Content Includes: 

• Overview
• What Does Appraisal Scorecard Do?
• Appraisal Risk Score - How it Works
• The “Four Cs” of Appraisal Scorecard: Completeness, Compliance, Credibility, & Complexity
  • Completeness Score
  • Compliance Score
  • Credibility Score
  • Complexity Score
• Data and Supporting Analytic Services
• Indicative Words
• Property Analysis
  • All Comps
  • Appr Comp Sales
  • Nearby Properties
• Summary Dashboard
  • Review Summation
  • Overall Risk Score
  • Suggested Routing Decision
  • Appraisal Summary
  • Score Detail
  • Key Findings
• Appraisal Analysis
• Working with Appraiser and Report Scores
• Appraisal Scorecard Stands Alone

Overview

With the costs of compliance layering expense on the origination process, lending automation is more important than ever to help lenders increase efficiency. The Appraisal Scorecard is perfectly suited to the task, with the fully automated capacity to review appraisals, provide actionable data, and recommend the next steps to complete the review process, thus demonstrating the proper due diligence.

Appraisal Scorecard provides intelligent analysis of appraisal valuation reports, which in turn empowers mortgage lenders, servicers, investors, and appraisal management companies (AMCs) to make faster and more informed decisions in real time around this important and powerful opinion of collateral value. 

This powerful tool can be used for identifying and mitigating collateral risk and improving overall productivity. Scores returned on Appraisal Scorecard can be used to make automated initial accept or reject decisions, as well as more advanced and appropriate routing judgments to ensure loans enter the most appropriate funding stream to reduce repurchase risk. This appraisal-scoring technology will result in immediate cost savings, more objective analysis, and faster processing when compared to traditional review procedures alone. Not only does Appraisal Scorecard provide notable enhancement to the measurement of risk in the appraisal; it also gives an unprecedented and immediate snapshot into the collateral that is independent of the valuation itself through a look at reliable data points outside of the appraisal report. Users will see immediate improvements in benchmarking reporting, vendor management, and transparency. 

What Does Appraisal Scorecard Do?

Appraisal Scorecard provides an automated, virtually instantaneous evaluation of the contents of an appraisal report and its associated risk. The report provides supplemental analysis with supported data to expedite any additional due diligence required. It allows lenders to determine immediately whether an appraisal may be automatically accepted, rejected outright, or passed along for further review. Lenders and investors can easily implement the appraisal scoring tool, utilizing data from our partner Veros, to make better collateral decisions, and improve reporting and vendor management. AMCs can utilize the tool to efficiently demonstrate an objective, third-party perspective of all appraisals provided to their clients. 

How is the “Score” Calculated?

• Assumes a “perfect” appraisal with a high score of 1000
• Deductions are made for detected issues (percentage or specific point value)
• Significant issues will drive points to 0
• Some issues may be detected but not impact points – warnings are presented

*Please note that appraiser name, borrower names, and street number have been redacted for privacy purposes.

Appraisal Risk Score - How it Works

Cascading through numerous views of the appraisal report, Appraisal Scorecard accumulates results into multiple scoring components, each ranging from 1000 to 0, with 1000 being a 'perfect' appraisal. At its highest level, the report provides an Overall Risk Score and Appraisal Risk Score derived from the four primary appraisal review components, referred to as "The Four Cs”, and their respective sub-scores. 

The “Four Cs” of Appraisal Scorecard: Completeness, Compliance, Credibility, & Complexity

Each component (Completeness, Compliance, Credibility, Complexity) undergoes its own separate, independently weighted analysis. Some components have sub-components with individual scores that factor into the main component score, i.e., Complexity also includes a sub-score for Appraisal Methodology. Individual component scores and analysis can also be used independently to trigger automated business and routing decisions, accentuating the value of Appraisal Scorecard's detail. Appraisal Scorecard identifies which rules were triggered and what action(s) need to be taken to correct the identified problem(s) within each section. A 'zero' score in a category or a report that fails to meet an established threshold can be immediately returned to the service provider with a detailed description of the area(s) that require attention. 

