Is there a helpful report writing software for commercial appraisers? Clickforms, Alamode, etc?

[Scott.A]

I used N1 quite a bit. It can be very frustrating when all of the required links don't work exactly the way they are supposed to. Datappraise was lacking when I evaluated it a few years ago. I've seen RealQuantum demo'd a couple of times, and that's probably the one out of the three that impresses me the most.

 

[KHS445]

I used N1 quite a bit. It can be very frustrating when all of the required links don't work exactly the way they are supposed to. Datappraise was lacking when I evaluated it a few years ago. I've seen RealQuantum demo'd a couple of times, and that's probably the one out of the three that impresses me the most.

Scott,
I agree. The last few updates have created situations where certain inputs in Excel do not transfer correctly to Word. I have started to make notes and will be sending them to N1. Like you this is why I will be looking at other options within the next month or so.

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

This is an interesting string. We started using macros in late 1980 with Wordperfect. The problem then and today is settings and insertions are off and you have to go into the document and correct the placement. Honestly, I type 120 words a minute and can pound out two or three sentences in the time it takes to correct the placement. I have never found these insertions, spread throughout the document any faster. You still have to place them in to start.

No argument that having all spreadsheets and charts in excel format set for insertion is great, but I have seen many of these comp pre-downloads from various data systems and I am not impressed. There is always missing data from one source available from another and it seems faster just to hand insert having excel doing all the math for you. Further, inserting the actual comp data, when examining all of the various source materials gives me a great feel for the data when it comes time to adjust it to the subject. Bar speaking with the broker, even the most simple apartment assignment in Chicago has at least three sources, the MLS, the recorder's data or PTAX 203 (as confirmation and the type of sale) and the assessor's data for further physical details left off by the broker. In other areas, there can be up to six to ten sources. Maybe I put too much into the comps but I do not see autofill as a very reliable source or alternative and if you are using CoStar and can almost always grantee I will have better data in most Great Lake States. So while it may expedite some aspects it's cost and reliability are actually not a good value.

I have done them all and still find getting a similar property template and inserting excel charts is the fastest way to complete a report. I can generally do a 50 to 80 page summary in 2-days (after research) maybe 3 if there are complex issues. This includes land value, sales, and income capitalization approaches. I proofread it carefully when completed and rarely (if ever) have leftover information from past reports. I will race anyone who thinks there is something out there having an advantage, but the winner will be judged on quality (including that of the data) and completion time. I believe both are important to the final product, not simply turning the report over.

Here is what slows me down. Addendum inserting and labeling and map-making. I am very interested in how others complete these aspects or if any of these software's help in this arena.

 

[Deleted member 152047]

Good software allows you to make better use of your time. I am not going to try to convince everyone that it may be faster for them as that is likely not the case. One man shops might never reuse a comp, so the database feature has no value for them. The three most significant time savers of report writing software (IMO) are: the database, the excel and word linking, and the exhibit generation.

I have a trainee and researcher that do all the tedious comp entry and we regularly reuse our comparable sales given the specialized nature of my work. This allows me to leverage my time and focus on the most important part of the appraisal process; the analysis. Good software will make all your maps, import all your sales and lease comps, and link your excel with your word doc seamlessly.

I would guess that our software allows us to be about 8-10x more productive, but there is a system to achieve those efficiencies that a one man shop cannot replicate.

 

[Stephen J. Vertin MAI]

Good software allows you to make better use of your time.

I sincerely believe you. As with many things in our business, the answer is "it depends". In 2017, 2018 and part of 2019 the bulk of my business has been in anaerobic methane digester systems and other symbiotic property types where the value provided is for the real estate, MTS, and the MVTAB. While you could build a template I am not sure how helpful it would be.

Further, I am sure there have been improvements as with many of these products. I like what you are saying about auto mapping. Another feature I would love to have and often thought of building is an excel adjustment chart where if, for example, a negative adjustment was made (in the chart) for building size, it would automatically translate the negative into text, i.e., "The subject has zzz square feet while the comparable has yyy. Commonly downward adjustments are required for building size" simply by placing a negative sign in the excel spreadsheet. I am sure this exists somewhere now. I would use this in every report. Since it is only one feature it would most likely be best to build on my own.

