I’ve been getting questions from real estate agents on the UAD changes that took place on September 1, 2011. In a nutshell, Fannie Mae changed their appraisal forms for loans, so appraisers now have over 60 new specific requirements to fill out the Fannie Mae forms. I know this isn’t life changing stuff, but for those that might care, here are some observations about the Uniform Appraisal Dataset format:
1) Not a Big Deal: Overall the UAD is not that big of a deal in my mind, but I do feel micro managed in how I fill out the Fannie Mae forms.
2) Some Good Stuff: I do like the location, condition and quality of construction ratings and fields. I don’t even mind bathrooms being listed as “2.2” for instance if there are two full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. While codes such as “C3″ or “Q4″ or “A;BsyRd;Res” are confusing to home owners, they make sense for the UAD and I can live with that. Thankfully I do not have to use the UAD format for the private appraisals I do.
3) Some Annoyances: I’m not a fan of the options available for listing the date of sale. Whereas I could previously enter the date of sale as “08/27/2011”, now I can only use “08/2011”. I think being as specific as possible is powerful when analyzing data. Most annoyances for me have really had to do with getting used to the UAD software.
4) More Time: It tends to take a bit longer to fill out the appraisal form, though it’s all about finding a rhythm when change happen. Over these next months most of the extra time spent will hopefully be absorbed. Change is regular in business, right?
5) Increase Uniformity but Not Quality: This format will produce more “uniformity” in how appraisal forms are filled out (for loans only), but it won’t produce a better quality for appraisal reports. Quality is all about proper comparison, proper adjustments and really understanding the market. A form can be filled out perfectly according to UAD standards, but still lack quality.
6) Other non-UAD Business: I continue to pursue other types of appraisal business and I’m grateful for regular appraisals for bankruptcy, estate settlement, pre-listing, tax appeal and divorce. I frequently work with home owners, real estate agents and investors in private situations, and I’m extremely thankful for these avenues of business.
Let me know if you have any questions or insight.
If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.
Are you having software problems? ACI has been awful for me.
Tim, I would say yes. I also use ACI and it’s been crashing quite a bit over these past few months. It’s frustrating to lose data or paragraphs written. I’ve been more manic about hitting the save button, but I don’t always remember to do that every two minutes (nor should I have to ideally, right?). I wonder what is going wrong. I’ve been so busy I have not made time to give them a call yet.
I’m sure glad to hear you guys are having challenges with ACI, my finger is glued to the save button. The constant crashing is driving me crazy.
I agree that it doesn’t actually take that much more time for the UAD, but if you look at how long it takes to complete a report compared to 3-4 years ago-hours!
ACI, are you listening? I sure hope they solve this. I’m glad to know I’m not alone, but it’s discouraging considering the software fees including sketches are about $500 per year.
We might as well turn this into a soapbox. When you think of the thousands and thousands of dollars I’ve spent with them over the past 14 years at least I would get a return call. The last issue I had, I left three messages with no return call-driving me nuts. I would switch but I have seven licenses, which I don’t want to give up. But if this keeps up I might have to look into another software company!
Thanks Ryan! I feel much better, have a great weekend!
I’m glad my blog is offering therapy today. 🙂 Business is all about providing a good product and excellent customer service. When that doesn’t happen, then people leave.
Touché!
Ryan, I agree with #5. Sorry you are having problems with ACI, I use SFREP and it seems to be doing fine. I recommend that software for its simplicity.
Thanks for the tip, Tom. I appreciate that so much.
Hi Ryan, Do you remember when I talked with you in mid August about UAD and you told me to write back once I knew more? I myself use Alamode for my appraisals and UAD was so daunting and frustrating because it changed just enough to be irritating. My brilliant husband has created a new auto automation excel supercharged spreadsheet that takes all my Corelogic public records plus cross referencing my MLS data and auto populates it right into my software. It is saving me so much time when pulling comps and writing up final reports–all in UAD format. My husband is considering selling the service to other appraisers, but we are not quite sure yet about pricing. If any appraiser reading this is on Alamode, I’d really like to have a conversation with you about what price per report would you consider to be a bargain. The spreadsheet saves about 2 hours worth of inputting for me on every report and cross references errors between public records and MLS, plus does all my adjustments. If anyone wants to be a guinnea pig and see what you think about my husband’s spreadsheet, I’m up to seeing what you think of it, but it has to be Alamode software because that is the only software it works on now. –Sonja
That sounds interesting, Sonja. Let’s see if any Alamode users take you up on the offer. Thanks for the tip.
ACI has been better this week…anybody else notice that?
That’s good to hear. I upgraded this morning to the newest version and so far it has not crashed yet. ACI Track is still not working properly though.