Completeness Score

Consider this: Is the appraisal report Complete? Appraisal Scorecard's Completeness Rules electronically examine each field in the appraisal report to confirm that required fields are populated and the data is presented in the correct format. The rules instantly identify any field that is either not populated or contains data in an unacceptable format. Inconsistencies in details such as “feet” versus “ft” can often occur and impact the appraisal’s acceptance into standardized appraisal data platforms. This component eliminates time spent reviewing incomplete appraisals by flagging reports for immediate return to the appraiser for completion. 

The Completeness Score has been designed specifically for each form type. These rule sets have been constructed with the recognition that certain fields are required in every report (e.g., property address, effective date, value opinion), while the presence of data in other fields will be dependent upon the specific nature of the assignment type. For example, when purchase transactions are processed different from refinance transactions; when the transaction type is indicated as a refinance, the rules skip past elements that are only required for purchase transactions.

Appraisal Scorecard is eligible on the following form types: 

When the completeness rules find that a required field has either an incorrect format or data is missing, the appraisal report will lose a predetermined number of points. For every field that is populated in an incorrect format, the appraisal report will lose a predetermined number of points, and the errors will be identified in the returned report (as seen in the screenshot above).

Compliance Score

Consider this: Is the appraisal report Compliant? Appraisal Scorecard's Compliance Score have been developed from the appraisal guidelines issued in legislation and by regulatory agencies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA, VA, mortgage insurers, the Appraisal Foundation, and others. These rules are continually updated to reflect the most current terms and requirements. This rule set examines each appraisal report field-by-field for use of unacceptable terminology (i.e., poor neighborhood) and ensures correct terminology is present in certain identified fields (e.g., the neighborhood field: trend of property values must contain one of the following: increasing, stable, or declining), therefore comparing fields against each other for consistency and accuracy. Refer to our Indicative Words guide for more information on creating a customized list of words/phrases to be scanned within the contents of the appraisal report. 

Examining the appraisal report, specific fields are compared with each other for consistency and accuracy. For example, if the subject is a manufactured home, the compliance rules check the year it was built to ensure the home was constructed after June 15, 1976. In this case, the rules examine the report for the presence of required terms relating to the manufacture date of the home.

In addition, the appraiser’s name and license number are checked against the Appraisal Subcommittee (ASC) database to identify possible licensing problems. This rule set also checks to ensure the appropriate license level for the assignment, and that the state of issue matches the state in which the appraised property is located.

UCDP & EAD Hard Stops and Warnings – Strategic Advantages with the Appraisal Scorecard.

• Appraisal Scorecard captures and verifies against all known UCDP and EAD hard stops and messages.
• Updates are always in sync with the latest "Hard Stops” and “Warnings” from the GSEs and FHA.
• Ability to “Preview” Hard Stops and Warnings pre-submission.
• Veros – the technology behind Appraisal Scorecard - is the technology provider that built and maintains both the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP) and FHA’s Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal and has the most comprehensive understanding of both the UCDP and EAD’s stringent rules.

The Compliance Score incorporates sub-sections pointing at any identified problems with Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) compliance and will display UAD Warning Message and UAD Hard Stop Errors. UAD is a component of the Uniform Mortgage Data Program® (UMDP®), jointly established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to provide common requirements for appraisal and loan delivery data.

Credibility Score

Consider this: Is the appraisal report Credible? Appraisal Scorecard's Credibility Score identifies critical information within the appraisal report and matches related data fields for consistency against internal and external data sources. Any detected abnormalities in the data will be supported with more granular detail in the resulting messages, and the level of credibility risk will be classified as low, moderate, high, or severe.

Data in the report is measured against external data sources to evaluate the report from an objective, data-centric perspective. This reduces exposure to future issues by advising the lender of potential risks within the collateral that may impact loan approval.

Examples of external checks or validations include:

• Distance of comparables from the subject property
• Dates of comparable sales to that reported and to the date of subject valuation
• Percentage differences and calculations between comparable property characteristics and subject property characteristics

Risk is measured both in terms of property risk (i.e., is there inherent risk in this specific property) and in terms of market risk (i.e., how does this property relate to its market).

