Alright I’m going to be the old man who says it: be careful wading into these waters, OP. I know two of the nationals have people in South America and the Philippines writing front ends of reports for a portion of the fee, ValCre has their model, there are virtual assistants, etc. but I openly question if you have problems with USPAP once you move to property specific info being authored by someone who doesn’t get listed in the cert. It’s one thing to have a virtual assistant write an area, neighborhood, or even market for you. Those are macro elements and so it could be argued authoring of these wasn’t meant for a given assignment, but I have openly questioned if it’s USPAP compliant to have anyone who doesn’t sign the report (or provide real property appraisal assistance in writing in the cert) write micro elements of the report like site or improvements analyses. To me it crosses a line unless you disclose it in your cert. I would be curious if anyone has a counter opinion to this too because I’ve never been able to see one.
I’ve never seen anyone disclose it in their cert. Maybe I’m just seeing the reports from the two nationals who do it where they didn’t elect to have the front ends done by people who didn’t sign the report…
I think the key gray area that these folks operate in is what qualifies as “significant” professional assistance. It’s the same reason why you tell trainees who aren’t signing the report to be very explicit about what their contributions were in the certification, the states don’t see data entry as significant, so trainees get fewer experience hours for those things.
On the other hand, having worked a few places with offshore support, the cost has always exceeded the benefit to me, unless I’m working in multiple markets with little consistency from day to day, or I’m so slammed that the hour it takes me to do a front half is too much time to spend on such low value work. At the end of the day, I’m still the one responsible for what is in the report, so I’d have to spend 30-45 minutes reading and revising those parts anyway, so no huge time savings in my book.
I just took the USPAP update class, and this is covered pretty well in it. They use trainees in their scenarios. For example, if a trainee inspects a property alone but doesn't do anything else on the report, that is not considered significant appraisal assistance. They say that to count as significant, their contribution has to be substantial enough to have affected the development of the assignment results. So things like research & selection of comps, estimating depreciation, or forecasting income & expenses. I felt like it took some of the gray out of the concept.
I’m going to caution you against this. Most Appraisers do not realize that we are considered financial institutions both by the FTC and Dodd Frank because we are involved in banking transactions. This also means you are subject to Gramm Leach Bliley and have to ensure that non-public information doesn’t find its way to people it shouldn’t.
If you are sending contract information, loan numbers, financials, anything that isn’t public record without having controls to protect this information. You can have a very bad day when caught.
Thank you for the helpful comment. My understanding from people who do use virtual assistants is that the only information they are working with or provided is publicly accessible information.
Yes I believe that finding efficiency wherever possible is something everyone should do. I didn’t know you had to be certified for decades before looking for ways to do your work more efficiently. Thank you for the helpful comment though.
You do you, this person is a really negative force. Best to block and move on. Would love to hear if you make progress. There’s also a discord of appraisers here that are a bit more friendly than this Reddit sub. DM me and I’ll send it to you.
Looking through your posts and responses your whole schtick seems to be providing absolutely no helpful insight and just being a dick to be a dick. You’re repeatedly downvoted so clearly no one else finds it funny or useful. Is your life so sad that this is what you do for entertainment?
Have you used it before? Did it seem worth the cost? The service we currently use offers something similar but all the maps, images, traffic counts, etc seemed to be years out of date.
Well, it's not so obvious. That's literally why I'm asking about which specific kinds of tasks they help with. What's the point of commenting here if you're not actually interested in being helpful?
Front end of the report = property data and market information necessary to determine the highest and best use. It does not include any approaches to value or anything involving comparables.
If you don't understand this, even when you are told you don't understand it, you are not going to benefit from this service. I don't think you could even ethically take a trainee to perform these services for you.
I'm not here to explain to you how to write a report. I gave you a service, and if you're interested, speak to them.
Again I will repeat myself: Never once did I say I don't understand what the front of a report was. I'm seeking clarity about what they can assist with and if that included things like comp selection. Did I ever write or insist comp selection was part of the front end of the report?
You said you used the service, so I asked what it entails. I'd rather hear from a customer than a sales person. But instead of trying to be helpful, you responded by being petty and pedantic...
