U.S. patent application number 14/686371 was filed with the patent office on 2015-08-06 for method and apparatus for validating an appraisal report and providing an appraisal score.
This patent application is currently assigned to CORELOGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC.. The applicant listed for this patent is CORELOGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC.. Invention is credited to Benjamin C. Graboske.
Application Number | 20150221050 14/686371 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38877798 |
Filed Date | 2015-08-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150221050 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Graboske; Benjamin C. |
August 6, 2015 |
METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VALIDATING AN APPRAISAL REPORT AND
PROVIDING AN APPRAISAL SCORE
Abstract
A computer-based method for validating an appraisal report
includes receiving appraisal data for a property, receiving
property data for the property, verifying the appraisal data meets
an appraisal guideline, providing a list of appraisal items that
are present in the appraisal data, providing a medium discrepancy
amount and a high discrepancy amount for the list of appraisal
items, calculating a difference amount between the appraisal data
and the property data for each appraisal item, and comparing the
difference amount to the medium discrepancy amount and the high
discrepancy amount.
Inventors: |
Graboske; Benjamin C.;
(Santa Ana, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
CORELOGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC. |
Irvine |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
CORELOGIC SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Irvine
CA
|
Family ID: |
38877798 |
Appl. No.: |
14/686371 |
Filed: |
April 14, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
11771114 |
Jun 29, 2007 |
9031881 |
|
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14686371 |
|
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60817881 |
Jun 30, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/306 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0185 20130101;
G06Q 50/16 20130101; G06Q 30/0278 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 50/16 20060101
G06Q050/16; G06Q 30/02 20060101 G06Q030/02 |
Claims
1. A machine-readable medium for validating an appraisal report
comprising instructions that upon execution cause a machine to:
receive appraisal data for a property; receive property data for
the property; verify the appraisal data meets an appraisal
guideline; provide a list of appraisal items that are present in
the appraisal data; provide a medium discrepancy amount and a high
discrepancy amount for the list of appraisal items; calculate a
difference amount between the appraisal data and the property data
for each appraisal item; and compare the difference amount to the
medium discrepancy amount and the high discrepancy amount.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of and is based upon and
claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120 for U.S.
application Ser. No. 11/771,114 filed Jun. 29, 2007 which claims
priority to Provisional Application No. 60/817,881 filed Jun. 30,
2006. The entire contents of each which are incorporated herein by
reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field
[0003] The invention relates to appraisal reports and scores. More
particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for
validating an appraisal report and providing an appraisal
score.
[0004] 2. Related Art
[0005] Generally, an appraiser attempts to judge the value of a
given real estate property using a variety of objective and
subjective characteristics of the property. Some exemplary
objective characteristics may include without limitation the
location of the property, the size of the property, and the square
footage of any structures on the property. A typical appraisal
involves selecting recently-sold properties having characteristics
similar to those of the subject property and using the recent sales
prices of these "comparable" properties to set a value for the
subject property.
[0006] The appraiser may write down the appraisal data for the
objective characteristics of the property on an appraisal form. The
appraiser may accidentally or intentionally write down incorrect
appraisal data on the appraisal form. For example, the appraiser
may try to increase the appraised value of the subject property by
writing down an additional bathroom or bedroom or increasing the
square footage. If a portion of the appraisal data is incorrect,
the appraisal value of the subject property and the selected
comparable properties may be inaccurate or incorrect. Obtaining
reliable appraisal data is important to valuing a property and
determining comparable properties. In addition, the appraisal of a
property can vary dramatically among different appraisers and even
with the same appraiser on different days. Furthermore, existing
approaches have been ineffective in automating the appraisal
process so that clients can identify discrepancies in appraisal
reports and flag failed appraisal reports.
SUMMARY
[0007] A machine-readable medium for validating an appraisal report
comprising instructions that upon execution cause a machine to
receive appraisal data for a property, receive property data for
the property, verify the appraisal data meets an appraisal
guideline, provide a list of appraisal items that are present in
the appraisal data, provide a medium discrepancy amount and a high
discrepancy amount for the list of appraisal items, calculate a
difference amount between the appraisal data and the property data
for each appraisal item, and compare the difference amount to the
medium discrepancy amount and the high discrepancy amount.
