Commercial Narrative Report Software

[Michael Geis]

OK... but for those of us who aren't MS Word/Excel Officianados... what do we do? I have a few old appraisals to use as templates.... but I hate copying/pasteing/cloning/over-writing etc....

 

[JT1974]

Microsoft Office Small Business Edition (Word, Excel & Outlook) is only $149 when you buy a new computer through Dell. No renewal fees and unlimited flexibility.

I can understand why those transitioning from residential would try to find some type of form filler software for commercial work. However, the sooner you get that idea out of your head the better. The variety in commercial property types makes it virtually impossible to create a "standard" report.

I would suggest the best thing to do is to take the Appraisal Institute's Report Writing (540) course taught by Alan Blankenship, Phd.

 

[JT1974]

OK... but for those of us who aren't MS Word/Excel Officianados... what do we do? I have a few old appraisals to use as templates.... but I hate copying/pasteing/cloning/over-writing etc....

Mike,

The truth is that almost all of the commercial appraisers were novices at using Word and Excel when they started appraising commercial property.

The only way to gain proficiency with Word and Excel is to dive in head first and use it.

Word also has a very powerful Find/Replace function that helps with much of the redundant stuff.

 

[Lost Cause]

I can understand why those transitioning from residential would try to find some type of form filler software for commercial work. However, the sooner you get that idea out of your head the better. The variety in commercial property types makes it virtually impossible to create a "standard" report.

Excellent advice, Jayson. Once one gets used to the word processing programs (whether Word/Excel or Wordperfect/Quattro), it will have been worth it. I see altogether too many boilerplate errors to ever want to use some kind of canned program.
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[Stone]

Excellent advice, Jayson. Once one gets used to the word processing programs (whether Word/Excel or Wordperfect/Quattro), it will have been worth it. I see altogether too many boilerplate errors to ever want to use some kind of canned program.
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I'm with you two. The basic office products work fine for what we do. I've kept my A la mode subscription going for the last few years even though I was doing less and less residential. This year I finally said enough and am looking forward to not paying their annual fee this month (or next, I forget).

 

[Fred]

OK... but for those of us who aren't MS Word/Excel Officianados... what do we do?

Become officianados. It cost a lot less to RTFM, than to pony up $1,500 and then $800 per year in perptuity.

 

[PropertyEconomics]

Working with Word or Wordperfect is quite easy. They are all menu driven and it wont take very long for you to develop a good looking report.
Do an outline on a legal pad and then simply follow it.

Excel or Quattro are a bit more complicated .. but not much. If you understand algebra you can write formulas pretty easily ... not difficult at all.

 

[SharperImage]

Word and Excel

I started out with Lotus Wordpro and 1-2-3 back in the late 80's with a 2mb computer. I liked Lotus at the time and Alamode actually had a commercial appraisal software package (1-2-3 and Excel templates) back in 1988 that I still use. They don't make it any longer and I believe I paid $900 for the software.
In 2000 I made the switch to Office 2000 and it took a while to get used to it, but was well worth it. (excel spreadsheets are inserted as a picture, so they can't be messed with)
My reports have evolved over the years to a basic template and then all of the pertinent data is put in and we update the Table of Contents. It works on the 50 page reports as well as the 300 page reports.
I looked at some commercial software from MCS back in the late 80's early 90's and actually bought it. It is now collecting dust on my self and I'm planning on donating it to the Smithstonian in a couple of years.
I also thought this was brought up on another thread, but the best way to put together of narrative report is open up the USPAP book and start from there.

SI

 

[hastalavista]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

I was hoping to talk you into buying it! (Steven will probably give you a better deal!) :icon_cool:

 

[Doug Smith SRA]

Valuetech becomes Snapwire

Just had a call from a long time commercial appraiser. He is looking to buy commercial software under the name of Snapwire. Looked it up and Valuetech has changed names and has just introduced a new program.

With the release of its latest program Report Builder 2.0, Valuetech has re-branded itself as Snapwire, a provider of business process management (BPM) software applications. While Report Builder 2.0 was developed as a solution for the cumbersome commercial real estate appraisal process, the program was designed to be so flexible that its applications are apparent in multiple industries

No price is listed on the website but my friend says he was quoted $5,000. I am stunned by the price but maybe if priced at this level it will get some attention from larger firms.


Link to Snapwire