USPAP True Copy

[Brian Weaver]

This is a variation of the debate we had over the AI Ready format a few years back.


The term "true copy" is not among the defined terms in USPAP, but "Report" is.

"REPORT: Any communication, written or oral, of an appraisal, appraisal review, or appraisal consulting service that is transmitted to the client upon completion of an assignment."

The above definition doesn't say anything about any limitations on the number or types of reports that can be issued per assignment. I don't see any reason why an appraiser couldn't issue an oral report, hardcopy report, pdf report or a report in any other electronic file format for the same assignment. Likewise I don't see anything in USPAP that indicates that any of those versions is more or less valid than the others. The appraiser's responsibility in an assignment isn't limited to one report, but to all reports they prepare.

The Record Keeping section of the ETHICS RULE requires appraisers to retain a copy of all reports they send out. If you generate an XML version of your appraisal report and transmit it to your client I suppose you would have to keep a copy of that file as well as retaining access to the software that runs it.

OTOH, if a third party generates a "version" of your appraisal report and sends that off I don't see anything in the Record Keeping section that would require you to keep that. If you didn't generate it then it isn't your report; it's just a copy, facsimile or version of your report. If someone has a problem with a copy of your report prepared by someone else I think your liability would be limited to whatever it is you actually did - they'd come back to whatever you prepared and sent to your client.

true copies of any written reports, documented on any type of media (A true copy is a replica of the report transmitted to the client. A photocopy or an electronic copy of the entire signed report transmitted to the client satisfies the requirement of a true copy.

 

[Couch Potato]

true copies of any written reports, documented on any type of media (A true copy is a replica of the report transmitted to the client. A photocopy or an electronic copy of the entire signed report transmitted to the client satisfies the requirement of a true copy.

I would love to see a photocopy of an XML file.

 

[ReviewGuy]

Im glad you got a laugh tater ... my question was serious ... we have not a single hard drive that works from 8 years ago but yet we have paper files that are nearly 35 years old, still in tact, you can still read the file, etc..

I suppose your office has never had a server or hard drive failure? Count yourself lucky.

I worked paperless for a couple years before becoming an in-house reviewer. I was 100% paperless using double computer screens, Microsoft OneNote/Adobe/Scanner and have triple redunant storage for all my old stuff. Internal hard drive on my computer, external hard drive stored in a high grade fire/water safe and also an online back-up system (Mozy, very afordable). We work and store everything 100% paperless at my current employer.

So yes, it can be done, is very efficient, cost effective and 100% safe if you have offsite-online storage as part of your redundancy. When I ran my own shop we saved TONS of money, time, and effort working paperlessly. No worries about how much data I was printing for my work files, because it never was printed on paper. I highly recommend it!!!

 

[Peter LeQuire]

The shiny ones are good for keeping birds out of the garden.

And they look good on Christmas trees!

 

[VolcanoLvr]

Back to the original post....

I believe in the UAD material F/F refers to a 'first generation PDF' that is transmitted along with the MISMO XML data file. This is the actual completed and signed original report PDF that is created by the appraiser just before the report is sent to the client.

Currently, F/F do not receive actual appraisal reports from anyone.

With the UAD, F/F will receive the MISMO data file containing all the data points from the report form(s) that they require.......PLUS.....the first generation PDF of the report. This is so they can compare the two if necessary for fraud detection purposes.

And by the way....sending reports via the current Appraisal Port process (that disassembles reports) is probably not compliant with the UAD process. Only MISMO XML & first generation PDF is acceptable. That will be done within the appraisal report software when reports are uploaded to the client.