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From Panic to Profit: One Appraiser’s Story of Survival and Growth

by Tony Jones, Senior Editor

The first time Mitchell Simonson experienced an extreme slowdown as a real estate appraiser, he experienced a line-in-the-sand moment that profoundly altered the course of his personal and professional life. This was in 2009 in the throes of the Great Recession. Simonson was just five years removed from college, working as a junior associate for a commercial appraisal firm, with aspirations to someday own his own business.

He began working at age 11 doing part-time jobs, and for 14 straight years his income had increased. “I always thought that everything just went up and up,” recalls Simonson.

But in 2009, Simonson bought a house. He and his wife had a 1-year-old and 2-year-old, with No. 3 on the way. His firm was doing a lot of bank work at the time, but then fees started to compress and demand for appraisal services slowed way down. Sound familiar?

On a hot July day in Minnesota, with his two sons nearby on the floor, Simonson sat on his couch contemplating his income—which had fallen about 30 percent—and decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I remember sitting on that couch,” says Simonson. “I was kind of scared, and for whatever reason, something triggered inside of me. I told myself that the one thing I could control was my actions and moving forward. So, I committed to better health, reading a lot of books and changing my mindset. Instead of worrying about the market and the negativity that was coming at me from the real estate space, what could I do proactively that was in my control?

“That was when I really dug deep and started talking to more people,” he continues. “I committed to reaching out to my network and really stepping out of my comfort zone of just being an appraiser and relying on the work coming to me. I wanted to be able to have better control over the opportunities that were coming my way because it felt like early in my career, I was always relying on other people.”

That commitment to investing and betting on himself changed the trajectory of his career and set him on a path to business success.

Today, Simonson is the owner and CEO of Minneapolis-based Simonson Appraisals, which specializes in commercial valuations and helping banks, financial institutions and attorneys representing property owners make prudent investments and solve real estate issues. He leads a team of nine, including seven appraisers, two of whom carry MAI designations.

The journey Simonson decided to take himself on that fateful afternoon built a foundation, work ethic and business network that has allowed him to steer through the current slowdown with plenty of work and a fraction of the angst and consternation he felt in 2009. Working RE recently sat down with Simonson to get his perspective on how appraisers who are feeling the weight of current market downward pressures can flip their script.

Visualize Success
One reason Simonson took the path he did was thanks to some early seeds planted with the help of his Aunt Brita, who sent him to see author and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar when he was 19. That kickstarted a love for personal development that included reading books on business, mindset and self improvement. He also took a four-day Dale Carnegie course to learn how to speak in front of others. In 2010, he completed an eight-week program called “Design the 10 Best Years of Your Life,” which helped him identify his core values and set goals, including his desire to earn his MAI designation, which he did by 2011.

As an avid reader of Success Magazine, Simonson says he became a big believer in former publisher Darren Hardy’s stance that the way to carve your own path was to first establish a life plan and then build a business with that goal in mind.

“That’s what I’ve been really committed to,” says Simonson, “and I think it has helped me sustain through busy times and slow times. When you’re taking care of your health, creating time and making memories with your family and friends, it gives you that deep resolve, strength and ability to overcome the cyclical nature of the business.”

When appraisal work slowed when he was a junior associate, Simonson pushed to find appraisal opportunities rather than wait for work to be assigned to him. He adopted a proactive, entrepreneurial spirit that helped the company he worked for win new business as well as begin to sharpen his relationship-building and networking skills. This included bringing in two national banks based in Minnesota that wound up being his first two clients when he launched his own business in 2012 with a local partner in the Twin Cities.

“I also continued to invest in myself,” he explains. “I think that’s the important part, even if it’s in a down market. Obviously, things can tighten up on the financial side, but what are you doing to make investments in your career? What do you want to create, not just for your business, but for your lifestyle?”

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Marketing and Self-Promotion
For Simonson, investing in his career has meant keeping up with continuing education as well as honing skills that have improved his visibility and outreach.

“Where we’re at today, all appraisers have to take continued education, but it’s so heavily based on the technical skill set,” explains Simonson. “I’m of the belief that if you’re a professional appraiser and you’re committed to the industry, you know how to do a nice job of appraising property. To move forward, it’s really about developing outside the technical side and creating a business mindset.”

This includes learning how to market yourself as well as market and run a business. You don’t have be in charge of a company to adopt an entrepreneurial frame of mind. In fact, Simonson says simply pursuing his MAI designation increased his productivity because it helped him solve problems much more quickly and efficiently.

Learning how to market himself and his business was the key to gaining visibility and professional contacts. Having already gone through a market downturn, Simonson knew he couldn’t rely on two core bank clients to sustain his new business, so he leveraged technology, social media and email marketing to build an online presence.

“People do business with those they know, like and trust,” says Simonson. “Content marketing helped me build trust with people who didn’t really fully know me.”

His visibility helped expand his client base, growing methodically from two to five to 15 clients and now, many more. As an early adopter of LinkedIn, Simonson says the key to social platforms and outreach is to provide value to those in the market who may become a customer or refer you to a prospect.

“Appraisers are experts at providing opinions of value,” notes Simonson. “How can we take our knowledge, share it and provide additional value to other people in the marketplace beyond just the appraisal report that we send out the door to one client? Maybe it’s some of the market research that you’ve compiled or specific data points or insights and perspectives from talking with market participants.

“I’ve talked to appraisers across the country, and one of the big challenges I hear is that it’s scary to step out and promote yourself,” he continues. “I still remember trembling on that first email I sent out. There were about 2,000 people on our list. It was just an article on real estate and property values and how we can help. But if you can view it as providing value to other people and coming from a place of true service and helping others solve problems and achieve goals as it relates to real estate and value, then it becomes less about you and more about helping others. That was a big shift for me.”

