Appraisal Firewall Release Information
for Friday, June 22nd, 2018
Information for Managers
 
Starting Friday, June 22nd, we will release an enhanced version of Appraisal Firewall.  With this release, we will be enhancing our mobile website for appraisers, and adding new features that help create more accurate pricing and improve turn times for your lenders. Read below for complete detail.

To notify your lenders of these enhancements, you can access the private label friendly bulletin here.  You can also notify your appraisers with this bulletin.


  • New Management Setting Requires Purchase Contracts on Purchase Loans
    When appraisers perform an appraisal on a purchase transaction, they typically need access to the purchase contract.  To ensure that lenders are providing this valuable information to appraisers, we are adding the ability to require purchase contracts whenever it is a purchase loan.  This can help prevent delays in the appraisal process by requiring lenders to supply appraisers with the information they need up front.

    How to use this feature:
    Within a division’s General settings, there is a new checkbox labeled ‘Require Attachment on Purchase Loans’.  When enabled, if a user selects ‘Purchase’ as the loan type when placing a new order, they will be required to upload a PDF file to include with the order.
     
  • New Tiered Pricing Based on Sales Price
    We’ve added a new feature that automatically adjusts your clients’ fixed pricing based on the estimated value/sales price of the property. Because a higher priced property may incur an additional fee due to complexity, you and your lenders can now set up a ‘tiered’ price. If a sales price reaches your specified amount, an additional fee is automatically added to the price of the appraisal.

    How to use this feature:
    Tiered pricing can be added within a lender’s fixed pricing window. To access, go to your Relationships window, expand a lender, and select Manage Divisions.  Expand a division, click Edit Settings, then view the Pricing section.  You can set up tiered pricing for a specific area or select All, All to have it applied to all orders.  Within an area, click the new ‘Value Based Pricing’ button.  Enter a property value that should assess an additional fee, and enter the amount.  Whenever the Estimated Value/Sales Price field on the New Order screen is at or above the designated price, the Additional Fee field will be added to the price of the order.

    You can also enter multiple tiers for a location.For instance, your lender can enter a tier for $500,000 and fix a $50 charge for orders with a sales price over that amount, and also enter a tier for $750,000 and add a $100 charge for orders over that amount.
     
  • New Property Classification Enables More Accurate Pricing
    There is a new checkbox available to ensure more accurate pricing for your lenders and provide appraisers with more information up front. In the ‘Property Is’ section of the New Order screen, we have added a new checkbox for ‘Renovation’. Now appraisers can see up front that the property is a renovation and can set an appropriate price. Lenders who use fixed pricing can enter an additional amount for this feature as well, so that whenever the new Renovation checkbox is selected, the additional amount will automatically be added to the cost of order.

    How to use this feature:
    On the New Order screen, in the Property Is section, the new ‘Renovation’ checkbox is automatically available for selection.  If you have lenders who use fixed pricing, they may want to enter an additional amount for this new designation.  In addition, ‘Renovation’ has been added to the Controlled Rotation window.  If your lenders use a controlled rotation, they may want to adjust their appraisers’ settings so they can easily route Renovation orders.
     
  • Loan Number Now Appears on Email Notifications
    We have added the loan number to all email notifications directed to manager and lender users.  This will provide users who may use an LOS or third party management system with an easier and faster way to find their orders.

    How to use this feature:
    All email notifications directed to manager users and lender users (administrators, supervisors, and originators) will automatically include the loan number in the body of the email above the reference number field.
     
  • Commercial Appraiser Coverage Report Now Available
    With the addition of the new commercial coverage we provided for appraisers on our last release, we’re now releasing a commercial coverage report so your lenders can easily view the commercial coverage provided by their appraisers.

    How to use this feature:
    The new report is very similar to the existing Residential Coverage Report. You can view the commercial coverage for any of your lenders’ appraisers by accessing the Reporting tool. Select the lender and division you want to view the commercial coverage for and select the new Commercial Coverage Area report.  When you run the report, the spreadsheet that appears lists the commercial appraisers on the lender’s panel, the areas they cover, and basic appraiser information.
     
  • Property Address Duplicate Check
    We have a new feature to help catch duplicate orders.  Now, if a lender enters a property address on the new order screen that already exists in their account, a new indicator will tell the user the other orders the address is associated with.  Similar to how the current loan number duplicate check works, the duplicate address check should cut down on duplicate orders made in error.

    How to use this feature:
    This enhancement will automatically be available to your lenders whenever they place an order.  On the new order screen, if there is a property address under the lender’s account that matches the one entered, there will be verbiage listed under the City field that reads ‘also on…’  so you can see if there are associated orders or if the new order is being entered in error.
     
  • Appraisal Scorecard Returns Even More Data
    The Appraisal Scorecard has been enhanced to include more data including an overview of the appraisal, and appraiser details.  The new Appraisal Details section shows basic appraisal information including contract price.  The new Appraiser Verification section shows appraiser data returned from the HUD.gov and ASC.gov websites so you can quickly ascertain any problems related to the appraiser’s licensing information.

    Not using the Appraisal Scorecard yet?
    The Appraisal Scorecard has the automated capacity to review appraisals, provide actionable data, recommend next steps to complete the review process, and demonstrate proper due diligence. For more information or to schedule a demo, click here to visit the website, or contact     Danielle.Walker@SharperLending.com.


Mobile site enhancements…
Understanding that appraisers are often out in the field and don’t have access to their computer, we have enhanced our mobile site to give appraisers more features so they can accept orders easier, and keep their lenders updated with the most current information. 
  • Dashboard Enhancements – We’ve enhanced the mobile site main dashboard so that it is easier for appraisers to navigate and faster to search for orders.
  • Send Status – We have added the Send Status feature to our mobile site so appraisers can update the status of the order while in the field.  More than just sending a message, the Send Status feature changes the status of the order depending on what stage the order is in so lenders can get the most accurate information faster. 
  • Change Price – Appraisers can now request price increases and perform price decreases from within the mobile site.  On accepted orders, appraisers can quickly communicate with their lenders and request price changes right from their smartphones.
  • Appraiser Settings – Outdated information need no longer restrict an appraiser from accepting orders while in the field.  If an appraiser is unable to accept an order in the field due to an expired E&O or license, they can now update the expiration date on the mobile site and even upload a current version of their file. Appraisers no longer need to wait to return to the office to update their information and potentially miss the order acceptance window.
  • Commercial Orders – Appraisers can now view, bid on, accept, and work on commercial orders from within the mobile site.
              
In addition to enhancing the mobile site for appraisers, we’ve also enabled the ability for borrowers to be able to view their copy of the appraisal on their mobile device.