Credibility scoring includes an examination of the appraisal against our third-party provider's, comparing the appraisal report to other market data for the same neighborhood. Credibility incorporates sub-section scores in the areas of: Appraisal Methodology, Data Integrity, Valuation Risk, and Comparables Risk. Each section provides insight on essential components of the valuation process that support or trigger concerns on methods employed, comparables used, etc. The entirety of the Credibility section is supported with a list and map of area sales, which identifies where the appraiser utilized Appraisal Scorecard selected transactions to support the value conclusion. 

Sub-score: Valuation Risk

The Valuation Risk Score leverages additional valuation and risk scoring technology proprietary to our third-party provider to assist users in determining whether there are potential risks associated with the appraiser’s estimate. This score leverages extensive expertise in automated valuation model (AVM) technology and our superior track record for accuracy, identifying possible over-valuation risk. Since the estimate is not published, there is less concern for the user to have to furnish this document for Reg B compliance. 

The Valuation Risk Score is designed to measure the degree to which the appraised value differs from an objective, modeled value. Where sufficient data is available, these models have been proven to provide reliable indications of the probability that a property is correctly valued, over-valued, or under-valued.

The Valuation Risk Score is measured on a scale from 1000 to 0, where 1000 assumes a 'perfect' score.

Complexity Score

Consider this: Is the appraisal report Complex? Appraisal Scorecard's Complexity Score assesses the degree of difficulty in determining the value of the subject property and the property’s overall conformity to the neighborhood. This area of the report carries an important distinction from the other three Cs in that a low score is not necessarily indicative of an unreliable valuation. As this dimension is concerned with how difficult the property was to value, it is important to keep in mind that a challenging property can still have an expertly completed appraisal. Some appraisal reviewers my opt to take a closer examination of highly specialized properties, to adjust their risk tolerance levels as they relate to complex assignment. 

A higher Complexity Score number reflects reduced complexity, indicating that the subject property involves fewer inconsistencies with the neighborhood. A lower Complexity Score means there may be unusual property characteristics, market conditions, transaction elements, or a combination of these issues that can make arriving at a supported value more difficult to achieve.

The Complexity Score looks at the subject property’s conformity to its neighbors against multiple elements, including age, gross living area, and room count. The Conformity sub-score ranges higher if the property is similar to neighborhood norms and lower if it tends to differ substantially from nearby homes, indicating a lack of homogeneity that can subtly but significantly, affect values.

The Complexity Score is supported by a list of nearby properties regardless of any recent transaction activity. This section is presented in a table and map for easy reference on property characteristics that affect conformity and the appraisal's degree of difficulty. Through this feature, lenders gain insight on neighborhood norms routinely lost when relying solely on a limited set of comparable sales in an area to determine value. 

As Complexity ratings decrease, the following messages will be presented (in order of rank): 

Complexity Confidence Sub-score:

Confidence in the Complexity Score is measured by how many of six (6) dimensions of complexity are returned: owner occupancy, land use, subject percentile rating, property type, foreclosure activity, and conformity score. Greater emphasis is placed on foreclosure activity and conformity score in generating the complexity confidence score.

When less than four (4) of the six (6) dimensions of Complexity can return a result, the Appraisal Scorecard determines its confidence too low to render a measure of complexity. This can occur if there is insufficient supporting data related to the subject and/or immediate market area.

Data and Supporting Analytic Services

Appraisal Scorecard leverages extensive resources related to data, predictive modeling, and risk analysis. Users of our product benefit from the automatic analysis related to each appraisal report being validated against public and private data sources our vendor acquires and maintains transparent quality control measures. This same reliable database is used in proprietary analytics, which provide valuable insights of the expected appraisal risk. 

Indicative Words

The Indicative Words section requires Indicative Words to be set at the lender level. To create an Indicative Words list, please refer to the Create Indicative Words for Scorecard article HERE. 

The new Indicative Words tool for Appraisal Scorecard allows review teams to customize their own list of words that may infer there was racial bias or any other bias during the appraiser's analysis of the property that may alter the perceived value. This feature is multi-faceted and can be used for more needs in the industry than just scanning for bias. It can be used for catching key terms your lender, underwriters and/or investors require be present in the appraisal report. 

Once the Indicative Words list is in place, Appraisal Scorecard will comb through the contents of the appraiser's report, searching for any matching words. Any terms matching between the report and Indicative Words list will be displayed within this section. 

