Using Spreadsheets in Residential Appraising

[Hank Outlaw]

I posed a similar question with limited response, so I thought I'd try again...

Is anyone utilizing a spreadsheet program like Excel in their residential business, and if so, would you mind sharing your ideas?

I received a response or two from a prior inquiry, where someone had custom MLS displays created. I suppose that would work and then the data could be downloaded into Excel for analysis.

I'm looking for a better way to view the sales being considered for comps in a grid vs. the MLS displays or the URAR, i.e., spreadsheet format on a wider screen in an effort to extract adjustments and select the most appropriate sales data.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Kind regards,

Hank O.

 

[Smokey Bear]

Denis shared a spreadsheet with me some years ago, we both worked on it and sent it back and forth for improvements and changes. Basically, you'd run a 2 year search in your market area, dump the data in, and it would populate graphs that would show how the market was behaving. It was very cool.

Now, it's been a while since I used it, and I can't remember how I made it work. Also, I took Anthony Young's class on spreadsheets for market analysis - he introduced us to pivot tables, and they made everything so much easier than what Denis and I were doing. If you ever see him listed to teach a course in your area, GO!

The spreadsheets are great - I had one very annoyed mortgage broker back in early 2006 who yelled "there's no way that value went down 10% in 6 months". I just smiled, and said sweetly "It didn't. If you look at the chart on page 4 of the addendum, you'll see that it did all that in only 90 days". He was speechless, just how I like them.

 

[alex gilbert]

I will, on occasion, use Excel to graph sales comparing price per sf vs coe. In fact, I just did one today. I can also recommend the A.I. Residential Application course taught by Jim Atwood. I just took this and will be using some of the Excel techniques presented in that class as soon as I can master pivot tables.

 

[conwayblue]

I love Excel's Highlight Duplicates tool. I use it quite frequently to calculate resale price changes.

 

[Tejus]

After evaluating the commercially available appraisal sw packages long ago (http://appraisersforum.com/showthread.php?t=71254), I chose to create my entire appraisal sw system on excel.

After 9 years, still going strong. I've had everything to support my business in a tightly integrated package for years. Search the forum for details. Life's been good, have saved boo koo dinero.

I'm currently planning upgrading to Windows 7 or 8, ms 2010 and new Sandy Bridge quad core based pc's. I've been waiting for an acceptable XP replacement and hw platform. My goal is to drop 20% of my customized excel extensions and increase my functionality during the upgrade. My ultimate goal is drop all my sw extensions and have all the functionality available. I'm going in the opposite direction of many sw companies, but to each their own.

buene suerte.

 

[Joe-NC]

I have a sales comparison grid in Excel just like the grid in the 1004, except I can see 8 comps side by side at once. I find the best 8 comps in MLS, dump that data into the spreadsheet and BAM! ...8 automatically adjusted comps showing net & gross percentages, average adjusted value, and standard deviation. I pick my best 3 and re-type them into the report.

I also download all sales in the neighborhood and dump them into a spreadsheet that automatically spits out the predominant values and ages.

I have another spreadsheet that runs the 1004MC and in the same process, gives me the top of page 2 (comp sales & listings with their price ranges).

 

[Leon Marcus]

Anthony Young put together a great dvd that has everything you need to do this. http://www.graphthetrend.net/Order_your_How-to_Video.html
it is very good!

 

[Gregory Beck]

I use excel spread sheets everyday to do my 1004mc I have a macro that does all the numbers I can do a 1004mc in 5 minutes.

 

[dbiggers]

If you're Excel junkies and use our WinTOTAL Aurora form filler, you should check out the Excel integration built into it. You can push data directly from any Excel spreadsheet into any field on the form using a simple cell-linking interface. Load the spreadsheet into Aurora, click the field that you want to push the data to (or vice-versa, the field you want the spreadsheet to pull data from) and then click the appropriate to/from link button. Do that one time for any template you configure, and then it'll do it automatically next time for that spreadsheet. We have people doing really, really complex analysis in Excel and then shoving that data into the report in a split second using the linking.

Like Alan, long ago we actually had a product written in Excel that did the entire appraisal report. We've been Excel junkies for a long, long time and actually worked closely with Microsoft on the very first few editions of Excel, after they invited us out to Seattle after seeing our work (and the product manager's dad was an appraiser -- funny).

Try it, and get ready for the next generation of Excel linking in our Spectrum platform. It's much better than even what you see in Aurora now.

 

[Sid Holderly]

cut&Paste Spreadsheet

Of the 2 MLS systems I work with both can be ported to a spreadsheet. In one I can just cut and paste the MLS spreadsheet listings or export to my blank spreadsheet and then manipulate them to get the data fields I want together for analysis. In the other it has to be exported to the spreadsheet. Both systems (MLS) can have custom listing displays and I have made custom displays in the MLS for my use by getting the usable fields, for an appraiser, to display. There are some fixed fields and field inputs that make direct combining of the two MLS's data difficult for those cross county comp searches.

A good search is x% to x% either side of the subject in living area, lot size, age, waterfront, etc. depending on the quantity of available comps. And then searching that group back 1,2 3 or ?? years.

The data is generally used to support longer term market trends for specific types of property (rural, lake, etc) for which the MC form has insufficient data to show trends. It is also possible to show REO discount rates for the property type.