Adjustment Support Request

[J Grant]

The way I see it, good software should do two things: save time on the tedious stuff (data entry, formatting, FEMA lookups, pulling MLS data) and make the appraiser's reasoning MORE transparent, not less. If the tool generates an adjustment suggestion, the appraiser needs to understand exactly where that number came from and be able to override it or throw it out entirely.

J Grant's concern about large datasets pulling in irrelevant comps from gated golf communities when the subject is in a non-gated subdivision (#63) — that's a comp selection problem, not a data problem. The software should be smart enough to filter by subdivision type, amenity level, HOA structure. But the appraiser still picks the comps. The tool just narrows the haystack.

What would actually be helpful to you all? What's the #1 time-waster in your workflow that software could handle so you can spend more time on the analysis that actually matters?

Wrt large data sets pulling in inappropriate sales ( unless the subject manually eliminates them ) applies not just to picking comps for the report - it means that if a software program pulls sales of X parameter geo area and the software is not "smart enough" to filter out inappropriate sales by subdivision or amenity or HOA fee type. That info comes from reading the MLS comments or by knowing the area. A good software program allows the appraiser to manually filter property searches. Which takes time.
After a certain point, the time-saving shortcuts start to undermine the profession, not help it. Appraisers have never been offered so much help as now!! A PDC collector to go to the property, a software program to develop or support the adjustments and do other tasks

Yet the more "help" appraisers get, the less money appraisers make and the more third-party profiteers make. The nonsense that it frees appraisers to do what they do best, analysis, is ridiculous. Taking the time to pore over the data, talk to parties, and inspect the properties is what develops the analysis.
If the OP wants to understand what goes into an appraisal, they should take some classes or complete the PAREA course.

 

[Sadie]

A

Wrt large data sets pulling in inappropriate sales ( unless the subject manually eliminates them ) applies not just to picking comps for the report - it means that if a software program pulls sales of X parameter geo area and the software is not "smart enough" to filter out inappropriate sales by subdivision or amenity or HOA fee type. That info comes from reading the MLS comments or by knowing the area. A good software program allows the appraiser to manually filter property searches. Which takes time.
After a certain point, the time-saving shortcuts start to undermine the profession, not help it. Appraisers have never been offered so much help as now!! A PDC collector to go to the property, a software program to develop or support the adjustments and do other tasks

Yet the more "help" appraisers get, the less money appraisers make and the more third-party profiteers make. The nonsense that it frees appraisers to do what they do best, analysis, is ridiculous. Taking the time to pore over the data, talk to parties, and inspect the properties is what develops the analysis.
If the OP wants to understand what goes into an appraisal, they should take some classes or complete the PAREA course.

Also, the less reliable the appraisal results are. AI and 3rdparties can only do so much.

 

[Tom D]

Apparently they can do enough by current perceptions. So, as the door hits you in the ask as you leave, turn the lights out.

 

[jpowers]

Wrt large data sets pulling in inappropriate sales ( unless the subject manually eliminates them ) applies not just to picking comps for the report - it means that if a software program pulls sales of X parameter geo area and the software is not "smart enough" to filter out inappropriate sales by subdivision or amenity or HOA fee type. That info comes from reading the MLS comments or by knowing the area. A good software program allows the appraiser to manually filter property searches. Which takes time.
After a certain point, the time-saving shortcuts start to undermine the profession, not help it. Appraisers have never been offered so much help as now!! A PDC collector to go to the property, a software program to develop or support the adjustments and do other tasks

Yet the more "help" appraisers get, the less money appraisers make and the more third-party profiteers make. The nonsense that it frees appraisers to do what they do best, analysis, is ridiculous. Taking the time to pore over the data, talk to parties, and inspect the properties is what develops the analysis.
If the OP wants to understand what goes into an appraisal, they should take some classes or complete the PAREA course.

J Grant — fair push back.

