Commercial Narrative Report Software

[Marty Skolnik]

Over the years I have found that if you structure your narrative report as a series of tables narrative report writing is a lot easier. No one says that a commercial narrative report has to read like a Hemingway novel with paragraph after paragraph of prose. It looks like boiler-plate and no one reads it anyway.

In my report template, each section is a two-column table -- the left column is the subject line and the corresponding right column is the fill-in-the-blank information for that particular property. Using the Replace function in MSWord makes overwriting fairly easy. When I print the report, I don't print the table gridlines, so it looks more "narrative" and less "table-like".

Piece of cake.

Marty Skolnik
Baltimore, MD

 

[Fred]

Over the years I have found that if you structure your narrative report as a series of tables narrative report writing is a lot easier. No one says that a commercial narrative report has to read like a Hemingway novel with paragraph after paragraph of prose. It looks like boiler-plate and no one reads it anyway.

In my report template, each section is a two-column table -- the left column is the subject line and the corresponding right column is the fill-in-the-blank information for that particular property. Using the Replace function in MSWord makes overwriting fairly easy. When I print the report, I don't print the table gridlines, so it looks more "narrative" and less "table-like".

Piece of cake.

Marty Skolnik
Baltimore, MD

Couldn't agree more and do the same thing.

 

[BlueDog007]

http://www.valuetechsoftware.com/

I have no idea about this software but was solicted to buy it about a year ago.

 

[Stone]

Couldn't agree more and do the same thing.

Yep, similar here as well. I think those that don't do it think you take a blank page and start anew every time.

 

[Smokey Bear]

I created a template that used merge to put all the data in the right places. I'd fill out the data sheet, then merge. I also imported excel spreadsheets and linked them so that if I changed the spreadsheet in Excel, it would change in the Word doc. Search and replace works too, instead of merge, but I went through and set up codes like <address>, <city> etc. to search and replace.

 

[Andy Sheppard]

Does anybody have experience with Snapwire Report Builder 2.0?

I've built my own templates with basic Word/Excel linkages, which are handy, but this software looks a little more robust.

 

[Kali the Boston Terrier]

Snapwire is Valuetech...they got bought. I have owned and Used @Value (dumped it because the comp database crashed), Valuetech (kind of clunky, but I heard the comp database was good), Appraiser's Paradise (liked it, but the annual cost seemed excessive for a Word based macro program).

I am now back to writing my own reports off of my own templates, and am now re-writing most of the content. Programs have created some sloppy habits I am hoping to break, I feel dumber now as a result of that time period in my life.

But if you are looking for a report style and organization to start, by all means these will get you there...but be careful they will definetly make it easy to use boiler plate in exchange for original content. I agree with the tow column approach, I just started rewriting mine is that style.

 

[hastalavista]

Update to this thread

I'm reviving this thread to ask a related question:

So, I've looked at some of the software and I'm not sure I want to purchase a word.doc macro program; I feel semi-competent to develop a basic template and build upon it as I go.

Where I run into a brick wall is the Income Analysis/DCF- I'd like to do it on spreadsheet rather than the HP12c, but I think I'd just as soon purchase the program vs. trying to design my own. It would also be nice to have a comps data base that one could use for a standard presentation in the reports.

It seems like @value fits this category best (although I did read about the crashing databases).

Any updated thoughts on this?

Thanks!

 

[Amy Perkins]

Create tables and learn to merge files, this was especially helpful when doing mass appraisals. Press control F, it will find and replace any word.

 

[Couch Potato]

I transitioned into commercial work earlier this year and all my reports are now narrative MS Word and Excel products. Being accustomed to more intelligent form-based products which would auto-fill common elements within the report, I find the redundancy of repeating common data multiple times within the report to be excruciatingly tedious.

People pay more for a report from an intelligent appraiser than they do for a report from intelligent software. Denis, I think you will find you get better results, and a better report by designing your own analysis within Excel. I do hope Mr. Brown has figured out by now that the combination of Word and Excel will indeed "auto-fill common elements" when used properly.