May was “Bike Month” in the Sacramento area, and I decided to participate at the last minute by contributing fifty miles to the overall regional goal of one million miles for the month.
I love riding my mountain bike along the American River Trails, but I’ve been hibernating from biking for quite some time now. I finally crossed the threshold again though to get back in the saddle, and I’m so glad I did. Most of my fifty miles over the week consisted of leisure, but I did make it a point to do a 15-mile roundtrip for a re-inspection of a property in the La Riviera area. The home owners were enthusiastic about me doing this, so it was fun to combine appraisal work and biking on the same trip. You can see a partial map of my route above (taken from the MapMyRide app).
Geographic Competency: I don’t plan to bike to many inspections because it would take far too long to do my job on only two wheels. However, biking to one appraisal inspection last week made me think of how important it is for an appraiser to really know the local market and understand the influences in a particular neighborhood. That is exactly why I recommend interviewing an appraiser before making a hire. Ask the appraiser about his/her experience in general as well as his/her knowledge of your neighborhood market.
Did you participate in Bike Month? What do you do to stay in shape?
If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook.
Wow Ryan, what a ride. I agree, biking to the inspections probably would not make much sense, but if it is nearby and you have a light load, it sounds like it could be fun!
It would have to be nearby to make any sort of sense at all. At the same time, it’s nice to incorporate exercise with work. So many professions get to do that, yet the appraisal profession often cannot do so. I had already worked ten hours that day, so it was my reward to get to ride the trails – even though it would take a bit longer.