[0008] A computer-based method for validating an appraisal report
comprising receiving appraisal data for a property, receiving
property data for the property, verifying the appraisal data meets
an appraisal guideline, providing a list of appraisal items that
are present in the appraisal data, providing a medium discrepancy
amount and a high discrepancy amount for the list of appraisal
items, calculating a difference amount between the appraisal data
and the property data for each appraisal item, and comparing the
difference amount to the medium discrepancy amount and the high
discrepancy amount.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The features, objects, and advantages of the invention will
become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below
when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an appraisal validation system
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a residential property appraisal form that is
completed by an appraiser according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a blank graphical user interface that shows the
different input fields for the appraisal data that the appraiser
fills in for the subject property and comparable property 1
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a graphical user interface showing exemplary
appraisal data filled into the different input fields for the
subject property and comparable property 1 according to an
embodiment of the invention.
[0014] FIG. 5 is a graphical user interface showing exemplary
appraisal data filled into the different input fields for the
subject property, comparable property 1 and comparable property 2
according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0015] FIG. 6 is a graphical user interface showing exemplary
appraisal data filled into the different input fields for the
subject property, comparable property 1, comparable property 2 and
comparable property 3 according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0016] FIG. 7 is a graphical user interface that allows a client to
set discrepancy rules that define acceptable and unacceptable
severity levels based on any discrepancy between the supplied
appraisal data from the appraiser and the property data from the
public records database according to an embodiment of the
invention.
[0017] FIGS. 8A and 8B are exemplary discrepancy reports using
exemplary appraisal data and exemplary property data according to
an embodiment of the invention.
[0018] FIG. 9 is a map of the results identifying the subject
property, the comparables from the appraiser, and the comparables
from the validation and scoring module according to an embodiment
of the invention.
[0019] FIGS. 10A and 10B are graphical user interfaces used by a
client to input the appraisal data from the appraisal report and
select the discrepancy amounts for some of the items listed on the
appraisal report according to an embodiment of the invention.
[0020] FIGS. 11A and 11B are exemplary discrepancy reports using
exemplary appraisal data and exemplary property data according to
an embodiment of the invention.
[0021] FIG. 12 is a map of the results identifying the subject
property, the comparables from the appraiser, and the comparables
from the validation and scoring module according to an embodiment
of the invention.
[0022] FIG. 13 is a flow chart of a method of validating an
appraisal report according to an embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0023] Methods and systems that implement the embodiments of the
various features of the invention will now be described with
reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated
descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the
invention and not to limit the scope of the invention. Reference in
the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" is
intended to indicate that a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is
included in at least an embodiment of the invention. The
appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" or "an embodiment" in
various places in the specification are not necessarily all
referring to the same embodiment. Throughout the drawings,
reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between
referenced elements. In addition, the first digit of each reference
number indicates the figure in which the element first appears.
[0024] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an appraisal validation system
100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The appraisal
validation system 100 may include one or more appraisal reports
105, an appraisal records database 110, a public records database
115, a distributed computer network 120, and a processing module
125.
[0025] The appraisal report 105 may be an appraisal form such as a
Uniform Residential Appraisal Report as shown in FIG. 2. The
appraisal report 105 may be manually completed by an appraiser
using the appraisal form shown in FIG. 2 or electronically
completed by an appraiser using the graphical user interfaces shown
in FIGS. 3-6. Referring to FIG. 2, the appraiser may write the
appraisal data 111 on the appraisal form. The appraisal form may be
scanned in as a TIFF, JPEG, BMP, XML, PDF or 1004 structured file
format and may be sent to the appraisal records database 110 via
email, html upload, ftp and/or xml. The appraisal records database
110 may use OCR and/or ICR to extract the appraisal data 111 from
the appraisal form and/or may convert the appraisal data 111 into a
consistent, structured file format. A user may also manually input
the appraisal data 111 into the graphical user interfaces and then
the appraisal data 111 is received by the appraisal records
database 110.
[0026] FIG. 3 is a blank graphical user interface that shows the
different input fields for the appraisal data 111 that the
appraiser fills in for the subject property according to an
embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a graphical user interface
showing exemplary appraisal data 111 filled into the different
input fields for the subject property according to an embodiment of
the invention. The appraiser may use a hand-held device (e.g.,
iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.) or other processing device to access a
graphical user interface to input the appraisal data 111 (1305).
