Appraisal Firewall Enhancements Scheduled for
Friday Morning, Nov. 8th, 2019
Release Information for Lenders

Starting Friday morning, November 8th, 2019, a new version of Appraisal Firewall will be available for your organization.  This release includes Verisite mobile property inspection updates, Appraisal Scorecard enhancements for the standalone auto-review option, additional documentation passed back through the Encompass interface, and more.  Read on for complete information.


New Data Available in Verisite Reports Provide Better Decisioning on Property Inspections
We are excited to provide you with more data in the Verisite mobile property inspection reports!  Nearby property sales information is now automatically included with the Verisite Collateral Data and Verisite Plus reports.  Currently, the Verisite Collateral Data and Verisite Plus reports include Area Sales – which reports on a large area.  The new addition of the Nearby Sales data reports on a smaller, more localized area, providing more concise Comp data and complementing the Area Sales data. Now you can get a more accurate picture of the subject property with area and nearby home sale information.

How to use this feature:
There is nothing you need to do to get this additional data: it will automatically be included on your reports. To view it, simply order a Verisite Collateral Data or Verisite Plus report: Nearby Sales data will be displayed directly below the Area Sales information in the same list format.

Learn more about the Verisite line of mobile property inspection tools here.
 
Investor Field Now Available on New Appraisal Order Screen
On new orders, lender users can now enter the name of the investment company that may be involved in the loan transaction.  Lenders usually know who the investor on the loan will be.  Providing this information up front will help guide QC and review processes to make sure the appraisal order follows investor guidelines. 
  • The Investor data point will also be available to include in your custom management reports.
  • For the Encompass interface, Encompass is stating that they will be able to pass Investor information over to us with their 12/12/2019 Encompass LOS update.  Once their update is done, when Investor information is entered into Encompass, it will be passed into Appraisal Firewall along with the rest of the Encompass order data
How to use this feature:
When placing an order, all lender users will see a new Investor field in the loan section.  This is an optional field that, when populated, will be viewable on the appraisal order to all parties except appraisers.  The investor data is viewable on the Property Information tab, the Edit Detail screen, and also on the Print screen. 
 
Encompass Interface Update: Manual Reviewer Results Now Delivered to Encompass
Appraisal Firewall will now deliver manual review result documentation back into Encompass. For those of you that utilize the manual QC and review functionality to add more safety and soundness to your appraisals, this helps make sure that all pertinent appraisal documentation is available to Officers and Processors using the Encompass LOS.  This is available now – we do not need to wait for an Encompass update to start delivering manual review results back to Encompass users.

How to use this feature:
When the manual review process is completed on an appraisal, most manual reviewers upload their findings and results in a PDF document to Appraisal Firewall. When the manual review results are available in Appraisal Firewall, and the Encompass user clicks the Retrieve option in their LOS, these attachments will now be sent to the Encompass user.  Any manual review attachments will be sent to the Appraisal bucket in the Encompass eFolder.
 

Appraisal Scorecard Automated Review Enhancements

Resubmit Appraisals to Standalone Scorecard for Auto-Review
Because of the high-accuracy reviews coupled with the speed at which Scorecard returns results, many lenders are using the standalone Appraisal Scorecard auto-review to run QC on appraisals completed outside of Appraisal Firewall.  Some of those appraisals that are uploaded into Appraisal Firewall are PDF files that have difficulty converting to run through Scorecard.  If you use the standalone Scorecard and run into any PDF conversion errors, you can now resubmit another appraisal onto the same Scorecard order. 

How to use this feature:
When using the standalone Scorecard, if you experience a PDF Conversion error, you will see a new option available in the list of buttons at right called Resubmit Appraisal.  Clicking this option opens the Resubmit Appraisal tab.  Here, you can click the +Appraisal button to upload another appraisal report to Scorecard for resubmission.  Once the file uploads properly, click the Submit button to run the appraisal through Appraisal Scorecard to get your auto-review results.

Want more info on setting up and using the standalone Appraisal Scorecard?  Click Here.
 
Edit Details Now Available on Standalone Scorecard Orders
In the same vein as the aforementioned update, standalone Scorecard users can now modify data on existing orders – without having to place a brand-new order. This will be helpful in cases where there are type-os or other edits that need to be made to the order.

How to use this feature:
After a standalone Scorecard order has been placed, if any property/borrower/loan details need to be edited, users can move to the Property Information tab and click the Edit Details button. Information can then be modified and saved as needed. All edited information will then be tracked in the Communications Log.