesting to me. This was helpful for me too to learn the language that is used in these reports.

I also read through some residential reports, personally, I have worked on four residentials now, and have started a fifth. Residential is interesting, because we can all relate to it, but the forms are boring. As far as being able to complete an assignment, of course, residential is the easiest. I suppose appraisers who only do residential work can do three of those in a day if they really work at it. Any more than that and I might question their thoroughness in finishing the job.

You will learn quicky, as I did, that every job is different. One thing that I really like about my position now, in contrast to my old career, is that every day is different. There is always something exciting going on, whereas I knew my old job so well that I would practically fall asleep at my desk.

Coming up next, Later In That First Week