Any keywords found matching the Indicative Words list will be listed individually, including the section of the form the term was stated. Reviewers will be able to view a snippet of the finding, make notes, mark as 'action required' (megaphone icon), and remove the term or phrase from the section.

Notes entered by the reviewer for any Indicative Words will be visible and accessible to the appraiser, however the reviewer must mark the term or phrase as action required. Without marking as action required, the information will still be hidden from appraiser view. 

Property Analysis

The Property Analysis section displays a map with the location of the subject property, in addition to mapping out comps and nearby properties. You can toggle between each section to get an overview of the subject property in relationship to the surrounding neighborhood as well as to the comps used on the appraisal report.

All Comps

Whenever you open the Property Analysis section, All Comps is the default property list displayed. Information returned from MLS and public record data is compiled to show a list of the top 40 comps in the area of the subject property. The comps the appraiser used to complete the report are labeled as C1, C2, C3, etc. and appear in the top 40 list where public record ranks their relevance.

In the example below, the subject property (always listed at the top) is followed by comp 1 (C1) that the appraiser included on the report, indicating that public record data ranked comp 1 on the appraisal as the best comp. Next, the property in the Rank #2 slot was not used on the report, while the property in the Rank #3 was used by the appraiser as their comp 2 (C2). This All Comps list helps determine the validity of the comps used by the appraiser on the report.

If the comps supplied by the appraiser (C1, C2, C3, etc.) do not appear in the top 40 comps returned by public record data, this indicates that none of the comps used in the appraisal report match the top 40 comp list returned from public data. In these cases, the list of comps will appear in a subsection at the bottom of the All Comps list and will still be displayed on the map. Sometimes public record data is not available to compile a list, in which case the map portion may be blank and only the comps used on the report will be listed.

Appr Comp Sales

This option limits the map view to only the comp sales used on the report uploaded by the appraiser. The information displayed about the comparable properties in this section (i.e. Sales price, lot SF, Bed/Bath) reflects information that is on public record. This information may differ from the actual appraisal report. Discrepancy in comp data will be flagged in the Credibility Score section, which can be confirmed using this list and comparing with information in the actual appraisal report (accessible at the bottom of the Appraisal Scorecard).

Nearby Properties

The Nearby Properties list displays public record data for all properties closest to the subject which may or may not be considered comps. This list can help provide an understanding of neighborhood trends such as bed/bath count, size of property, and year built. This provides a visual aid to see if the subject property details (i.e. living square footage, lot size, bed/bath count) are in conformity with the surrounding neighborhood.

The Nearby Properties map provides up to 20 results of the nearest properties to the subject and the public records relevant to them. If the comps provided by the appraiser are in the top 20, they will appear in the list. Otherwise, they will appear in a sub- section below the top 20 list and be available for viewing on the map.

Summary Dashboard

At the top of the Appraisal Scorecard, a summary of the data in the report gives you an overview of the results.

*Please note that appraiser name, borrower names, and street number have been redacted for privacy purposes.

Review Summation

The Review Summation allows a Reviewer to enter notes for the overall Appraisal Scorecard report as opposed to adding notes to specifically flagged issues. These notes are available right at the top of the report for quick reference. To create a summary, select the pencil icon to the right.

Your summary notes can be as lengthy as necessary, with the option of formatting available to you as well. Notes can be edited at any time via the pencil icon. Select Save to retain your notes. Any notes can be found at the top of the Scorecard output, shown on the summary PDF, and available on the full PDF report.

Overall Risk Score

The Overall Risk Score considers external data in addition to potential risks within the report. 

Suggested Routing Decision

Appraisal Scorecard compiles the scores from the 4 Cs, then provides a Suggested Routing Decision on how to proceed based on the analysis results.

• Accepted – Report meets generally acceptable criteria across key risk categories and is considered appropriate to progress to the next stage of the user’s workflow without the need for further appraisal report review.

• Manual Review Needed – This rating indicates that the results of the Appraisal Scorecard’s analysis recommend a manual review by a qualified expert be carried out before the appraisal progresses further in the user’s workflow.

• Escalated Manual Review Needed – Similar to the previous rating, this rating indicates that not only should the report be assessed in further detail in a manual process, but that the individual should carry a higher level of qualification in order to best assess the appraisal and the supporting data within the Appraisal Scorecard report.