Networking
At the same time that he began to gather steam with his content-marketing strategy, Simonson also made a concerted effort to network one-on-one with prospective leads including, real estate brokers, banks and attorneys. He also selectively attended tradeshows and large networking events to try to gain contacts.

In his commercial appraiser space, Simonson says he winds up getting leads from brokers and real estate attorneys to help business owners who need valuations performed for partnership buyouts, estate planning, deaths in the family, tax appeals and other circumstances. He gains assignments through attorneys in construction defect litigation to try to solve for diminution in value as well as condemnation and eminent-domain work. His company also works with landowners and government agencies.

Within a year of content marketing and sending monthly or quarterly emails, Simonson began receiving speaking invitations from the Minnesota Bankers Association. He taught six workshops through the Small Business Administration and spoke at different commercial brokerage offices. He also wound up doing an hour-long presentation in front of 30 to 40 real estate attorneys for a continuing legal education event. Those early engagements generated leads and led to more speaking engagements, which continue today.

The idea is to remain top of mind for likely clients and referrals, so that when markets slow or shift, you’re in the best position to capitalize on local opportunities that still exist.

“Being front of mind with people is a key distinction,” explains Simonson. “How can you be front of mind to where people are thinking, ‘Boy, this person is always helping and providing value.’? When people think of the word ‘appraisal,’ whether it’s an accountant, an attorney or a broker, I want them to think of me. That’s my goal. If I’m providing enough value, I’ll be front of mind enough for that referral to come back at some point in the future.”

Simonson acknowledges that spreading tentacles of value is playing the long game. It’s about building a reserve of goodwill that he can tap into when business slows. Through 2022, he says bank work was through the roof due to feverish buying and refinancing activity, but since then, bank assignments have dropped off significantly, with commercial transactions for some property types falling as much as 70 percent year over year between 2022 and 2023, and remains slow this year.

“It’s planting those seeds,” says Simonson. “Sometimes it takes a few years for that to bear fruit, but I always approach it with the long game in mind—that I’m going to be around for another 20 or 30 years, so the more that I can get in front of people and help them, it’ll come back in time.”

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Income Generating Activities
The combination of continuous marketing and networking formulates the core of what Simonson calls Income Generating Activities (IGAs), actions he can take to stay top of mind and drum up business.

“If you’re a solopreneur or running an office with five appraisers, it can be feast or famine,” notes Simonson. “So, one thing I always do is commit to income generating activities whether it’s sending out an email, making a social media post, calling a couple of real estate connections or calling past clients—people I haven’t talked to in a while to check in with them, try to provide value and perhaps invite someone to lunch.

“If you do that consistently, you’re constantly pumping the well,” he continues. “Consistently take action in a way that helps you stay front of mind and moving forward vs. always reacting.” Simonson believes a pitfall appraisers sometimes fall into is thinking of appraisal reports as their sole IGA. The problem with that is it tends to be passive, which leaves you more at risk when demand for services slows. “What I’ve seen on the commercial side is you can certainly become more of a Walmart where you’re competing on price and timing,” he notes. “At times it feels like a race to the bottom. How fast can you get it done and for how cheap?”

That may work well when a market is strong, says Simonson, but during a slowdown it can force appraisers to take whatever jobs present themselves and for low fees. “I’m of the mindset that I want to have more opportunities coming my way, where I can be selective,” he says.

For this reason, Simonson recommends having a set of ideal customers in mind and targeting those segments with your outreach. If a particular attorney, broker, etc., seems like they’d be a good fit with your operation, examine how you might be able to help them and vice versa. Reach out to book a coffee or a lunch meeting, just to get to know them, he says, noting that as you develop rapport, don’t be afraid to ask for business or a referral.

“If I’m creating income generating activities on a consistent basis throughout the year, even when we’re busy, then it helps keep the pipeline full and we can be more selective on which projects we want to take on,” explains Simonson. “We’re not desperately grabbing anything that comes in the door.”

Keep Pushing Forward
It should be noted that none of this came naturally for Simonson, who still prefers one-on-one networking to trying to work a large room of people. What’s key is pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, figuring out what works well for you, and then being diligent and consistent in your approach. Self-confidence ultimately comes from creating opportunities and then delivering when called upon.

“When that line-in-the-sand moment happened, I vividly remember writing down that I was going to continue to train the rest of my career, so that no matter what happens, when the next market downturn occurs, people are going to know me,” recalls Simonson. “Even if the market’s down, I’m of the belief there’s always opportunity, especially if you’ve got a high skill set with appraisal.

“You might have to broaden the market. You might have to broaden your reach,” he continues. “When the markets started to shift in 2022, I went back to that 2009 moment and said, ‘I’m pulling the boots back on; I’m going to work harder than I have before; and I’m going to start providing a deeper level of content and educating my clients and prospective clients.”

Now a 20-year industry veteran with 11 kids, Simonson continues to double down on the principles and motivations that have fueled his success. Equally vital to investment in his business and professional development, he says, is striving for optimal health and strengthening personal relationships to sustain a rewarding lifestyle.

“And, you know, this year, we’re working on several large portfolios of assignments,” notes Simonson. “These are projects I could only dream about taking on many years ago. They’ve been amazing, incredibly rewarding assignments, and it’s been a really good time. It’s about continuing to have that resolve to see what you can do to push the envelope of possibility.”

About the Author
Tony Jones is Senior Editor of Working RE magazine, published by OREP, a leading provider of E&O insurance for real estate professionals. Based in San Jose, California, he has nearly 30 years of business publishing experience and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arizona. To reach him, email tony@orep.org.

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