RealQuest data source?

[Geoff Hatcher]

Hi,

Working on some retrospective reviews. The appraisal cites REALQUEST/MLS as the data source for the rental and sales comparables. The rental comparables or sales comparables were not through MLS.

I am not familiar with the level of verification and property information available through RealQuest. It is a division of First American RES. Our MLS uses Realist, which is basically public record, and not an adequate source to fully verifiy sales. I would assume that RealQuest is the same. Does anyone know if RealQuest has comparable rental information, or verified sales information? Or is it just basic public record information?

 

[G-man]

Realquest.

This service, which I use in addition to MLS info, relies on public record information from the various auditors in Ohio. It is a nationwide service, which makes it almost useless in Michigan, where I'm also licensed.

 

[Geoff Hatcher]

That's what I thought, public record data only. Wanted to check with someone who knew before I comment in the review. Thanks

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

In Arizona there is a problem with the assessor's information that RealQuest reports. When there are multiple improvements on an assessor's parcel number RealQuest lumps all of them together and reports the total square footage as one improvement. For example a parcel with a 1,200 square foot house, a 400 square foot garage, a 600 square foot workshop and a 500 square foot barn would be reported in RealQuest as a 2,700 square foot house. RealQuest would show five record cards, only the first one with the total of all improvements can be opened. The remaining four record cards (which are each individual improvement) are in a pale blue and cannot be accessed. I have had Win2Data for about three years and all five record cards there can be accessed. I had a trial subscription of RealQuest for about three weeks and decided against it for that reason.

 

[G-man]

I've noticed that too.

Realquest has a way of inflating the GLA of homes so as it is impossible to research comparable sales bracketing the living area of homes. I don't use Realquest that much for comping sales, typically I use MLS and that gets the job done & I prefer it as I can use it and the auditors records, at least in Ohio. The auditors offices in the counties that I work in are all on-line and are fairly accurate in terms of GLA and such. Michigan is another matter, but I find work-arounds that get the job done.

 

[Restrain]

It all depends on the public records that RealQuest accesses. For example, in some areas, only the first floor is picked up. In some, it picks up all above-grade LA as well as the basement.

As far as basic pricing and apples to apples comparisons, it's not bad. Not as good as MLS....but again my wife just caught a MLS sheet that appears to be fraudulent. As they used to say on TV, just be careful out there.

 

[Geoff Hatcher]

The main point of the question was, that the appraisal cites were MLS and RealQuest.
None of these sales sold through MLS. Realquest is a provider of public records. Public records data alone is not an adequate data source, because it does not provide any information about market exposure, circumstances surrounding the sale, sales concessions, property condition at time of sale, interior updating or additional features. This critical information can be obtained by a reliable party to the transaction, which could be the buyer, seller or an agent involved in the transaction. There is no commentary in the appraisal to suggest this verification was completed. Without verification of this essential information, the adjustment applied to these sales are speculative, leading to an unreliable opinion of market value. In this particular instance, the review further questions the reliability of the appraisal sales, as the adjusted sales prices of these sales are atypically high when compared to other similar sales that did transfer through the MLS during the same marketing period.

As I was not familiar with RealQuest, I just wanted to verify there was not some magical verification source. I did call Realquest and confirmed what their data is comprised of.

 

[Jo Ann Meyer Stratton]

RealQuest and all other private reporting services attempt to report what is recorded or posted in county or city, etc records. However they are not "public records". Public records are the actual records in those government offices. If the property was sold by owner, and the source was a private reporting service like RealQuest, DataQuick, etc, etc it needs to verified in the actual public record--county recorder or auditor or whatever the office with the recorded deeds is called. Then for a second verification the appraiser needs talk to either the buyer or seller or both for condition, room count and anything else they are willing to tell you. You might even find an expired or cancelled or withdrawn listing and can also talk to that agent that had it listed at that time. Verify, verify, verify does not just mean reading computer printouts.

 

[Lobo Fan]

RealQuest is highly inaccurate in my area. They source much of their data from the title companies they own as well as public records. Here, they use the sales prices as the mortgage value and then add 20-25% to each one. I have had numerous LO's crying at me because realQuest has inflated the value of the comps.

Another one, owned by FNC (the parent of Appraisal Port), called Collateral DNA is another doozie. I tried on a trial basis and found it to be inaccurate as well. I pulled data for a subject property. It showed three different legals, three different owners, and none of them were correct.

 

[AppraizinAZ]

I have found accurate closed sales on RealQuest before it was recorded in assessors records, I've found more misinformatin on MLS than RealQuest.