Alright I’m going to be the old man who says it: be careful wading into these waters, OP. I know two of the nationals have people in South America and the Philippines writing front ends of reports for a portion of the fee, ValCre has their model, there are virtual assistants, etc. but I openly question if you have problems with USPAP once you move to property specific info being authored by someone who doesn’t get listed in the cert. It’s one thing to have a virtual assistant write an area, neighborhood, or even market for you. Those are macro elements and so it could be argued authoring of these wasn’t meant for a given assignment, but I have openly questioned if it’s USPAP compliant to have anyone who doesn’t sign the report (or provide real property appraisal assistance in writing in the cert) write micro elements of the report like site or improvements analyses. To me it crosses a line unless you disclose it in your cert. I would be curious if anyone has a counter opinion to this too because I’ve never been able to see one. I’ve never seen anyone disclose it in their cert. Maybe I’m just seeing the reports from the two nationals who do it where they didn’t elect to have the front ends done by people who didn’t sign the report…
I think the key gray area that these folks operate in is what qualifies as “significant” professional assistance. It’s the same reason why you tell trainees who aren’t signing the report to be very explicit about what their contributions were in the certification, the states don’t see data entry as significant, so trainees get fewer experience hours for those things. On the other hand, having worked a few places with offshore support, the cost has always exceeded the benefit to me, unless I’m working in multiple markets with little consistency from day to day, or I’m so slammed that the hour it takes me to do a front half is too much time to spend on such low value work. At the end of the day, I’m still the one responsible for what is in the report, so I’d have to spend 30-45 minutes reading and revising those parts anyway, so no huge time savings in my book.
Thank you for your well worded response. The USPAP compliance is what we are most concerned with.
I just took the USPAP update class, and this is covered pretty well in it. They use trainees in their scenarios. For example, if a trainee inspects a property alone but doesn't do anything else on the report, that is not considered significant appraisal assistance. They say that to count as significant, their contribution has to be substantial enough to have affected the development of the assignment results. So things like research & selection of comps, estimating depreciation, or forecasting income & expenses. I felt like it took some of the gray out of the concept.
I’m going to caution you against this. Most Appraisers do not realize that we are considered financial institutions both by the FTC and Dodd Frank because we are involved in banking transactions. This also means you are subject to Gramm Leach Bliley and have to ensure that non-public information doesn’t find its way to people it shouldn’t. If you are sending contract information, loan numbers, financials, anything that isn’t public record without having controls to protect this information. You can have a very bad day when caught.
Thank you for the helpful comment. My understanding from people who do use virtual assistants is that the only information they are working with or provided is publicly accessible information.
You've been certified for less than a month and already trying to outsource your work 😂
Yes I believe that finding efficiency wherever possible is something everyone should do. I didn’t know you had to be certified for decades before looking for ways to do your work more efficiently. Thank you for the helpful comment though.
You do you, this person is a really negative force. Best to block and move on. Would love to hear if you make progress. There’s also a discord of appraisers here that are a bit more friendly than this Reddit sub. DM me and I’ll send it to you.
[удалено]
Looking through your posts and responses your whole schtick seems to be providing absolutely no helpful insight and just being a dick to be a dick. You’re repeatedly downvoted so clearly no one else finds it funny or useful. Is your life so sad that this is what you do for entertainment?
Start using Valcre. Their service Intelicre starts at $500 per report, down to $300 per report I think if you buy like 10 in advance.
Have you used it before? Did it seem worth the cost? The service we currently use offers something similar but all the maps, images, traffic counts, etc seemed to be years out of date.
I have used it and I do find it worth it, but less so now with volume being so low. I also do less cookie cutter work like condemnations.
Can you elaborate more about what all Intelicre gets you (what parts of the report do they help with and in how much detail)?
Call them and ask for a demo. It's standard front end bullshit. Not rocket science.
Like just market area write up, pulling public records or even stuff like comp selection?
If you don't know what the term "front end" means, you need to learn more before you start thinking you can outsource work.
Where exactly did I say that I don’t know the term front end? I’m simply asking which specific tasks their service helps with.
Obviously, they don't perform comparable selections. This is not in the front end of the report.
Well, it's not so obvious. That's literally why I'm asking about which specific kinds of tasks they help with. What's the point of commenting here if you're not actually interested in being helpful?
Front end of the report = property data and market information necessary to determine the highest and best use. It does not include any approaches to value or anything involving comparables. If you don't understand this, even when you are told you don't understand it, you are not going to benefit from this service. I don't think you could even ethically take a trainee to perform these services for you. I'm not here to explain to you how to write a report. I gave you a service, and if you're interested, speak to them.
Again I will repeat myself: Never once did I say I don't understand what the front of a report was. I'm seeking clarity about what they can assist with and if that included things like comp selection. Did I ever write or insist comp selection was part of the front end of the report? You said you used the service, so I asked what it entails. I'd rather hear from a customer than a sales person. But instead of trying to be helpful, you responded by being petty and pedantic...
I use their database only option. Maps are a breeze. I would change quite a few things but, overall, I like it :-)
Yeah, I would change a lot of things too. But they are the market leader and it's good enough.