Your thoughts on the future of appraiser technology?

[Rich(VT)]

Hi all,

I will soon be teaching some technology stuff in an appraisal course, primarily dealing with ArcView GIS. At the end of the course there will be a short discussion of thoughts concerning the technology future as it relates to appraising.

I am looking for some thought-provoking ideas on future directions that other appraisers can envision as a possibility. Are there trends you can see happening? Trends you wish would happen?

My own thoughts are wide and varying. One of my lenders is always commenting that "it must be nice to ride around and take pictures all day and get paid to do it." That led to one thought: wouldn't it be nice if the assessors office mandated that every property had to have a large data barcode displayed under the address. I could then literally take a picture, have the software read the barcode from the photo & send it off and be paid. 3 snapshots, load and email........

Perhaps that is a little far fetched right now, but 15 years ago I bet less than 1% of us ever even heard of the internet (it's been around since the 60's).

So....what are some of your thoughts, realistic, not so realistic, idealistic, cost effective, time saving, money-making, technologically advanced, better methods, easier, faster.......

Thank you for any comments.

Rich in VT

 

[cgjerdetu]

This is my perspective as a residential appraiser:

Hardware:

Laser measuring devices replacing traditional tapes for indoor and outdoor measurements.

Handheld computers replacing paper and a clipboard. All data entry including the sketch done in the field on a device, maybe as some other appraisers have suggested, more the size of a UPS (United Parcel Service) clipboard rather than the smaller PDA's of today.

Software:

I see the appraiser's role in the future shifting away from data collection to more intensive data analysis.

***THIS IS WHAT I WOULD LOVE TO SEE***

A GIS database that would include all of the sales in an area (MLS and public record information) which then could be called upon to do statistical analysis. Information from the GIS and regression (stats) could be imported directly into a form report.

While GIS is out there right now it takes quite a bit of technical experience to get a good system up and running. I hope at some point a software provider will put all the data layers together and package it at a price affordable for individual appraisers.

Actually nothing in my post is new, maybe more "cutting edge" technology.

Carolyn

 

[Rich(VT)]

Hi Carolyn,

I use ArcView quite a bit, which is a GIS program. One of the cities near me has a GIS department. While they don't have statistical analysis, they do have all the property data incorporated into the GIS data. For instance, I can click on a tax map site and the window will show the current owner, date, price, and deed reference for when the owner purchased the property, room count, GLA, above & below grade, quality grading, etc. It's really handy.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Rich in VT

 

[airphoto]

Although I don't use it .. our MLS now includes mapping of anything in the database ..

 

[wyecoyote]

I like the barcode thought. Take it one more step further have the program such as ACI/Wintotal etc.. be able to pull the subject and sales comparables that are in your database (metroscan or other) right out of there and input it into the appropriate field on the form no longer required to input (comps) site size, sale price, sale date, age, parcel number, strucutre size, bedroom/bath count. This would only work though in disclosure states but that would speed up some time though.

The other possiblity would be as we go more paperless and as digital camcorders become more there the possiblity of simply haveing a "movie" showing the entire house front back and all rooms instead of just pic's. Could burn the movie onto a cd for delivery.

 

[xmrdfghap]

<span style='color:brown'>I do not see anything meaningful happening in the courthouse for several years. First, they do not have the money for the major infrastructure investment needed to really have accurate details on properties. The other half of that is our natural desire for pribvacy coupled with a dislike of taxes. I am not going to report to the courthouse an improvement I an hide.....but I want to be bold about it when I sell the place....physical inspections are going to be required from now on.

I do see technology becoming more and more mobile. I see digital photos turnig into videos of a subject and the comps for workfiles purposes. You are walking through anyway, why not have a video with audio commentary of the entire property?

Data exchange from CH to MLS to appraisal software won't happen until we have one standard for the country.....and the concept of competition will prevent that.

I do see us losing the office as a place to write reports. My vehicle is perfectly equiped to handle all my writing and delivery needs.....why pay rent or use up a basement or bedroom? Large files to be printed are sent to a local copy center where I can have a 15 page report printed for under $3.00 per copy. And if the customer does not accept pdf, there is a $20.00 fee for two copies (including second day postage) with overnight even more. I get my e-mail off the cell phone, I get my orders from the internet fax number, I deliver via the internet/notebook/cellphone.

