Appraisal Firewall Enhancements
Scheduled for Friday, April 14, 2023
Fannie Mae's Newest Products Make Their Debut
 
Starting Friday morning, April 14th, 2023, an updated version of Appraisal Firewall will be available for lender users. This release we are releasing the ability to order Fannie Mae’s newest products, upload and distribute mass appraiser invitations, auto-generated Commercial Engagement Letters, verbiage and field updates for bidding orders, enhanced Encompass settings, and improved messaging for SimpleNexus users. Please continue reading for a complete description of the latest enhancements we are introducing to Appraisal Firewall.

Looking for additional training materials? Check out our Help Center articles HERE. 

SAVE THE DATE: Please register for our 30-minute webinar HERE, happening Friday, April 14th, 2023, at 10:00am PT/1:00pm ET. This webinar will focus on Appraisal Firewall’s preparation for Fannie Mae’s newest products and how these new features are beneficial to your organization.

New Fannie Mae Valuation Modernization Products

About a month ago, we shared that our teams were actively preparing Appraisal Firewall for Fannie Mae’s new products to be available at launch. You can read that announcement HERE. We are excited to announce that on the morning of Friday, April 14th, 2023, your organization will be able to order Fannie Mae’s newest appraisal product – Property Data Collection – Value Acceptance/ACE within Appraisal Firewall! CAVEAT: Fannie Mae is not releasing this product on their end until April 15th, 2023.

How To Use This Feature:
We have automatically added and enabled the Property Data Collection – Value Acceptance/ACE product type to the Product list across all your divisions for your convenience. Learn more about enabling/disabling products per division HERE. Please note: Property Data Collection – Value Acceptance/ACE product type will only be available for selection on Residential order types.

To place this product, select New Order, pick Residential, choose the appropriate division, enter all required fields (as notated with the asterisk (*) symbol), and choose Property Data Collection – Value Acceptance/ACE from the Appraisal Type dropdown menu, located in the Order section of the New Order from.


Users will be required to enter the DU CasefileID OR LPA Key as one of these fields is a requirement for the order to be placed successfully. After all required fields have been supplied, select Order at the bottom of the screen to place the order request. Appraisal Firewall will automatically reach out to our partnered property data collectors at the time of order submission. Approximately 48-72 hours after the data collector has visited the subject property, the completed report will be returned and available within Appraisal Firewall. To learn more about how the Property Data Collection – Value Acceptance/ACE product type will generate results from DU or LPA (if applicable), make sure to attend our webinar on Friday, April 14th, 2023. Registration can be performed HERE.

Distribute Multiple Appraiser Invites at Once

Appraisal Firewall is enhancing the way appraiser invitations are conducted with the inclusion of a mass upload feature. This new feature will allow Administrators to input multiple appraiser emails at once and trigger a mass invitation to be delivered to the email addresses that have been supplied. Prior to this release, inviting appraisers to join your panel was administered by singular invitations, often resulting in a lengthy, manual process. Now, you can upload your entire list of appraisers in one fell swoop, directly from the Invite Appraiser screen!

How To Use This Feature:
To upload and distribute a mass list of appraiser invitations, access Relationships, expand a division, and choose Manage Appraisers. Along the top right of the map, choose Invite Appraiser. A new Email Address(es) field has been added where you can input your list of appraisers to receive invitations to join that lender’s panel. Please note that only email addresses will be eligible. Contact names, company names, etc. will not be permissible.


You can upload your list of emails separating each email address via comma, semicolon, or line breaks. For more information about the Invite Appraiser feature, please refer to our Managing Appraisers article found HERE.

Auto-Generated Commercial Engagement Letters

Appraisal Firewall is excited to announce the introduction of an auto-generated, order exclusive Commercial Engagement Letter! We have built a Commercial Engagement Letter template that you can use which will auto-populate order specific details into a uniform engagement letter sent to the appraiser that has won the bid. Now, appraisers can possess all the necessary expectations that your organization has requested for that distinct Commercial order from the onset.

