CHICAGO, IL- In January, Lee & Associates launched Lee & Associates Valuation and Consulting Services, and today they announced the opening of its second office in Chicago. Furthermore, Daniel Boring, the chief executive officer of the Atlanta-based L&AVCS, told GlobeSt.com that they were quickly gearing up to go national.
They plan to open in all of Lee & Associates' 47 current locations and even start up appraisal services elsewhere “and use that as a springboard to create brokerages where we don't currently have offices. We look at it as a strategic move to insert ourselves in other markets.” Offices will open in Los Angeles and Indianapolis over the next few weeks.
Having a separate appraisal service “just supports the overall corporate structure. It's a good core asset and another service that [Lee] can offer to clients and bring them into the fold.”
Boring also said that Christopher B. Myers will run the new office with Nicholas Cipriano. Both have many years of valuation experience and worked for suburban-based Argianas & Associates. “With Chris and Nick leading our efforts in Chicago, clients can be assured of consistent high quality service.”
Illinois still has a huge backlog of distressed properties going through the foreclosure process, and assessing their value will remain an important facet of appraisal work. But Boring said they're expecting to see clients needing more traditional appraisals as foreclosures recede. “It's a market in transition.”
He believes that potential clients will prefer appraisers embedded in a brokerage. “The big complaint about appraisers is we're riding the horse looking backward” and don't adequately adjust to quick changes in the market. Their Chicago guys “will be much closer to the actual street.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