As wide band cell service becomes more prevalent, and the airtime charges continue to drop (one of my cell phones gets UNLIMITED local calling for $30.00 per month) mobility will become more pronounced. I even have a little cannon portable printer that has an add on board so it will scan. ALL data is scanned, and the entire file (including the mpg walkthrough) is burned to a cd. One cd per report. At the end of the year, all cd's will be zipped and copied to 2002 appraisals vols 1-whatever. I should be able to keep 30 or 40 years worth of appraisals behind the seat of the pickup truck.

As I see the eventual loss of cookie cutter appraisals, I think the small complex appraisal, the commercial buildings, the farms, the forensic appraisals will all be handled this way.....and the cookie cutters will be 2055's or handled by BPO's.

One other thing, I am looking at naturally speaking software for form filling. If it works out, I will create a "voice form" so all data is spoken in proper order and recorded. Then just have the software "listen" to the mpeg. Everything is done except the final adjustments, review and the signature.

It would be nice to drive off, recite the specifics, pull into Sonic for a cuppa, type for 5 minutes, and email the pdf copy to the client .......does a 2 hour turnaround time on a simple res for $300 look possible? I think it does.</span>

 

[jim farrelly]

goodpasture,

that last item about 2 hour turnaround is similar to what mike reilly is trying to sell. he makes it sound like his group already does it

 

[cgjerdetu]

Rich

Was there a steep learining curve with ArcView or were you able to run it pretty easily from a particular file containing your City's data?

Can you search for comps using ArcView?

I would love to graphically search for comps. For example, subject backs to a busy street and just by looking on the map find comps that also back to busy streets and then be able to more easily extract if a location adjustment is warranted.

I'm just impatient. I want all of these things (mobile computing, database & GIS analysis) right now.

Carolyn

 

[Rich(VT)]

Hi Carolyn,

I learned ArcView the hard way--no one to explain how the program works. If you try it on your own plan on a fairly long learning curve. It is a complex program with many capabilities. I would strongly encourage you to contact someone who is familiar with ArcView for some pointers. Most of the regional planning commissions in VT use ArcView, and some are willing to offer a basic quick intro. You may have something similar in your area.

The city of Montpelier has their property tax maps and dwelling data tied together in a file. ArcView files are called "shape" files, I guess because their extension is .shp. If you obtain data in shape file format it is not too difficult to use. The difficulty is more in learning the various things ArcView can do.

For instance, in Vermont all the properties have an E-911 address assigned. I have every single E-911 address on my computer in ArcView, and can easily locate any property in the state. ArcView has database reading capabilities, so you can link fields together by any common field.

If your data has common fields you can link them together for searches. As an example, if you have a street with a numbering system, and a database with sales, you can link the common field (address) together. When you click on a property address, the sales database will produce the common field data. One caveat--database fields have to be specific--if you have an address of 123 Smith Street in ArcView, and 123Smith Street in the database, you won't get a match because of the missing space between 123 & Smith.

ArcView also has geocoding capabilities, so you can plot sales based on desired criteria. I haven't used the geocoding yet and can't really give you much info on it.

If you are computer savvy you might want to go to
http://www.freegis.org/index.en.html
You can download a lot of free stuff here. One of the free programs available is GRASS-Geographic Resource Analysis Support System.

This is a free GIS program. I have not used it as I had ArcView before I knew of this website, so I can't give you any info other than it is free.

ArcView is a pretty expensive program, but it also does a lot. To get a somewhat limited understanding of ArcView you can go to ESRI's website. They have a free program called ArcExplorer. It is analogous to Adobe Acrobat Reader. Then go to
http://www.geographynetwork.com/data/tiger2000/
Here you can download a bunch of census data already in shape format. You have to register, but there is no charge. Download all the census layers for your county. You will get one zip file with a bunch of zip files inside the larger zip file. Each of the mini-zips will contain a "theme" (layer of data). Put them in a folder on your hard drive, open ArcExplorer, and click on the red plus to add layers. Follow the directory tree to wherever you put the data. Some of the themes are roads, some are bodies of water, some are census tracts, etc. Most files have quite a bit of data.

This is probably a lot more rambling than you wanted. Sorry.

Rich in VT

 

[Dan Leggett]

I would love to graphically search for comps. For example, subject backs to a busy street and just by looking on the map find comps that also back to busy streets and then be able to more easily extract if a location adjustment is warranted.

That part of the 'wish list' is already available.
http://www.wca-inc.com/Products/REmp.htm