Feb 4th GSE requirements

[TerryRohrer]

Spark released a statement on the upcoming Feb 4 date their app will be fully compliant with monthly market data/adjustments and their unlimited fee is now $69/month up from $50.

Who could possibly have predicted that?

 

[alebrewer]

Taking both of George Dell's analytics courses starting next week. First one starts the 22nd. What I find interesting about these courses is that he teaches an introduction to R and R-Studio. I've used Minitab for statistical analysis and haven't ever gotten into R. Looking forward to it. They also count as 28 hours toward MCE as well.

 

[chad hampton]

Doesn’t your local MLS put out data about what the market is doing? I’m certainly not paying anybody $69 a month to tell me if my market is increasing. I’m an expert in my market.

 

[alebrewer]

For me, the biggest value adds for Spark are: mapping all the fields over from MLS so I don't have to type them, and running the prior transfer research, so that I don't miss any priors of the subject or comps. I like they charts they run - looks cool for the clients, but honestly that's just fluff. Anyone that knows Excel could copy and paste charts pretty easily.

 

[The Bob]

For me, the biggest value adds for Spark are: mapping all the fields over from MLS so I don't have to type them, and running the prior transfer research, so that I don't miss any priors of the subject or comps. I like they charts they run - looks cool for the clients, but honestly that's just fluff. Anyone that knows Excel could copy and paste charts pretty easily.

I did that in Excel in one afternoon. It really isn't hard.
Once I had my comps, usually 6-9, I could download and populate my 1004 in easily less than 10 min.

As far as charts go, "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullsh*t"

 

[alebrewer]

I did that in Excel in one afternoon. It really isn't hard.
Once I had my comps, usually 6-9, I could download and populate my 1004 in easily less than 10 min.

As far as charts go, "if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullsh*t"

To each his own. This works for me and the $50/month is pretty nominal (for an appraiser doing 20 files, that's $2.5/file if my math is correct). RE the BS statement - charts provide the users of our services with a quick visual of the data that we've analyzed. I personally don't see it as BS, but I understand if you do.

 

[Non Sequitur]

To each his own. This works for me and the $50/month is pretty nominal (for an appraiser doing 20 files, that's $2.5/file if my math is correct). RE the BS statement - charts provide the users of our services with a quick visual of the data that we've analyzed. I personally don't see it as BS, but I understand if you do.

I agree. I'm seeing posts on FB saying some AMC reviewers are cutting and pasting the chart from Fannie's circular because they want to see something similar in reports now. It's not a hill I will die on, but I do hate the added expense. The same old same old, another useless solution we have to pay for.

 

[alebrewer]

I agree. I'm seeing posts on FB saying some AMC reviewers are cutting and pasting the chart from Fannie's circular because they want to see something similar in reports now. It's not a hill I will die on, but I do hate the added expense. The same old same old, another useless solution we have to pay for.

Yep. Although - for me the $50 a month was/is worth it just helping me not miss prior transfers. Not sure if $70 a month is worth it or not, though... Still cheaper than DataMaster.

 

[Bobby Bucks]

The Bucks Ranch Inc. will be releasing a new app April 1, 2025 called AllAdjustments 2.0. The cost is $68 per month. It will adjust for quality, condition, GLA, parking, location and site size differences with 4 key strokes which takes less than 10 seconds. Since I know most of you socially, social media socially that is, I'm going to give you a manual list for the items not included in the program. Decks, $1,000, porches $2,000, fireplace $1,500. Please don't ask me what happened with AllAdjustments 1.0. The first 50 customers will receive one free get out of USPAP jail free card which can only be used once per licensee per year. We've had 3 members use them successfully thus far, it would be unprofessional for me to name them publicly.

 

[alebrewer]

You're joking, but if nothing else - this new edict has forced a lot of appraisers to dip their toes in the statistics world - and that's a good thing.