Bradford Technologies Declares War on BPOs

The appraisal industry and in particular residential appraisers are under siege. From state legislatures to even the Federal Reserve, laws and policies are being changed to allow BPOs to replace appraisals.

Why? The simple answer is that appraisers are not providing the financial community the valuation services they need. The 1004 may be the “gold standard” for valuation, but only to Freddie and Fannie. The rest of the industry wants something else and they don’t really care who provides it.

At Bradford Technologies, as a member of the appraisal industry for 24 years, we take this threat to the industry very seriously. You can read the entire article at http://www.appraisalworld.com/newsletter/10-WarOnBPOs/

We have developed new software (CompCruncher™) and a new form – Collateral Valuation Report (CVR™) to help you fight back.

Learn how you can help in the fight against BPO and all alternative valuation products that are threatening the appraiser’s profession and lively hood. Over the next issues we will be writing about the fight and what we are doing to help you. To learn more now, click the link below:
www.appraisalworld.com/CompCruncher/index.shtml

What Is AppraisalWorld?

What is AppraisalWorld? We have not done a very good job explaining why AppraisalWorld exists or what it's intended to do. In the future we will try to do a better job. In the mean time, here’s a quick stab at explaining AppraisalWorld.

It’s a site that takes the problems appraisers have and the problems lenders have and tries to solve them in a way that is best for both parties. Think of it as the alternative to HVCC.

In development for over three years, we have created technology and services that address the issues lenders have concerning theft of an appraiser’s identify and report fraud; we developed services that bring transparency to assignment qualifications and local market experience.

On the appraiser side, we made it easy to apply to hundreds of AMCs for fee panel approval. We developed the nations only directory where appraisers are ranked by their local market experience. Most recently we have developed a new class of software (CompCruncher) that focuses on data management and data analysis so that appraisers can provide statistically supportable (key phrase there) valuations. We have also developed an education program so appraisers can learn how to use statistics in their work and we have coupled it with one- on-one training so they develop the skill and confidence to use the analytics correctly. We have wrapped up all these services in a new appraisal form called the Collateral Valuation Report (CVR).

So today, using AppraisalWorld Services; CompCruncher software and the new CVR report format, an appraiser can deliver a report that:

1) Visually defines the market area
2) Graphically illustrates the market trends
3) Statistically quantifies the components of value in the market
4) Reconciles valuations from analytics, sales and listings
5) Provides support for comps and listings selected
6) Provides statistical metrics on the accuracy of the valuation
7) Provides a forecast based on market trends for 30, 60 and 90 days out
8) Provides a forecast based on economics for 90,180,270 and 360 days out
9) Is signed by an appraiser whose identity has been authenticated
10) Uses “On Document Verification” technology to prevent appraisal fraud
11) Was performed by an appraiser whose local market experience was evaluated and used in the selection process
12) Was performed by an appraiser whose credentials can easily and quickly be verified on line

If this is a report you would like to provide to your clients, go to AppraisalWorld and learn how you can take advantage of this opportunity. Or give you account representative a call at 800-622-8727.

Forsythe Appraisal to Train Nationwide Staff to Provide CVRs

In an announcement this week, Forsythe Appraisal, the nation’s largest appraisal company has contracted with AppraisalWorld to train and certify its nationwide staff of appraisers to provide CVRs for its clients.

John Forsythe, SRA, President of Forsythe Appraisals, is extremely enthusiastic about CVRs. “We’re so pleased to be involved and ramping up training for our entire staff of more than 250 full-time employee appraisers,” he said. “The CVR is a product that provides all of the information that can be had from an AVM or BPO, and then takes it to the next level with a tremendous amount of additional data and detailed information which is provided by a knowledgeable and trained real estate appraiser”.

How Are We Doing – Jeff Bradford Wants to Know

How are we doing? Is Bradford Technologies providing the services you need? Are we missing something? Are we doing too much of something? What do you think of our War on BPOs? Jeff Bradford would like to hear from you. Click on the link below to participte in our Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Click here

ClickFORMS and XML Exporting

In November of last year, Fannie Mae issued an announcement concerning the submission of electronic appraisal reports and XML. Work on the Appraisal XML has been completed and is in the approval stages at MISMO. Fannie will soon be making an announcement and in turn the lenders will be making an announcement, so be on the lookout for XML information.

As a long time member and sometimes Chair of the MISMO workgroup tasked with creating the Appraisal XML standard, ClickFORMS was the first appraisal software to incorporate the full standard. It is fully functioning and in daily operation with RELS. We will be updating the XML to incorporate the latest changes, but we’re essentially set.

The original statement from Fannie Mae stated:

“Effective March 1, 2010, Fannie Mae will require the submission of electronic appraisal reports and their addenda in the MISMO XML standard for all loans requiring an appraisal report. Fannie Mae will support conversion from other XML standards to MISMO XML. Additional information regarding the details of these requirements is forthcoming.”

We expect the date to be pushed back.

If you get a questionnaire with question from a lender, AMC or other client asking if your software can export out in XML or MISMO XML format, the answer is YES. ClickFORMS can export the approved MISMO Appraisal XML.

When you get these inquiries, please let us know. Send an email to support@bradfordsoftware.com. We can follow up with your client and ensure there is a seamless integration between their systems and ClickFORMS.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Webinar on Corrosive (Chinese) Drywall Issue

On February 18, there will be a webinar on the issues related to Corrosive (Chinese) Drywall. Learn more about the ongoing issues. The purpose of the webinar is provide up to date information and practical insights to the issues facing both the lending and real estate industries.

This webinar is hosted by our good friend John Cirincione, SRA, CRE, FRICS who is Director of Business Development at JVI, Inc. Industry experts will discuss topics such as Impact on Real Estate and Market Value/Impact Stigma. We highly recommend it.

Cost is $69.
Times: 3:00 to 4:30pm EST.
To register, Click here now