It should be no secret that many of my international
appraisal assignments come from on-line search engines. While I still get top
of front page results on Bing and Yahoo and Yandex (Russian search engine),
I’ve slid down to the 4th page on Google, where I am dismayed to
find myself ranked below ads placed by trolls – unnamed middlemen who create
fanciful web sites with very little information, if any, about who works there,
who’s in charge, and what is their experience? These trolls then call me and
other real international appraisers to get us to bid on serving the suckers who
got attracted to their fake sites. Trolls. Middlemen.
They may have fanciful names such as “Mega World Appraisal
Valuation”, but disclose nothing about their staff, their leadership, and their
assignments. Do not be fooled. Call a
real appraisal firm and find out who will be doing your international
assignment. If you call The International Appraiser, I promise that I will
personally appraise and inspect your properties based on 41 years of appraisal
experience. I have no other staff and
don’t farm out work to contractors, but I do confer with and sometimes hire
appraisers in other countries. I write the reports, though, and make the final
value conclusion.