The appraisal data 111 may include an appraiser's name, license
number and state of the license. The appraisal data 111 may also
include an address, a sale price, a sale date, a location, a type
of leasehold, a lot size, a home size (i.e., gross living area), a
view, a design and appeal, a quality of construction, an age or
year built, a condition, a bedroom count, a bathroom count, a roof
type, a functional utility, a heating/cooling type, energy
efficient items, a number of garages, and an amenities list of the
property.
[0027] The appraiser may provide the appraisal data 111 for one or
more comparable properties (e.g., Comparable No. 1, Comparable No.
2 and Comparable No. 3) as shown in FIG. 2. The appraiser may
select Add Another Comparable (FIG. 3), which causes FIG. 4 to be
displayed and allows the appraiser to input appraisal data 111 for
comparable property 1. The appraiser may select Add Another
Comparable (FIG. 4), which causes FIG. 5 to be displayed and allows
the appraiser to input appraisal data 111 for comparable property
2. The appraiser may select Add Another Comparable (FIG. 5), which
causes FIG. 6 to be displayed and allows the appraiser to input
appraisal data 111 for comparable property 3. More than 3
comparable properties can be added using similar graphical user
interfaces.
[0028] Referring to FIG. 1, the appraisal records database 110
stores the appraisal data 111 received from the appraisal report
105 or the appraiser. The appraisal records database 110 stores the
appraisal data 111 for each property as a separate record. The
appraiser may determine or input the appraisal data 111 for a
number of properties that are considered comparable to the subject
property and may transmit the appraisal data 111 to the appraisal
records database 110. The appraisal records database 110 can be any
type of storage device.
[0029] The public records database 115 stores property data 116
received from a third party provider such as First American
Corporation or a county or city office (1310). The public records
database 115 stores the property data 116 for each property as a
separate record. The property data 116 may include details about
the subject property and the comparable properties. The property
data 116 for each property may include an address, a sale price, a
sale date, a location, a type of leasehold, a lot size, a home size
(i.e., gross living area), a view, a design and appeal, a quality
of construction, an age or year built, a condition, a bedroom
count, a bathroom count, a roof type, a functional utility, a
heating/cooling type, energy efficient items, a number of garages,
and an amenities list of the property. The public records database
115 can be any type of storage device.
[0030] The appraisal records database 110 and the public records
database 115 may be coupled via a wireless or wired link to a
distributed computer network 120. The distributed computer network
120 can be the Internet or other network capable of receiving and
transmitting data. The distributed computer network 120 can be a
private or a public network. The distributed computer network 120
may be coupled via a wireless or wired link to a processing module
125. In one embodiment, the appraisal records database 110 and the
public records database 115 are coupled between the distributed
computer network 120 and the processing module 125.
[0031] The processing module 125 may be a processor, a controller
or other device capable of comparing, extracting, processing,
retrieving, transmitting, and validating data. The processing
module 125 may include an appraisal guidelines module 130, an
appraisal data module 135, a property data module 140, a
discrepancy rules module 145, a validation and scoring module 150,
a validation rules module 155, an appraisal report module 160, a
discrepancy report module 165, and an appraiser report module 170.
All the modules may be implemented using software, hardware, and
combinations thereof.
[0032] The appraisal guidelines module 130 includes appraisal
guidelines such as the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal
Practice (USPAP) appraisal guidelines. The USPAP are the
established requirements for professional appraisal practice, which
may include the minimum foundation for the development of an
appraisal and the reporting of the results. In addition,
statistical perspectives are important to the accurate
interpretation of data and the development of assumptions made to
reach a value conclusion. The appraisal guidelines may include a
list of guidelines that should be met for the appraisal report 105.
The appraisal guidelines module 130 may verify that the appraisal
data 111 meets appraisal guidelines (1315).
[0033] The appraisal data module 135 includes the appraisal data
111 for the subject property and all comparable properties.
[0034] The public records data module 140 includes the property
data 116 for the subject property and all comparable
properties.