I should have mentioned — I'm not building this solo. My co-founder is a Michigan residential appraiser, 28 years licensed, hands-on in the product daily. So the "take some classes" advice is well taken, but we do have someone who's lived the profession on the team.

On the profiteer concern — that's the model we're specifically trying to break. Our approach is that appraisal data stays owned by the appraisers who create it. Your data is valuable to you individually — your own comp library built from your own work. But as a community, that data becomes something no single appraiser could build alone. When the collective dataset has value to others, the appraisers who built it share in that revenue. Not the other way around.

You're right that comp selection requires reading MLS comments and knowing the area. No argument there. The time we're trying to give back is on the other side — formatting, compliance, UAD field mapping — the stuff that eats hours but doesn't require 28 years of local market knowledge.

 

[J Grant]

J Grant — fair push back.

I should have mentioned — I'm not building this solo. My co-founder is a Michigan residential appraiser, 28 years licensed, hands-on in the product daily. So the "take some classes" advice is well taken, but we do have someone who's lived the profession on the team.

On the profiteer concern — that's the model we're specifically trying to break. Our approach is that appraisal data stays owned by the appraisers who create it. Your data is valuable to you individually — your own comp library built from your own work. But as a community, that data becomes something no single appraiser could build alone. When the collective dataset has value to others, the appraisers who built it share in that revenue. Not the other way around.

You're right that comp selection requires reading MLS comments and knowing the area. No argument there. The time we're trying to give back is on the other side — formatting, compliance, UAD field mapping — the stuff that eats hours but doesn't require 28 years of local market knowledge.

I wish you well but imo you are wasting your talent. Use your tech smarts to do good or to innovate. Your co-founder might be an appraiser, but they are not a good business person. The software offerings are flooded with similar to or more extensive than what you are offering, integrated into existing appraisal software or available as a standalone. The reality is that the above "stuff" does not eat hours of time. Whether an appraiser does it manually or uses a program, the time it takes for these tasks is not a deal breaker. The deal breaker is low AMC fees for many. The deal breaker is the enormous added time and stress an ROV or review imposes. The deal breaker is the surprise difficulty aspect that even a simple appraisal assignment might contain.

A good appraiser spends a lot of time selecting the comps, talking to parties, and developing adjustments. The appraisers who try to automate or rush those parts do subpar work. But that subpar work can hit value, so all is good. In a WAIVER (now called value acceptance), a loan officer picks the property value (or the sale price is the value ) ( as long as the value falls within the GSE AVM range ). And a lender who picked a property value or RE agent who negotiated the SC price did not need any appraisal license behind their value, because no appraisal was used- to avoid the regulations around appraisals and value targets.. What does that say about where things are headed....

A 28-year licensed appraiser is hands-on in your product, yet you are here asking for suggestions-idk what to say about that. This is an oversaturated field for software products trying to shave time off a process, trying to solve a non-problem for the appraiser.

 

[jpowers]

I wish you well but imo you are wasting your talent. Use your tech smarts to do good or to innovate. Your co-founder might be an appraiser, but they are not a good business person. The software offerings are flooded with similar to or more extensive than what you are offering, integrated into existing appraisal software or available as a standalone. The reality is that the above "stuff" does not eat hours of time. Whether an appraiser does it manually or uses a program, the time it takes for these tasks is not a deal breaker. The deal breaker is low AMC fees for many. The deal breaker is the enormous added time and stress an ROV or review imposes. The deal breaker is the surprise difficulty aspect that even a simple appraisal assignment might contain.

A good appraiser spends a lot of time selecting the comps, talking to parties, and developing adjustments. The appraisers who try to automate or rush those parts do subpar work. But that subpar work can hit value, so all is good. In a WAIVER (now called value acceptance), a loan officer picks the property value (or the sale price is the value ) ( as long as the value falls within the GSE AVM range ). And a lender who picked a property value or RE agent who negotiated the SC price did not need any appraisal license behind their value, because no appraisal was used- to avoid the regulations around appraisals and value targets.. What does that say about where things are headed....

