COMP SEARCHES

"Comp Searches" are one of the most controversial issues between lending professionals and appraisers.

The rub comes when the lending professional wants to know what a potential value for a home is, before the client's money is spent. Sort of a "Pre-Qual" for the house. This is a reasonable request and is very common. If an appraiser does this and sends even a range of value for a particular property, then the appraiser, under state and federal law, has completed an appraisal and must comply with the various aspects of USPAP.

The rub continues, in that you, as the lending professional, most of the time, don't understand or care about USPAP or state and federal requirements for appraisers. You shouldn't have to!

The rub continues yet even more, in that compliance with USPAP in a comp rearch scenario costs us time and money, for which we want a return on.

We have a solution....The "Phased Appraisal".

A "phased" appraisal is where we report our analysis to you, the lending professional, in stages.

For example:

1. You place the order and we accept it. Make sure you indicate on the order that you want a preliminary data sesarch completed before the appointment is set.
2. We run data, based on public records info on the subject and compare it to sales on MLS.
3. We then report to you our findings. At that point, you can approve further investigation and analysis or you can cancel the assignment, based on our findings. This is essentially, the "Comp Search" portion of the assignment.
4. With your approval, we will set the appointment and inspect the subject and comparables.
5. We then report to you our findings. At that point, you can again, approve further investigation and analysis or you can cancel the assignment, based on our findings. The beauty of this is that at this point, an inspection has been completed and now you and the borrower know that no stone has been left un-turned in getting the most accurate value for the subject.
6. With your approval, we will complete the appraisal and deliver it to you. If you elect to cancel the assignment, based on our findings AFTER the inspection is completed, half of the appraisal fee will be refunded to the borrower.

 What do you, the lending professional, get out of a "Phased" order?

• You get the comfort and knowledge that your "Comp Search" has been completed in a USPAP compliant manner, by a company that cares enough and is professional enough to do so.
• You get accurate results.
• You have the knowledge that no stone has been left un-turned and that every effort is made to obtain the most accurate results for you.
• You get to control the process.

To order a "Comp Search", just click on "Order an Appraisal" on the top of the row of blue buttons on your left. Log into your account and order an appraisal on the property as usual. In the comments section of the order, please indicate that you want a "Comp Search".

You will be contacted with preliminary results before the borrower is contacted.

If you don't have an account with us, send an email to info@goapple.com and we will set it up, or you can set it up yourseld, by completing "Option 2" on the ordering page.

If you have any questions about this process, feel free to contact us.