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ACI Sky Workbench Update

Airstream said:
I just did a quick search about how much of the market ACI has. Of course do your own research. But just think that a potential 30% of the appraisers now have to switch software providers. If I was an ACI user I would be ticked.

  • Estimated Market Share: ACI holds an estimated 25% to 35% of the market.
  • The Industry Leader: a la mode (TOTAL) is the dominant market leader, historically commanding 50% to 60%+ of independent residential appraisers. [1]
  • The Remaining Share: The rest of the market is split among smaller competitors like SFREP (Appraise-It)and ClickFORMS, alongside newer AI-driven entrants. [1, 2, 3]
Click to expand...
Blows my mind that it's that high, especially after the First American hack that left appraisers for days not able to log in and work:

 
SOFREP seems sincere, is a proven entity, and seems to be getting positive reviews. I am an Alamode customer, and they are working hard to get up to full functionality. I did my first 3.6 last week, and it took 18 hours for an SFR with rental comps. It passed all the E and O checks, and now, two days later, it has come back for a page-long list of inane revisions- all related to UAD fields. This is from a very good client who has accepted my work for over six years with no issues. I would guess the review originated from a nitpick at the GSE's and they passed it along. This client, after the exception, is back to accepting UAD 2.6, but I might lose them over this.

I might need to leave the business if this is going to be the future - because this is no longer about appraising; it is about trying to use software that, regardless of the provider, all seem to be having issues. At one point, I tried AIVRE, and they have no live tech support- just a chatbot- and it is all about AI -I was not impressed by the search tools they incorporate. At least at Alamode offers live help when needed.
 
J Grant said:
At one point, I tried AIVRE, and they have no live tech support- just a chatbot- and it is all about AI -I was not impressed by the search tools they incorporate. At least at Alamode offers live help when needed.
Click to expand...
Thats a good point. I don't often need tech support, but to only have a chatbot is concerning. I was not impressed with Aivre either. Its OK, but not impressive. They were really marketing themselves about how great their GUI interface was and how great their tools were and they were going to be the cheapest software out there. None of it turned out to be true. Which is unfortunate. I'd like to see more players in the appraisal software space. But I'd also like to see competitive prices. Its hard to go with someone like Aivre at $1500 per year when alamode renews for $500.
 
Not good. No ACI 3.6 but you have to renew to use 2.6 during the transition period. Not good at all.
 
Ouch, that would suck having to renew during the transition. I would be on the phone with ACI if I had to renew during that time. Somebody over there is really dropping the ball. Somebody is getting fired... if not, ACI has even bigger problems, because somebody needs to be accountable for this fiasco.

Such a shame. I left ACI when they started doing goofy things with the pricing structure 10+ years ago. But I always felt it was the most intuitive software. I had plans to return to ACI with UAD 3.6 if the new software kept a similar intuitiveness. Now I'm not sure I would.

ACI has kind of a sorted history. I started with DOS and it was far superior to Total DOS. The 16 bit and 32 bit windows versions were both good products for me too. More so than Total. But it was also more expensive. But if I recall correctly, the company itself has been bought and sold several times. My memory is Richard Heyn founded it and ran it for many years. Then Poloroid owned it at one time. Then First American. I think there might have been someone else in there somewhere too. It was also ACI who purchased the Appraisers Studio, just to shut it down. Which was, again, unfortunate. It looked like a great piece of software. I was actually just months away from switching to Appraisers Studio when they were bought out and shut down.

I realize ACI isn't alone in being bought and sold. So was Total. Also WCA and SFREP merged their companies several years ago. And there was another software company too that Zillow or someone purchased before they went bankrupt and had to restructure. But I forget the name.

It seems crazy to me that now we have all these new start ups trying to break into the appraisal software market, when the market has been declining for years. Its gotta be a data grab. There is no other reason all these companies are suddenly appearing out of nowhere and think that there is a big market for residential appraisal software. The only explanation is they want the data. With that said, I prefer companies like SFREP who have been around for years and who seem to be most interested in serving the appraiser. Not serving some larger company the appraisers data.

