Virgina REAB and Portal Petition

[Workbox]

Are you sure?

We have a role.

From the Fed Reserve

You are not reimbursed for turning in counterfeit bills; however, you protect yourself from trouble by following proper procedures.

http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/money_detect.shtml
http://www.treas.gov/usss/know_your_money.shtml

 

[Ken B]

So, in that light, clients should be concerned about protecting themselves from "counterfeit" appraisals. An easy way to do that would be to maintain copies of their approved appraisers' signatures on file for comparison with appraisals they received from their contracted appraiser.

 

[Workbox]

So, in that light, clients should be concerned about protecting themselves from "counterfeit" appraisals. An easy way to do that would be to maintain copies of their approved appraisers' signatures on file for comparison with appraisals they received from their contracted appraiser.

This stems from the point that We Appraisers also have a significant role in the end product and who is utilizing that appraisal. We send it to the middleman, and they send it to the end buyer and the end buyer can go to us via vault and ask us if this is "Legal Tender" or have it vaulted so we can later check to make sure it is authentic.

 

[woodyva]

This thread is plain repetitive. Moost are just repeating the same thing over, and over again. Some seem to be here to just to argue. If anyone here wants a copy of the screen shots i have taken of a report i sent through as a test, you are welcome to it, just email or PM me.

Both sides have some well founded points. The one sthat are anti-portal need to recognize that technology is something to embrace as it does allow yourself and your clients the ability to use it to improve work flow. The otherside needs to realize that while many folks do not "understand" the process as many have referred to over and over again, they do have valid concerns. Being an advantage to the client does not mean that it is ok to disregard the appraiser in the role of the author and analyst. While it is arguable whether or not things are changed, and whether or not what we end up is really tuly representative of a report. I lean toward sit being an acceptable "version" of a 1004. The main problems lies in the inability of the system to allow anything but arcane reporting. It changes the scope of work or makes an appraiser have to choose to select ineffective pagesin the report. It also does not allow better things like image page sto show trend analysis done in excel, etc.

There is a happy median point, and mainly that rests with the appraiser being able to send reports in a PDF format, a serialized secured version with digital signature protection, that is then converted by the interim portal and then converted. The PDF version should make it to the atucal client unaltered, and if the portal wants to use the converted report at the clients permission to analyze and run QC on, then they get what they want, and we get what we want. The excuse that cost is a concern is simply that, an excuse. Autmated PDF converting is not cost prohibitive to the clients, and if the portal companies want to rip them off by upcharging the conversions, then I would venture to say that another company will come that does.

 

[DWiley]

It changes the scope of work or makes an appraiser have to choose to select ineffective pagesin the report. It also does not allow better things like image page sto show trend analysis done in excel, etc.

Woody,

As a USPAP nerd I have to point out that reporting is not technically part of the scope of work Nothing about AIReady forces an appraiser to change the scope of work for any assignment.

Now to my real point. There is a world of difference between debating the performance of AIReady and debating its legality.

To me, one of the strongest arguments presented in this thread against AIReady was someone's statement that they just didn't like how it looked. While that is an argument based on emotion, it is one I understand. There have been many programs that I have avoided because I did not like the appearance of the output.

I am not thrilled with how AIReady handles certain report elements either. But saying I don't like parts of it is not the same as alleging that its use violates the law.

The otherside needs to realize that while many folks do not "understand" the process as many have referred to over and over again, they do have valid concerns.

When I first heard of AIReady and XML a decade ago I had concerns as well. But, as an appraiser I had been trained to do research. So I did. None of the technologies discussed in this long thread are new; they have been around a long time, and there is plenty of readily available information for those who wish to find it.

Hold on tight, because the ride gets even more exciting as we move forward.

I believe AIReady is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to report formats. I think it is very likley that dyamic reports that require Internet connectivity to be viewed properly will be commonplace in the not too distant future.

I delivered a narrative report this week for a large estate. There was a brief summary of the zoning in the report, but there was also a hyperlink that could take the reader to the specific section of the local zoning manual that was relevant to the property. So, the reader has a summary, but could get a description if they wanted. One could also click on a link and take a Google Earth tour of the neighborhood. If someone wants the same reading experience as the client, they have to read that report on a computer. Printing it out does not commuincate the same thing. As long as my kids are still in school, I suspect I keep learning how to imbed cool new things into my reports.

