Rob Lentz
Junior Member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Professional Status
- Certified General Appraiser
- State
- Michigan
Hello Forumites.
I have been using Appraisal Studio by United Systems (now Zaio) for residential software for several years. When it first came out I felt it was very good software, but is now IMO not on par with ACI, WinTotal, or ClickForms.
Used to not matter because I didn't do enough residential work to make it cost effective to switch.
The situation has now changed (my residential volume is up and accounts for about half my invoicing) and I'm considering a switch, so I'm looking for your input.
A few years ago I did some vendor management work, and they provided ACI. So I've used that. I liked how you could be writing in the addendum and still view the sales matrix, etc. on like a split screen. I felt, however that the image handling was sub-par and there were other things I did not like either.
Wintotal was offering a free trial, but I didn't really try it out because I don't have the time to create an appraisal that I can't send off to a client. I think it was not a fully un-locked trial period like clickForms offers. I like the idea of being able to see all my comparables at once since I often have 4+ and also a couple of active listings, too.
ClickForms had a full(working) demo that I used to create a report or two last summer and it was OK. Some features I liked...such as the pricing ($50/month), the picture interface (being able to additional text anywhere you want, even ON the picture). On the other hand it seemed to be deficient in the text overflow/canned commentary functions.
My dilemma is that I know I'm not real happy with Appraisal Studio, I know there's better out there. The trial offers expire too quickly to really get a full understanding of a software's strengths and weeknesses, or (in the case of WinTotal) there is no full working trial that would make testing the software also productive in my workload. I don't have time to be counter productive.
So, I am looking for your recommendations. If you've tried more than one software for residential applications, what do you recommend? What do you like about X vs. Y? If it matters, I'm still running XP and not planning to go Vista anytime soon. I'll just upgrade RAM and HD space for the next year or two.
I have been using Appraisal Studio by United Systems (now Zaio) for residential software for several years. When it first came out I felt it was very good software, but is now IMO not on par with ACI, WinTotal, or ClickForms.
Used to not matter because I didn't do enough residential work to make it cost effective to switch.
The situation has now changed (my residential volume is up and accounts for about half my invoicing) and I'm considering a switch, so I'm looking for your input.
A few years ago I did some vendor management work, and they provided ACI. So I've used that. I liked how you could be writing in the addendum and still view the sales matrix, etc. on like a split screen. I felt, however that the image handling was sub-par and there were other things I did not like either.
Wintotal was offering a free trial, but I didn't really try it out because I don't have the time to create an appraisal that I can't send off to a client. I think it was not a fully un-locked trial period like clickForms offers. I like the idea of being able to see all my comparables at once since I often have 4+ and also a couple of active listings, too.
ClickForms had a full(working) demo that I used to create a report or two last summer and it was OK. Some features I liked...such as the pricing ($50/month), the picture interface (being able to additional text anywhere you want, even ON the picture). On the other hand it seemed to be deficient in the text overflow/canned commentary functions.
My dilemma is that I know I'm not real happy with Appraisal Studio, I know there's better out there. The trial offers expire too quickly to really get a full understanding of a software's strengths and weeknesses, or (in the case of WinTotal) there is no full working trial that would make testing the software also productive in my workload. I don't have time to be counter productive.
So, I am looking for your recommendations. If you've tried more than one software for residential applications, what do you recommend? What do you like about X vs. Y? If it matters, I'm still running XP and not planning to go Vista anytime soon. I'll just upgrade RAM and HD space for the next year or two.