Commercial report writing software

[Art Gaudette]

I want to find out what commercial report software is available. Iwould also like to get comments about the commercial report generating software you are using. Do they give good tech support, do you have to wait twoor three days to get a technical support reply, do they provide any documentation you can download -- so you'll have something to referred to when you need that special help on the weekends and they are closed, how much does technical support costs, do you have to buy the product or lease it per year and what are the costs. I would appreciate any information you can give me.
I bought valuetech commercial report software in January 2005. In April 2005 they switched to a new version software and would not give me support on my old software anymore plus I did not have any documentation. Over the last year and half we have fumbled forward trying to solve many problems ourselves and I spent way too many hours. So now I'm looking for new software, help. I would greatly appreciate feedback.
agadet@yahoo.com

 

[xm39hnu]

Art,
Try http://www.appraisersParadise.com. It's run by John Urubek, who is an AI instructor for advanced cap. He's MAI & CCIM, and knows how to produce a USPAP compliant report.

This site allows you to enter the data for your report, then sends you a well-formatted Word document by e-mail.

Note that I do not use this site, because I don't do much commercial work. What I know about it comes from John's having demonstrated it to us after class at a cap course. The site's output looks good, and the site seems to work well. But I don't need it; I've got my own narrative templates for various types of reports. You can demo this site to see whether it suits your needs.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I personally am convinced that taking a word processing class at the local Vo-tech or 2 yr college and creating your own templates would be miles ahead.

You are not at the mercy of the vendor for updates. While Word has out advertised Word Perfect, I am still convinced that WP is the premiere word processor and has 3 features which Word does not or does not as well, that work so very well in WP.

The first is the table feature which will do complex formulations that Word simply cannot perform. THus, I create small spreadsheets in Word Perfect that do everything from the gridding of land sales and adjustment grids to doing the Net Operating Income Statement. NOI's are a snap, so I am attaching one as a .pdf file.

The red numbers are the inputs i do and WP does the rest, even moving the NOI to the final calculating table where it calculates and rounds the final income value.

The second WP feature I like is the keyboard merge which allows you to create *.frm documents as forms and the keyboard allows you to jump from marker to marker and add appropriate text.

All the vendors are really doing is creating Excel and word merge documents which give you the inputs then loading them into a template. WP does the same except it eliminates the Excel to Word "jump" which often is difficult to format.

Finally, the reveal codes feature in WP allows you to instantly check where your cursor is, what font is where, and you are not backspacing or deleting "blind" but can see each code being deleted and skip if need be.

Again, I think that the cost of these report engines and the subsequent learning curve could be applied to taking college courses for the basics and if need be, specialized courses from business service providers, and you will never find yourself at the mercy of the vendor and you can create more concise and less verbose templates for each specialized situation you are in.

 

[Robert Dunkle]

Terrel,

Not meaning to critize your report, but, when I sent in my demonstration reports for CGA, I was severely chastised for not reporting enough information about the derivation of information. In the "Band of Investment" derivation of a cap rate, I reported that I had contacted banks for information on their current interest rates charged, loan length, origination fees, etc. in order to determine the mortgage constant, and was severely chastised for not reporting which banks, etc. I had contacted. I would hate to think what they would have said if I had said that the cap rate or mortgage constant or equity yield rate was from "information in my files". I had begun to wonder if my reports were going to make it through, even though my report templates "plagiarized" a number of long time CGAs that I had worked with. I was fortunate to have taken the AI class in both Basic and Advanced Cap. as I found out that one CGA I had worked with was doing the Band of Investment calculation incorrectly. He used the interest rate, rather than the mortgage constant for the mortgage side of the equation. Me thinks he may have overvalued a few properties! The reviewer wound up saying that I had all of the theory "nailed", but needed to put some more meat in my reports.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Robert, I agree with you that the boards are cantankorous about the issue. That's because they are really stupid people usually. OK OK I said it. Reporting a band of investment is one thing, reporting a direct cap rate (like these are) is another. In fact, it is calculated in my sales writeups which are also in the report and I almost always use a cap rate that falls within the range of the comparables direct rates. The few times I have used band of investment, i do reference the source (usually Farm Credit on farms) and it is reported differently.

There is no requirement in USPAP to name the bank. Show me if there is. There is no requirement to use "paired sales" in the Sales approach, but i know at least one board member who argues anything else is hokie. He doesn't believe in qualitative adjustments or cost related adjustments at all. Mercifully, he left his board recently, hopefully never to return. If you guess, he is appraiser in name only and his responsibility is to order appraisals for a government agency. So that makes him gods gift to appraising...never mind he probably has not personally made one since the mid-90s'.

Further boards, in spite of USPAP making little distinction in the standards required, hold residential reports to a different standard than they do commercial / farm reports. Look at the 2055. Does anyone claim that if you use the 2055 that it cannot be compliant? Is there a commercial equivalent? No. You can use the 2055 on a million dollar lakefront geodesic log cabin on rented land with a servants quarters but are supposed to write a 600 page thesis for a $30,000 crossroads mechanic shop. My last demo report was a $40,000 tire shop. The previous one was a $240,000 poultry farm. And prior to that, which was 'dissed' severely because i made the unfortunate remark (in 1993) that there was 'limited' market data..which caused the reviewer to go ballistic..I was doing a LIMITED appraisal! The horror of it all, and pre-94 such reports were forbidden in a FRT. My co-sig - a CG with 15 yr. experience went ballistic at the reviewer....the knucklehead couldn't differentiate between having a paucity of data and having made a "limited" appraisal. And I assure you my "Summary" reports are far bigger now than my Complete reports were then. The text used, BTW, was lifted from a report prepared by a MAI candidate and when I eventually got a copy of her mentor's work, she had lifted it directly from his reports...

The appraiser regulators are nuts. For a summary there is only a requirement to summarize not dissect the info. and the info can be in your files..if the regulator wants to critique the report in detail, they need the "file" too. As for the language, while doing business in a local bank, a lender came out of his office to tell me that the examiners had been there all week and that they had singled out my work as the best work in the commercial file.....there is a complete disconnect between what the bank regulators want and what the state boards think they want.

 

[Tejus]

The commercial and residential report generation process is the same, just replaced the irrelevant info with the relevant info.

http://appraisersforum.com/commercial-industrial-appraisals/102980-excel-grids.html


imho, every appraisal report that has ever been written can be criticized for something.

 

[CANative]

Only $600 per year to rent the pasture?

 

[Fred]

and knows how to produce a USPAP compliant report.

Without seeing the property, comps, knowing how the subject is linked to demand, relates to its competition, etc.

This topic has come up several times. It could be searched. Some folks like these things. I am with Terry. I have so many templates and tools that I don't see the time savings.

imho, every appraisal report that has ever been written can be criticized for something.

And criticisms vary in degree of reasonableness.

What I know about it comes from John's having demonstrated it to us after class at a cap course.

Never thought of that. I have never had much interest in being an instructor, but if you have a product to sell, it is a good way to reach your target audience and get paid at the same time !

 

[Calvin Cummings]

Do a search

To the Original Poster:

If you'll do a search in this Forum for ValueTech, @Value and Appraiser's Paradise, you'll find a wealth of discussions on these three narrative report generator programs. There are two other main threads where there are several pages on each. ValueTech and @Value are desktop software. Appraiser's Paradise is web-based. After initially trying VT, I am now trying @Value.

Good luck!

Calvin Cummings, MAI
Pasadena, CA