We all need to stop thinking in terms of what can be reduced to a paper format, because use of the format decreases everyday. Some of our local courts will no longer even accept paper documents; and there may be a day when our state boards no longer concern themselves with paper. The focus should be on report content not report format.

 

[Couch Potato]

I delivered a narrative report this week for a large estate. There was a brief summary of the zoning in the report, but there was also a hyperlink that could take the reader to the specific section of the local zoning manual that was relevant to the property. So, the reader has a summary, but could get a description if they wanted. One could also click on a link and take a Google Earth tour of the neighborhood. If someone wants the same reading experience as the client, they have to read that report on a computer. Printing it out does not commuincate the same thing. As long as my kids are still in school, I suspect I keep learning how to imbed cool new things into my reports.

We all need to stop thinking in terms of what can be reduced to a paper format, because use of the format decreases everyday. Some of our local courts will no longer even accept paper documents; and there may be a day when our state boards no longer concern themselves with paper. The focus should be on report content not report format.

The new Acrobat 9 has the ability to embed video, presentations and pretty much anything one can imagine. A printed copy of such a document would be a pale imitation of the original.

 

[Marcia Langley]

The technology that is available to an appraiser is wonderful.

The tech items mentioned in the last two posts are items the appraiser can test and gain a level of confidence that they will perform as intended.

The appraiser knows what he is putting into his report.

Again, the vendors for those software innovations do not have an appraisal-specific "other agenda".

=========

Also, USPAP has a lot to say about written reports. If a written report contains a written summary of the necessary items, links to primary source info are extra. And oral reports (video) are expected to have a written transcript in the workfile.

A written transcript of an oral report would seem to be the easiest type of file to protect from unintended imbedded objects.

Fretting about links and videos don't really seem to be pertinent to the issues at hand.

 

[Carnivore]

I delivered a narrative report this week for a large estate. There was a brief summary of the zoning in the report, but there was also a hyperlink that could take the reader to the specific section of the local zoning manual that was relevant to the property. So, the reader has a summary, but could get a description if they wanted. One could also click on a link and take a Google Earth tour of the neighborhood. If someone wants the same reading experience as the client, they have to read that report on a computer. Printing it out does not commuincate the same thing. As long as my kids are still in school, I suspect I keep learning how to imbed cool new things into my reports.

We all need to stop thinking in terms of what can be reduced to a paper format, because use of the format decreases everyday. Some of our local courts will no longer even accept paper documents; and there may be a day when our state boards no longer concern themselves with paper. The focus should be on report content not report format.

Danny,

I agree with you about using a variety of resources and changeing the way reports are viewed. Problem is you have managed once again to sidestep the main issue. That main issue is appraisers are responsible for the content of their report. Using hyperlinks is all well and good assuming you control the content of those hyperlinks. For example, if you created a mirror of the hyperlink on a server you control then and only then could you maintain the integrity and content of the hyperlink. Hyper links are known to go dead, disappear or change. This happens because you are not in charge or donot own that link(web page, data base, etc).

Under your examples above, which are very good. How do propose to maintain your records i/a/w USPAP?

 

[Don Clark]

Danny,

I agree with you about using a variety of resources and changeing the way reports are viewed. Problem is you have managed once again to sidestep the main issue. That main issue is appraisers are responsible for the content of their report. Using hyperlinks is all well and good assuming you control the content of those hyperlinks. For example, if you created a mirror of the hyperlink on a server you control then and only then could you maintain the integrity and content of the hyperlink. Hyper links are known to go dead, disappear or change. This happens because you are not in charge or donot own that link(web page, data base, etc).

Under your examples above, which are very good. How do propose to maintain your records i/a/w USPAP?

Good question Carney. We constantly get links to web sites on this forum and find we cannot access them as they have been deleted, changed, or just disappear. If the link in an integral part of your report, and you do not have a print out of what the link demonstrated, then you could end up with a misleading report. Just my opinion of course, but one I believe that many state regulators might have as well.

 

[DWiley]

Under your examples above, which are very good. How do propose to maintain your records i/a/w USPAP?

The same way I do now - by keeping an electronic copy of what I sent to the client. That is the requirement.

What is in my report is a link, and that link will remain, even if the supplemental material that link goes to is moved or changed.

I never link to something that would a required report element. The summary of the zoning I provided in my report meets the USPAP requirement. The description the reader could get by clicking the link in the report is not required material.