• Return to Appraiser for Corrections – Message indicates the report was deemed to be deficient in either its review against the Completeness and/or Compliance rules. The user should review the specific error messages in the report and supply them to the appraiser so the report can be amended.

Please note: Regardless of the suggested routing decision, all errors, messages, and warnings are available for viewing and sharing with the appraiser within the Appraisal Scorecard Report Details to aid in an individuals’ review of the appraisal.

Appraisal Summary

To make sure you are reviewing information about the correct report, the Appraisal Summary section lists order basics such as appraiser and borrower name, property address, and appraised value.

Score Detail

This section provides a breakdown of the different scoring sections (4 Cs and Appraisal Risk Score). The 4 Cs Scores falling in the color ranges are as follows, with a range of 1000 to 0:

• Green - acceptable range (very low risk)
• Yellow - low risk
• Orange - high risk
• Red - potentially very high risk and further review is recommended

Key Findings

Shows deeper insight ono what deficiencies affected the Score Details (if applicable). 

Appraisal Analysis

This analysis is comprised of two sections that display an overview of the appraisal report and provide ASC.gov and HUD.gov appraiser data so you can quickly review report and appraiser information.

• Appraisal Details – Summarizes key elements from the appraisal report, including basic appraisal information, contract price, lender, marketing time, estimated low/high value, etc.

• Appraiser Verification – Checks the status of the appraiser's license, at the time of the date of the appraisal, from both ASC and HUD's databases. Any public notices in ASC's system will be displayed.

Working with Appraiser and Report Scores

Appraisal Scorecard allows you to quickly identify components of the appraisal report that may raise compliance concerns. You can easily communicate with the appraiser within the Appraisal Scorecard itself, asking them to address any concerns and make adjustments if necessary. You can make notes for yourself and others in your organization and remove any warnings that do not warrant further review.

Within the Report Details, maximize a section that locate any warnings. In the example below, the Completeness Score has indicated that a field on the report is not populated, lowering the score. Use the action icons to interact with the flagged information and resolve the issue.

The pencil icon allows you to make a note about the item, whether you intend to disregard it, or what you’d like the appraiser to do to address the issue. If you request changes from the appraiser, write a note and Save it. Next, the megaphone icon flags the line item for the appraiser to be able to view it. Write a note and flag it to have it made available to the appraiser. Any time you create a note you will be automatically prompted to share with the appraiser. Next, you will need to share the Appraisal Scorecard results with the appraiser. To do so, use the share button in the upper right of the Scorecard. Once shared, they will have the ability to view items that were flagged, and that the lender has requested to be addressed. 

Appraisers cannot view report scoring. Appraisal Scorecard numbers are removed from the appraiser view. Once you share your flagged messages and notes with the appraiser, an email notifies the appraiser that the Scorecard is available for viewing. The appraiser can open the Scorecard, view your messages, and respond to them directly through the Scorecard. To see what the appraiser sees on their version of the Appraisal Scorecard, toggle to the Appraiser View along the top of the scorecard.

Summary of working in the Scorecard

1. Create notes/messages using the pencil icon next to a warning.

2. Mark a message as action required to make it available to the appraiser.

3. Share the report with the appraiser using the Share to Appraiser button on the upper right of the Appraisal Scorecard.

4. Check the Appraisal Scorecard regularly to see if the appraiser has responded to your messages.

Appraisal Scorecard Stands Alone

Appraisal Scorecard's Risk Rules are not meant to be a substitute for manual review by a reviewer, but it is a comprehensive set of automated appraisal rules in the current compliance-conscious market. 

Appraisal Scorecard is a powerful tool for identifying and mitigating collateral risk and improving overall productivity. Score can be utilized to make automated initial accept or reject decisions, provide more advanced and appropriate routing judgments to ensure loans enter the most appropriate funding stream - properly and proactively managed to reduce repurchase risk. Application of our appraisal scoring technology will result in immediate cost savings, objective analysis, and faster processing when compared to traditional review procedures alone. 

Appraisal Firewall is uniquely situated to offer advanced analytic tools to each property has the most detailed and comprehensive assessment of property and market risk available anywhere.