I got an email about this the other day, and I believe this is where a lot of the appraisal business is going to be in a few years.
http://www.appraisalworld.com/CompCruncher/
(Check out the video and the sample report)
I posted a few weeks ago that I have been in the early stages of trying to develop my own software to use after some frustrations with WinTotal, but I have to admit that Bradford had everything I was thinking of and more. The only drawback is that I was hoping to create something for field use, as opposed to a desktop-type appraisal. However, I think it is only a matter of time before they extend what they have to the field.
I have always thought that a lot of the analysis necessary to perform a good appraisal should be done by (mostly) pre-configured software algorithms, and that appraisers spend too much time form-filling as opposed to determining values. Of course, that is with the caveat that sufficient data exists to analyze -- I know that the oddballs and more rural properties require that local expertise to choose among the few sales to determine a value. But I think this is a great step forward in a lot of ways. I know a lot of appraisers will disagree, and say that all the analysis should be done personally, but I think there are way too many appraisers out there who don't take the time or probably don't have the knowledge to do it right, and they are hurting both the profession as well as buyers/banks/clients. But they are probably working for $195, so they will keep getting the business.
If the analysis of a specific market area (that the appraiser could choose, but would also be available for a reviewer to see and agree or disagree with) were run through a standardized analysis that was built on best practices, and spit out this kind of data (see the sample report), I think to a large extent it FORCES appraisers to use the best comps and would eliminate a lot of potential fraud.
Additionally, it automatically performs a lot more complex analysis than I think any appraiser could be reasonably expected to do, and provides some easy to read charts and graphs that provide additional graphical support to the value.
What do you think?
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