But, who has time to make money, I am too busy working

 

[Digit4lAppraising]

I've been using realquantum for the last year, and had previously used N1 or some other excel/word mail merge for 12 years. Realquantum's biggest strength is in maintaining expenses, cost comparables, detailed sales, and standardizing calculations (that were previously formulas in excel). It calculates level payment equivalent of lease payments, below market rents, etc. From a reporting stand point it generates clean looking PDF's in an industry standard format. They are currently building out the functionality to print sales and additional search/analysis features, that I'm looking forward to. I guess the biggest thing for me is that new features are being rolled out every couple months and that they have a good team of programmers and appraisers working on solving the unique appraisal reporting problems (before and after techniques, retrospective dates, two sales comparison approaches)

 

[pbidwell]

I have been a long time Narrative1 user and have contemplated using other software products. At this point, I am staying put with N1. To any other N1 user, the only issue I seem to have is no matter what I do the SalesGrid does not paste into my Word document as a field. It always pastes as a static image. So, if I do the standard Fields and Tables update it does not update. I have to manually enter it. This is really the only issue I have been having with Narrative 1. Can any other N1 user tell me if they are having the same issue?

Overall, the greatest use of any software for commercial writing is the lack of duplication errors. If there is an edit of a particular repeated field, once you run the update fields and tables routine all the changes will be done with no chance of a mismatch. That certainly saves an embarrassing mistake with your Client or reviewer.

 

[cpalub01]

I always presumed N1 pasted all excel grabs as static images in the Word doc whether you used the merge fields in tables or manually updated a specific field. I used N1 for about 5 years. It was fine, and I appreciated the excel templates for inputs, but I spent a large amount of time blowing out fields and writing over a lot of the word template for each individual report. To the point that I wondered if I was really saving any time. Further, when the database switched over to being web based, I found it became terribly cumbersome. Maybe it's evolved further since I stopped using it around 2015. Now that I work for the state, I use approved forms for eminent domain work which are 100% manual.

 

[GregoryK]

What I have found, writing the report is not so time-consuming. Its writing and confirming the comps that take the lions share of the time. I've been using Datappraise for about 7 - years now. I like the flexibility it provides. Like Terrell mentioned, you can save parts or sections and insert on the fly. Zoning, regional, or neighborhood descriptions, market analysis, I save from every report to the database. You can set a template up like this:

Comparable Sale 1 is located at { CompField_IS_1_Address }. { CompField_IS_1_LocationDesc } This location is { LOWERCASE_Comp_Adj_Sale_1_Adjustment_5_Qualitative } to the subject and a { LOWERCASE_Comp_Adj_Sale_1_Adjustment_5_Percent } adjustment will be applied.

and when you merge the data, it looks like this:

Comparable Sale 1 is located at the property is located in the northwestern part of Lafayette, in a transitional area, where primary development is single-family residences. To the north of the property is undeveloped, agricultural land.. and just to the west are several commercial structures operating as a feed store, a garden center, and a towing business among others. The residential properties were built in the 1960s and have an average age of 55 years. The size ranges from 900 SF up to 2,072 SF of GLA, with an average size of,304 SF. The average sales price is $111,668, with a median price of $88,000. The median household income for Census Tract 9703 Block Group 3 is $35,507. This location is inferior to the subject and an upward adjustment of $6.17, or 5.0% was applied.

I find new ways to use it all the time. I often include a table comparing the Subject GBA to the Comps, or age, for instance. Then the adjustment is pulled from the excel workbook in the next column, or maybe a qualitative comment such as superior, inferior or similar, based on the adjustment made in the corresponding workbook.

I also can generate a quote or bid, then if accepted general an agreement, and populate the same information into the appraisal document, only typing it once, when making the bid. Add Office 365 and its auto-text and building blocks, and assembly is fairly painless. Setting up the workbooks is a little complicated at first. But soon, my templates will pull labor stats from the Department of Labor, and Demographics from the Census Bureau, Fed Reserve data, and Dept of Commerce data in the background using Excel's data connection feature they have added to Office 365. Still have a few bugs to work through there but I am close.

But best of all, you can import Costar, or MLS data into the database, easily. So quarterly, I can dump the MLS sales and leases in, and when needed, do the proper research to flesh out the information.

 

[GregoryK]

I always presumed N1 pasted all excel grabs as static images in the Word doc whether you used the merge fields in tables or manually updated a specific field. I used N1 for about 5 years. It was fine, and I appreciated the excel templates for inputs, but I spent a large amount of time blowing out fields and writing over a lot of the word template for each individual report. To the point that I wondered if I was really saving any time. Further, when the database switched over to being web based, I found it became terribly cumbersome. Maybe it's evolved further since I stopped using it around 2015. Now that I work for the state, I use approved forms for eminent domain work which are 100% manual.

I work for TN DOT, and have added several of our appraisal forms as templates into Datappraise. Before, I was at OR Colan, and did so for Ohio DOT and AR, for instance.