Lighthouse software

[Jeff Horton]

Isn't Lighthouse one of the softwares that is used for data mining out comps into their databases?

 

[Bobby Bucks]

Jeff..."Litehaus" is the strip mining outfit in the data mining field.....they remove the appraiser and keep the data....with Countrywide you do NOT have to use "Litehaus" no matter what they tell you, they accept PDF......same thing goes for Chessypeek....... Hells Bells/ValueNot will not accept PDF unless they changed recently..... I tend to ignore them anyway.......I made the mistake 3 years ago of signing up for "Litehaus".....it's expensive, a pain to use and sometimes leaves out pages.....I can remember a report once that left out my sketch, location map and flood map.....naturally the phone monkey techie with the AMC blamed my software for the problem......it seems to be unforgiveable to criticize "Litehaus"....... I've found PDF to be less filling and much more satsifying.

 

[Frederick R. Ruffell]

Bobby,
The same problem exists with the FNC Envelope Uploader that is used to deliver AIRD formatted reports to Appraisalport. Here is my disclaimer for reports delivered using the FNC Envelope Uploader.

APPRAISAL REPORT VALIDITY: This report must be reviewed in its entirety, including all addenda and attachments in order to be properly understood by the reader (there are 13 pages total). The client has requested that this report be delivered using FNC Envelope Uploader and Appraisalport. This software and delivery system is known to the appraiser to be flawed and does not deliver the complete report. The complete report is available from the appraiser by request either in PDF format or a "hard copy".

 

[Mark Correnti]

I think since ACI's bankruptcy filing last year most AMC's were proactive in accepting other forms of EDI. Lighthouse was easy for the AMC to use because it allowed computer servers to run client specific rule sets. This allows players like LSI to QC thousands of reports a day, most without a human eye reviewing them.
Since the parent company is in question, most now accept Adobe PDF's. I've heard that the only concern here is that the file security is not as tight as IT managers would like it to be.
The only data farmer program out there that I know of is Day One's AI ready Nova program. (Talking about sticking to your users, way to go D1.)
I've tried to stay away from programs that allow data mining but it's really useless Jeff. Ever notice the bottom of the third page of a 2055? It has the most salient features of the subject property itemized. Loan closes, the appraisal data gets harvested into Fannie/Frieddie's data bank and after a while a metropolitan area has anough data for a reliable model to be developed.
I've been told by a lender that they enter the estimate of value and if it falls within FNMA's predominant value the appraisal is waived. If it's slightly outside the range a driveby will be done. If the area has little or no data, a traditional appraisal will be done. (of course the prerequisite is a strong credit score and income to repay the loan). As an appraiser in New Hampshire I've seen little from this lender in the cities and am getting more and more out in the lower population density areas. I'll always make a living but it was the city appraisals that had the best margins for me because they were easy.
My peers say I'm an evil pessimist for thinking this but to me it's the only way to change the tide. We need another repeat of the early 90's to jerk snap lenders bank into prudent lending. Once they start taking losses on these AVM's either by policy change or congressional hearings they will require better quality value services by an unbaised professional.