How To Use This Feature:
This feature requires the Use Standard Engagement Terms setting to be enabled within a division level’s Commercial settings. Download the template HERE. Customize any logos, copy, etc. to the provided template you deem appropriate. BE ADVISED: If you choose to utilize Appraisal Firewall’s template, do not alter ANY of the fields within brackets [ ] as this will cause the fields to not map correctly AND only a PDF file type will be supported (this form type triggers the auto-population of the order form data compiled in the final version of the engagement letter sent to the appraiser awarded the bid). This letter is presented to the appraiser during the order acceptance process and will be available on the Communications Log and Documents tab. To learn more about this feature, read our full guide HERE.

Bidding Orders New Reflect 'Calendar Days'

We are updating how the Turn Time field is presented on Residential and Commercial bidding orders. This update is to alleviate any confusion when supplying the turn time during the bidding process and when awarding the bid. Additionally, the Turn Time will automatically translate to the actual calendar date within the Date Required field, allowing users to quickly reference the date the appraiser has predetermined the report will be delivered. 

How To Use This Feature:
This feature has been automatically applied for your convenience. Open a Residential or Commercial bidding order. Once a bid has been submitted, Administrators and managed users that have access to the Review Bids feature will see the added ‘Calendar’ days to the Turn Time field. Please note that only Administrators will see the name of the appraiser within the Review Bids screen. Managed users will have this information hidden from their view.


When a bid has been awarded to an appraiser, the Turn Time field will automatically be calculated to the correlating date. This date will be visible under the Date Required field, which can be found as a column on the main dashboard, located on the Property Information tab within an order, and the Print view of the order details.

Edit 'Date Required' on Bidding Orders

About a year ago, we updated the logic for translating the Turn Time for bidding order types to reflect a Date Required. Now, Appraisal Firewall has enhanced the Property Information screen to reflect the Date Required field on Residential and Commercial bidding orders! By adding this field to the property details, lender users can edit the Date Required field without the need to contact Customer Support to intervene on adjusting dates that have been confirmed between the appraiser and the lender. This accessibility will ensure that orders proceed on their proper trajectory and the order details are accurate.

How To Use This Feature:
This feature requires a Residential or Commercial bidding order to have been accepted by an appraiser. Please note: the Date Required field will remain blank until the appraiser that has won the bid accepts the order. Upon acceptance, Appraisal Firewall will calculate the Turn Time to be the calendar date displayed beneath the Date Required field. At this point, users can select Edit Details on the Property Information screen to adjust the Date Required to a future date. Important: you will be unable to select the current date IF the order was placed on the same day. Once the edit has been made, be sure to SAVE. The edit will be captured in the Communications Log, and be visible within the Property Information tab, including the Print view.

Appraisal Delivery Date to Borrower Mapped to Encompass

We have added the Appraisal Delivered Date to Borrower as an available option within the lender level Encompass Settings list. When enabled, this setting will return the date and timestamp of when the appraisal report was provided to the borrower. This additional automation will ensure Encompass users have more access and control when tracking their loan files.

How To Use This Feature:
This feature is only available to Administrators with global access. Choose the gear icon in the upper left-hand side of the screen. Expand Encompass Settings and find the Returned Fields section. To enable this setting, select the box adjacent to the Appraisal Delivered Date to Borrower (field 3624), and SAVE your changes.



Once the order reaches a ‘Done’ status within Appraisal Firewall, users can utilize the Encompass retrieval feature within the eFolder. Results will be mapped to Encompass’s field 3624.

Appraisal Delivery Date to Borrower Mapped to Encompass

Appraisal Firewall has expanded the type of information that is sent to the SimpleNexus’ Messaging Center when a report has been delivered. This information is similar to the data that is included in the traditional Report Completed email notifications. Now, SimpleNexus users will receive the Estimated Value/Sales Price, Appraised Value, and the Appraisal Condition information in the form of push notifications and message alerts. Additionally, these notifications will grant SimpleNexus app users immediate access to their orders without the prerequisite of finding and opening the report.   

How To Use This Feature:
This feature only applies to SimpleNexus users. If your organization is already using SimpleNexus, but not utilizing the Appraisal Firewall messaging integration today, please request your API Key from your SimpleNexus representative and send an email to AppraisalFirewall@SharperLending.com with the API Key included in your request. After the key has been applied and the accounts are synced, users will be able to enable the SimpleNexus User setting via My Profile.


Upon enabling the SimpleNexus User setting, users that have the SimpleNexus app installed on their mobile device will automatically be eligible to receive these added Report Completed details when a report goes to a ‘Done’ status in Appraisal Firewall.