Good luck out there guys. Our industry feels very chaotic right now.
 
Fargo1 said:
Ouch, that would suck having to renew during the transition. I would be on the phone with ACI if I had to renew during that time. Somebody over there is really dropping the ball. Somebody is getting fired... if not, ACI has even bigger problems, because somebody needs to be accountable for this fiasco.

Such a shame. I left ACI when they started doing goofy things with the pricing structure 10+ years ago. But I always felt it was the most intuitive software. I had plans to return to ACI with UAD 3.6 if the new software kept a similar intuitiveness. Now I'm not sure I would.

ACI has kind of a sorted history. I started with DOS and it was far superior to Total DOS. The 16 bit and 32 bit windows versions were both good products for me too. More so than Total. But it was also more expensive. But if I recall correctly, the company itself has been bought and sold several times. My memory is Richard Heyn founded it and ran it for many years. Then Poloroid owned it at one time. Then First American. I think there might have been someone else in there somewhere too. It was also ACI who purchased the Appraisers Studio, just to shut it down. Which was, again, unfortunate. It looked like a great piece of software. I was actually just months away from switching to Appraisers Studio when they were bought out and shut down.

I realize ACI isn't alone in being bought and sold. So was Total. Also WCA and SFREP merged their companies several years ago. And there was another software company too that Zillow or someone purchased before they went bankrupt and had to restructure. But I forget the name.

It seems crazy to me that now we have all these new start ups trying to break into the appraisal software market, when the market has been declining for years. Its gotta be a data grab. There is no other reason all these companies are suddenly appearing out of nowhere and think that there is a big market for residential appraisal software. The only explanation is they want the data. With that said, I prefer companies like SFREP who have been around for years and who seem to be most interested in serving the appraiser. Not serving some larger company the appraisers data.

Good luck out there guys. Our industry feels very chaotic rig
Fargo1 said:
Ouch, that would suck having to renew during the transition. I would be on the phone with ACI if I had to renew during that time. Somebody over there is really dropping the ball. Somebody is getting fired... if not, ACI has even bigger problems, because somebody needs to be accountable for this fiasco.

Such a shame. I left ACI when they started doing goofy things with the pricing structure 10+ years ago. But I always felt it was the most intuitive software. I had plans to return to ACI with UAD 3.6 if the new software kept a similar intuitiveness. Now I'm not sure I would.

ACI has kind of a sorted history. I started with DOS and it was far superior to Total DOS. The 16 bit and 32 bit windows versions were both good products for me too. More so than Total. But it was also more expensive. But if I recall correctly, the company itself has been bought and sold several times. My memory is Richard Heyn founded it and ran it for many years. Then Poloroid owned it at one time. Then First American. I think there might have been someone else in there somewhere too. It was also ACI who purchased the Appraisers Studio, just to shut it down. Which was, again, unfortunate. It looked like a great piece of software. I was actually just months away from switching to Appraisers Studio when they were bought out and shut down.

I realize ACI isn't alone in being bought and sold. So was Total. Also WCA and SFREP merged their companies several years ago. And there was another software company too that Zillow or someone purchased before they went bankrupt and had to restructure. But I forget the name.

It seems crazy to me that now we have all these new start ups trying to break into the appraisal software market, when the market has been declining for years. Its gotta be a data grab. There is no other reason all these companies are suddenly appearing out of nowhere and think that there is a big market for residential appraisal software. The only explanation is they want the data. With that said, I prefer companies like SFREP who have been around for years and who seem to be most interested in serving the appraiser. Not serving some larger company the appraisers data.

Good luck out there guys. Our industry feels very chaotic right now.
Click to expand...
Ouch is right but they got us over a barrel. Who wants to learn new UAD 2.6 software when it is phasing out?
Click to expand...
 
Fargo1 said:
It seems crazy to me that now we have all these new start ups trying to break into the appraisal software market, when the market has been declining for years. Its gotta be a data grab. There is no other reason all these companies are suddenly appearing out of nowhere and think that there is a big market for residential appraisal software. The only explanation is they want the data.
Click to expand...
Winner winner chicken dinner
 
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