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Do You Have the Right Stuff?

The Problem
With mortgage rates at record lows and rules and regulations changing, many lenders and AMCs, both large and small, scrambled to recruit and augment their staff to accommodate the volume. Although adding staff can result in increased production, it also adds costs and training time, and the sheer numbers of appraisal orders were almost too much for most organizations to manage promptly—even if they had adequate staffing. Clearly, the staffing approach to managing heavy workloads requires a long-term commitment and has several inherent drawbacks, including additional overhead costs and employee ramp-up time.

However, lenders that embraced scalable workflow technology solutions were unaffected by the sudden surge of refinance volume. While their peers struggled with long turn-times, compliance risk, high appraisal costs and deal fallouts, they thrived. Leveraging a complete appraisal management workflow system, configured with artificial intelligence functionality, saved time, eliminated costly errors, maximized staff performance, and provided a significant competitive advantage for those organizations.

The productivity lift enjoyed by lenders and AMCs who made the transition to a next-generation appraisal management technology were measurable and massive. Unfortunately, many lenders are unaware of their available options when it comes to appraisal technology. Although they have jumped out of the world of filing cabinets, spreadsheets, and email to manage their appraisal process, the latest advancements are a gigantic leap forward in comparison. Traditional appraisal management software that lenders utilize today as either a feature within their LOS, a home-grown application, or an off-the-shelf product are ill-equipped to provide a guaranteed compliant solution that can be instantly configured by the end-user and operate without any human intervention.

Many lenders have no idea how far behind they are on the valuation technology curve and the negative impact it has on their day-to-day operations. Fortunately, these antiquated platforms that plague the industry are easily identified by their symptoms, such as the suspiciously high number of staff required to process appraisals, excessive number of revisions, constant delays, poor communication, and increasing costs.

Lenders that experience these issues typically find themselves rekeying data into their LOS, manually assigning orders and searching for appraisers, mailing appraisals to the borrower, and reviewing 100% of appraisals. They rarely know where their appraisals are in process—showing just how far behind the curve they truly are.

Additionally, lenders that find themselves trapped in the costly pay-and-wait customization cycle with their software vendors for even the most trivial of enhancements have also lagged.

The Solution
What’s needed: a 100% configurable cloud-based appraisal management platform that leverages artificial intelligence, connects with your current LOS, requires limited staff, and is instantly configurable to your company’s needs. EVO™, from Global DMS®, propels the real estate valuation industry into the digital age through a combination of smart automation, plug-and-play integration, and transparent communication.

EVO is a complete, end-to-end valuation management solution that accelerates every aspect of the appraisal process. From the very beginning, EVO provides value by validating the appraiser’s license during the boarding process and monitors them daily to ensure compliance. EVO’s programmable AI can assign orders in the same logical manner a person would, but 24/7, while conducting automated quality reviews, directing all communications, and delivering reports to GSEs, loan officers, and the borrower simultaneously.

EVO’s elegant design offers the maximum staff output, utilizing job specific dashboards to focus users only on relevant tasks, identifying outliers, and monitoring service level agreements (SLAs) based on company policy. The most innovative systems offer sophisticated decisioning algorithms to address multiple vendors for hybrid appraisals and incorporate Fannie and Freddie scoring to streamline workflow and reduce underwriting review times while mitigating compliance risk.

Many lenders struggle with their appraisal management process regardless of their approach, whether that be utilizing Appraisal Management Companies (AMC) or managing an in-house appraisal panel. If lenders find themselves logging on to multiple AMC websites daily and struggle with borrower credit card payments or electronically paying appraisers, one thing is certain—with EVO, they’ll have the right stuff.

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About Author: Vladimir Bien-Aime

Vladimir Bien-Aime is CEO and Co-Founder of Global DMS, the award-winning pioneer of Web-based appraisal process management software and a provider of technologies used across the mortgage process. He is an appraisal compliance expert with specific knowledge of the most current federal, state and local appraisal-related regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Act and new Interagency Guidelines, as well as initiatives such as Uniform Appraisal Dataset and Uniform Collateral Data Portal. For more information, questions, and guidance, lenders can visit GlobalDMS.com/ead-help.
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