Spark vs Quicksource hands free MLS imports?

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Sir, it is just the way the data it is.

View attachment 101882

This house data says it has 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs. What gets imported is 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms above grade. But if you look at the floor plan it is actually three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the house upstairs. The additional bedroom and bathroom are above a detached garage.

View attachment 101883

Importing this listing would say 47 days on market. But it was actually 207 DOM. They just cancelled it and listed it again to reset the DOM.

View attachment 101885

This house would be imported as built in 2024 and 4,063 SF above grade. But if you look at tax records and past listings, then it is 3,183 SF above grade with 800 SF basement. It is also not new construction in 2024. This home was built on top of a 1955 existing foundation. This would also import 11 DOM but if you look at the listing history it is actually 349 DOM.

View attachment 101886

This listing will import 5 driveway spaces. Clearly it is one car garage and one car driveway.

View attachment 101887
This home is listed as 2 levels, 2,688 SF and no basement. But if you look at the back photo it is clearly a one level house with basement.

View attachment 101888

This listing would import 3,660 SF land area but if you look at the survey there are 3 other tiny slivers of land and it is around 4,900 SF.

Also with land area, I notice when it imports small lots it imports land area in acres and converts it to SF. If you have a 1,515 SF lot, it will import 1,307 SF because what it does is convert 0.03 acres to SF instead of the actual SF.




The only items that are consistently reliable for import are the address, MLS number, and sale / contract dates. People that import data and don't look into it any further are reporting incorrect information on a regular basis. Probably every report. It's just the way it is.

Sir, Perfect examples in support of your premise!

I'm also wondering if peers add a brief section of the SCA narrative entitled "Resolution of Comparable Data Discrepancies," which IMO is essentils. Or, for example, a section of the "Site Comments" narrative where discrepancies commonly are addressed, e.g., "The subject lot area of xxxx sf per the Assessor as reported via Realist differs from the area of yyyy sf as determined by this appraiser's manual calculations based uon lot dimensions reported in the subject Plat Map addendum, with the former/latter source being considered more reliable.

The most irritating issue IMO is listing agent reporting of multiple living areas like your example way above. It's totally unacceptable IMO that the MLS listing format does not REQUIRE every listing with any type of supplemental living area, e.g., guest unit, ADU, Bonus/Sunroom, etc., to report the GLA, and the supplemental area, in separate cells, along with the respective bedroom/bathroom count. Yea, AF peers will point out that MLS is an agency medium, but there's absolutely no reason that realtors [with a handful of 6 max monthly listings} cannot be held responsible for EACH n EVERY factor about real property to which an appraiser dealing with 1- to 3-Dozen monthly assignments. [...kinda off topic admittedly but also germane to the contemporay malaise being experienced throughout the fragmented appraisal industry. Come to think of it, I support democracy as well as our President, to whom I will write a personal letter to express our concern, although I sure wish that the AF could collectively create the message that would include links to legislative initiatives that weakened our standing.....and once again, J.F., great supprt for your original post!!!!

 

[Dublin ohio]

Sir, it is just the way the data it is.

View attachment 101882

This house data says it has 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms upstairs. What gets imported is 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms above grade. But if you look at the floor plan it is actually three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the house upstairs. The additional bedroom and bathroom are above a detached garage.

View attachment 101883

Importing this listing would say 47 days on market. But it was actually 207 DOM. They just cancelled it and listed it again to reset the DOM.

View attachment 101885

This house would be imported as built in 2024 and 4,063 SF above grade. But if you look at tax records and past listings, then it is 3,183 SF above grade with 800 SF basement. It is also not new construction in 2024. This home was built on top of a 1955 existing foundation. This would also import 11 DOM but if you look at the listing history it is actually 349 DOM.

View attachment 101886

This listing will import 5 driveway spaces. Clearly it is one car garage and one car driveway.

View attachment 101887
This home is listed as 2 levels, 2,688 SF and no basement. But if you look at the back photo it is clearly a one level house with basement.

View attachment 101888

This listing would import 3,660 SF land area but if you look at the survey there are 3 other tiny slivers of land and it is around 4,900 SF.

Also with land area, I notice when it imports small lots it imports land area in acres and converts it to SF. If you have a 1,515 SF lot, it will import 1,307 SF because what it does is convert 0.03 acres to SF instead of the actual SF.