A 28-year licensed appraiser is hands-on in your product, yet you are here asking for suggestions-idk what to say about that. This is an oversaturated field for software products trying to shave time off a process, trying to solve a non-problem for the appraiser.

J Grant — fair points across the board. The waiver/value acceptance trend and ROV burden are real threats to the profession, and no software fixes that.


On why I'm here asking — Greg has identified a lot of these same concerns from 28 years on the ground. I'm here for what we might be missing. This thread is more honest than any focus group I could run, and I appreciate it.

 

[J Grant]

Imo, you are missing the point that appraisers already have a plethora of similar services to choose from, and there is a limit to what those services solve even if you manage to come up with something that sets yours apart-
The future leader in the field would be a service that could really teach an AI agent how to do the heavy lifting, and that might take years or be impossible.

An appraisal is an integration of many tasks, which is why it was a stroke of evil genius for the GSEs and AMC's to drive a truck through the USPAP loophole definition of when an inspection is part of appraisal practice. This allowed them to sever off the task of inspection of the subject to allow low-paid, non-licensed "PDC collectors" into the field. If that is not a red flag screaming get off the road, hazardous cliff ahead, idk what is.

 

[TerryRohrer]

J Grant — fair points across the board. The waiver/value acceptance trend and ROV burden are real threats to the profession, and no software fixes that.


On why I'm here asking — Greg has identified a lot of these same concerns from 28 years on the ground. I'm here for what we might be missing. This thread is more honest than any focus group I could run, and I appreciate it.

You are new here, but you will find out J Grant will pound away at the keyboard nonstop about issues she has no clue about. Anything tech-related or advanced being at the top of that list. Even when she doesn't have a clue what you are working on, she, and she alone, knows it can't be viable. Good luck parsing the nonsensical from what little useful tidbit you might find useful.

 

[J Grant]

You are new here, but you will find out J Grant will pound away at the keyboard nonstop about issues she has no clue about. Anything tech-related or advanced being at the top of that list. Even when she doesn't have a clue what you are working on, she, and she alone, knows it can't be viable. Good luck parsing the nonsensical from what little useful tidbit you might find useful.

Instead of relentlessly criticizing me, how about, for a change, you provide your solution or expertise?

Tell the OP your suggestion of how they can make their product stand out. Let's hear it.

I often say here what many others say, yet you pick on me, probably because you do not like my politics. Or you have a mental problem. Youve stalked others on the board as well.- and they block you. I will do the same.

 

[jpowers]

Well.... you're a little late to the party. Real Estate Appraising as it has been for the last few decades, is circling the drain. Also, and this is a big one, is the users of our services do not care what we think. For example, I don't think a single appraiser was involved in the design of the new uad 3.6.

If I were you, and I was still going to forge forward and develop something, I would slate it heavily to work with the UAD 3.6 as most of the tools that are out now, were developed prior to it. The problem for you is, we don't know how it works. Everyone is just speculating and coming with an opinion that it wasn't too well thought out.

This company here in this video, came out with this over 8 years ago. They were really ahead of their time. They don't even offer this service anymore to appraisers. They only market to realtors for BPO's now. I would use something like this now. Especially if it was to include commentary and features that matched what the software like Spark and Synapse does. But with the 3.6 coming out.... it's hard to say what is going to work with it.

One more thing, develop our own personal AI appraiser assistant to deal with AMC's.... they are huge time bandits.

Surf Cat — good feedback, and the UAD 3.6 point is noted. That's already the foundation we're building on. Most of what's out there was built for 2.6 and is being retrofitted — we'd rather get 3.6 right from the start.


The company you're thinking of that pivoted to BPOs — that tracks. Chasing realtors is easier money in the short term but it's a different business. We're building for appraisers specifically.


The AMC communication idea is interesting. That's a real time sink from what I'm hearing. Appreciate the detail.