Lighthouse Software Programs are a rip off

[Fitzi]

Lighthouse for appraisal programs need to be avoid. They up their annual fees for their software program from $1,000 to $4,600/year. The software program is decades old & no longer fit for purpose. Worst if you signed their contract the lowlifes are trying to enforce it & insisting you pay the increase. Any one been hit with the for want of a better word "blackmail"

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

What is lighthouse. Never heard of it

 

[Surf Cat]

From what I can find, it looks like a web-based form filling app....not a lot of info that's for sure. I would never sign a "contract" for a software provider....

 

[Fitzi]

From what I can find, it looks like a web-based form filling app....not a lot of info that's for sure. I would never sign a "contract" for a software provider....

 

[Fitzi]

It’s a report writer program used to be known as Narrative 1. Which sold out some time back. First the price went from $500 to a $1,000 for year or & now this 400% increase. The program is Soviet era software so if you do commercial appraisal get something else

 

[RCA]

I use R generating for generating a good chunk of my reports, and use Adobe and MS programs as well. There is no good reason to use something like Narrative 1 - which I had tried 20 years ago.

I believe it is simply not worth it for companies to invest in developing packaged general-purpose appraisal software like Alamode. Keeping up with the GSE changes, for example, must be expensive, and heading into the AI impact, it is hard to predict ROI for proposed upgrades. Appraisal Software is a bad business to be in, if you ask me.

Of course, special-purpose software such as Argus will likely be around for quite a while.

 

[Raven59]

Lighthouse was an add-on for Total software designed to facilitate electronic delivery. It used a common format delivery conduit for lenders to import appraisal report data. I didn't realize it was still used. Something does not sound right with your scenario.

 

[KHS445]

Lighthouse for appraisal programs need to be avoid. They up their annual fees for their software program from $1,000 to $4,600/year. The software program is decades old & no longer fit for purpose. Worst if you signed their contract the lowlifes are trying to enforce it & insisting you pay the increase. Any one been hit with the for want of a better word "blackmail"

I believe you are referring to Lightbox and what use to be Narrative 1. A guy named Tom Armstrong, an MAI from New Hampshire, developed the original program whereby you put your initial input into a multiple section/page Excel program and then merged it into a Word document to create your report. My former partner and I began using it in its most basic form in the early 90's, and continue to use it to this day.

I too received a renewal notice that was going to increase my annual Lightbox subscription from $1,000 to $4,000. It had gone from $500 to $1,000 several years ago. I reached out to my Lightbox contact and said I was not going to renew and after some back and forth we settled on a 4-year contract and a greatly reduced annual rate. I believe the large increase was just a come-on to get you to agree to a longer-term commitment. The renewal kicks in on 6/1/24.

In doing some quick research regarding Tom Armstrong this morning I discovered he has started a new web-based software appraisal program called StartDeck and based on a brief review it looks to offer everything I need. Unlimited use for a single user, is $59 per month. I have just sent in inquiry in an attempt to find out more information about this program and how to convert.

 

[Fitzi]

Lighthouse for appraisal programs need to be avoid. They up their annual fees for their software program from $1,000 to $4,600/year. The software program is decades old & no longer fit for purpose. Worst if you signed their contract the lowlifes are trying to enforce it & insisting you pay the increase. Any one been hit with the for want of a better word "blackmail"

 

[Fitzi]

I just found a great improvement on Narrative1 which is so dated noone should use it. Tom Armstrong the developer back in the 1990's that's how old the program is. Its called Start Deck. Its a fraction of the cost of Narrative 1. Plus Narrative1 are a poor company which just put up their prices when noone is buying their "Steam Powered" out of date programs.