The only items that are consistently reliable for import are the address, MLS number, and sale / contract dates. People that import data and don't look into it any further are reporting incorrect information on a regular basis. Probably every report. It's just the way it is.

Exactly why I don't use them. No matter how good their mapping is, some MLS outputs just aren't compatible. Our MLS doesn't require a room count and the total br and bath count includes basement rooms. Most of the agents use an auto populate feature that pulls data from Realist which has it's own issues. GLA in Realist can be different than actual above grade GLA depending on what field Realist uses in county records. I have counties that include below grade finished are in total living area and the only way you can find out the above grade GLA is either subject the finished basement area they list from the total or calculate it from the sketch. Like you said "it's just the way it is".

 

[JTip]

If it costs me $500 or more and saves less than 5 minutes, I will stick to pencil and paper.

 

[cpursley]

By the time you have to review the imported data to ensure that its correct, you might as well enter it manually.

Reviewing auto-populated data is an order of magnitude faster than manual entry. Other industries / sectors figured this out a long time ago. The appraisal industry is a laggard. That said, double triple check anything coming from an MLS or out of a realtors mouth.

 

[Tom D]

Used spark from it's beginnings. Helped be more productive not having to manually input the needed data & comps.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Reviewing auto-populated data is an order of magnitude faster than manual entry. Other industries / sectors figured this out a long time ago. The appraisal industry is a laggard. That said, double triple check anything coming from an MLS or out of a realtors mouth.

Hoping to integrate two current AF threads, how do you provide documentation of the auto-population process in the Workfile?

 

[J Grant]

Reviewing auto-populated data is an order of magnitude faster than manual entry. Other industries / sectors figured this out a long time ago. The appraisal industry is a laggard. That said, double triple check anything coming from an MLS or out of a realtors mouth.

Appraisal is not an industry - it is a rather small, highly specialized profession. Other industries or professions may need proofreading of data, but the appraiser is not just proofreading for errors - what they find might cause them to eliminate a comp or do another search, etc. The appaiser is supposed to be thinking and analyzing, not rote typing and clicking software programs to fill in adjustments. If it gets to that point, appraisers eliminate their own profession because a low-paid non-appraiser can poof read populated data and click keys to fill in a software adjustment.

Appraisers need to value their input and charge enough for it, and spend the time needed to get the results they need. Looking to save X minutes here and there in software is not a solution, as many are finding out. Appraisers do not work in high volume capacity like some industries do, a single appraise might do 4-8 orders a week. If a shop or appraiser, for some reason, is working on volume, it might make sense. There are some who just love being high tech for its own sake, which is fine, but feedback seems to be that between entering the comps chosen and then proofreading, not much time is saved. The time entering data is where the appraiser is also thinking and getting familiar with the attributes of that comp.

 

[cpursley]

The appaiser is supposed to be thinking and analyzing, not rote typing and clicking software programs to fill in adjustments.

I'm not talking about making the adjustments or analysis, that's the appraisers job. I'm referring to shuffling data between systems, there's no reason appraisers should be wasting time on double entry - it's a huge time sink which has zero to do with the actual valuation work. And in fact, it's a common way to make mistakes - computers are much better at this sort of thing. Again, I'm not talking about software doing the analysis - but integrating data between disparate sources.

 

[Tom D]

Hoping to integrate two current AF threads, how do you provide documentation of the auto-population process in the Workfile?

I believe your print outs, or pdf's, of the comps used and the subject's public records, MLS, is the documentation of workfile process. I said print outs, which means a paper file until i scan it all for my workfile.

 

[ZZGAMAZZ]

Used spark from it's beginnings. Helped be more productive not having to manually input the needed data & comps.

The Spark "Prior Transfer History" download itsself is worth the $50/monthy fee!!!!!!! On the rare occasion when I'm unable to rely on Spark, I kinda develop an intnse hatred for the appraisal process!!!!!!! However, I'm very curious to figure out whether the ACI "Workbench" platform is designed to replace Spark by auto-populating the new forms. I don't use Synapse yet, although a couple of recent/current AF threads devoted to adjustment software makes me realize that my neandearthal approach to adjustments isn't sufficient.