We break the appraisal assignment into 2 components:
1 - The development of the valuation itself,
This is where all the research, analysis and conclusions comes in.
2 - The reporting of that process.
This is where we document and explain our process. Report writing, exhibits, documentation, etc.
-----------------------
Of the development side we spend most of that time - by far - on the qualification of the data we're using. Cleaning it up enough to use it in our analysis. Filling in any blanks that our databases aren't reporting, reconciling any discrepancies between the info being reported in these different databases and adding our own judgement as to what we think we're seeing in terms of quantity, quality and condition. Data qualification is the weak spot of *every* valuation model, including the ones we use. This is where that "G" in GIGO gets straightened out.
On the simple assignments we probably spend 90% or more on the task of data qualification. That's the most labor intensive and time consuming part of the development process. The remaining 10% is split about evenly between our research (before we narrow it all down to what we're using) and the analysis (after we've cleaned the data up enough to use it). So if it takes an appraiser (let's say) 7 hours to perform the average SFR appraisal assignment that's close to home, then 4 hours of that is spent on the development. Of that we'll spend maybe 20 minutes in research, 3.1/2 hours on all the field work, and maybe 10-15 minutes on the actual analysis of that data. And believe me when I tell you that a lot of appraisers don't even spend 10 minutes on that analysis function.
On the reporting side we'll do up a diagram and build our photo and map exhibits, transfer the data from our databases and our notes into our report and then we'll get to however much of the writing we're doing to document the whole process.
So the two functions in the entire process that we spend most of our time and effort on are
- Qualifying our data - which big data basically can't help us with very much; and
- Writing the report, which the various data transfer programs that we already have can help us with as far as the mindless data entry function goes.
P.S. =- all those charts and graphs that the techno-soys like to sell? Nobody ever reads them. Not our clients, not our reviewers and really, not even the appraisers who are using them. It's all filler - it adds to the page count the reviewers have to flip past in order to get to what the appraiser thinks. We can put a mask/cape on our dog and call him Batman, but that don't make him Batman.
That portion of the development process that I outlined in red represents the sum total amount of time these analytics can possibly save an appraiser in a typical appraisal assignment. The poindexters cannot clean our data up enough to replace our own data qualification protocols, they can't save us any drive time, they can't save us any inspection or diagram time to speak of, and they can't rate our properties for us for use in our comparisons. All they can do is throw more unqualified data at the problem and rely on the statistical assumptions they're making.
And unfortunately, "more unqualified data" is almost never a reasonable substitute to data qualification.
The tech can speed our reporting writing and documentation process up for us, and that's definitely time/effort well spent; but it can't form our opinions for us or communicate our opinions for us.