[0035] The discrepancy rules module 145 allows clients to establish
client-by-client discrepancy rules (exemplary discrepancy rules
shown in FIG. 7) that define acceptable and unacceptable severity
levels based on any discrepancies between the supplied appraisal
data 111 from the appraiser and the property data 116 from the
public records database 115. Hence, the discrepancy rules module
145 can detect appraisal fraud if the number of medium and/or high
severities is greater than a specified amount. The discrepancy
rules module 145 may display a graphical user interface as shown in
FIG. 7 to allow clients to set their risk management and
discrepancy rules that fit well with their overall risk tolerance
and operational guidelines. Using the discrepancy rules module 145,
the client may provide a list of appraisal items and one or more
discrepancy amounts or rules for each appraisal item in the list
(1320, 1325). For example, the client may provide a medium
discrepancy amount (1) and a high discrepancy amount (3) for the
gross living area (see FIG. 7). The appraisal items may include a
sale price, a sale date, a gross living area, a lot size, a number
of bedrooms, a number of bathrooms, a year built, and a distance
from the subject property. A discrepancy rule can be set for each
appraisal item listed on the appraisal report 105. For example, the
client may set discrepancy rules for the sale price at 1% greater
than public records for medium severity and at 3% greater than
public records for high severity. The client may input a medium
severity discrepancy amount and a high severity discrepancy amount
for each appraisal item listed on the appraisal report 105.
[0036] In addition, the client may receive one or more validation
rules. The validation rules may include (1) there is an undisclosed
sale on the subject or a comparable, (2) there are 1 or more high
severity differences between user-provided data and the public
records data, (3) there are 2 or more medium severity differences
between user-provided data and the public record data, (4) the
appraiser's license is not current or broker's license associated
with the appraiser is not current, and (5) the appraiser has not
signed the appraisal form (validation of signature or presence of
signature) (1330). The client may set a fail flag for one or more
validation rules (1335). A set fail flag indicates that if the
condition is met, the client will receive a fail notice indicating
that the appraisal data 111 meets the condition set by the
validation rule (1370, 1375). If a fail flag is set for a
validation rule and the validation rule is met, the validation
rules module 155 transmits a failed condition to the validation and
scoring module 150. The client may create the validation rules
based on the client's needs.
[0037] The validation and scoring module 150 may receive the
appraisal guidelines to ensure that the appraisal data 111 meets or
exceeds the appraisal guidelines. For example, the validation and
scoring module 150 may ensure that the appraisal report 105
includes all the required information in the correct format and no
necessary fields have been left blank. The validation and scoring
module 150 may extract the appraisal data 111 from the appraisal
report 105 or receive the appraisal data 111 from the appraisal
records database 110, receive the property data 116 from the
property records database 115 or the property data module 140 and
compare the appraisal data 111 to the property data 116 to
determine whether the appraisal data 111 is within a discrepancy
amount of the property data 116 (1340). The validation and scoring
module 150 may determine whether each item of the appraisal data
111 is within a discrepancy amount of each corresponding item of
the property data 116 and if so, validates each item of the
appraisal data 111, and if not, determine the severity level using
the set discrepancy amounts or rules (1345, 1350, 1355, 1360,
1365). The validation and scoring module 150 may use the appraisal
guidelines, the discrepancy rules and/or the validation rules to
validate the veracity of the appraisal data 111 (i.e., the content
in the appraisal form including the subject property and the
comparables).
[0038] The validation and scoring module 150 may also determine the
accuracy of the data provided by the appraiser for the comparable
properties. For example, the validation and scoring module 150 may
determine the distance from each comparable to the subject
property, whether the distance falls within a proper guideline to
be considered a comparable property, whether any obstacles or
blights such as railroad tracks or freeways exist near or between
the subject property and any of the comparable properties, whether
the comparable is within the same subdivision or within the same
census tract as the subject property, whether the comparable
property is an accurate comparable to the subject property, whether
the property data includes other comparable properties that are
more comparable (i.e., a property that would adversely affect the
valuation) than the comparable properties identified by the
appraiser, and compare the sale prices of the comparable properties
to the sale price of the subject property and validate that the
sale prices of the comparable properties are within a certain
percentage (e.g., 10%) of the sale price of the subject property.
Using the property data 116 for the subject property, the
validation and scoring module 150 retrieves other comparable
properties from the public records database 115. The other
comparable properties may be selected based on one or more of the
following: a sale price, a sale date, a gross living area, a lot
size, a number of bedrooms, a number of bathrooms, a year built, a
distance from the subject property, obstacles or blights such as
railroad tracks or freeways near the subject property and/or the
comparable property, and the comparable property is within the same
subdivision or within the same census tract as the subject
property.
[0039] The validation and scoring module 150 may also track usage
and audit trails for compliance, apply USPAP and Federal National
Mortgage Association (FNMA) appraisal validation rules to the
appraisal data 111 and to check the range of values in the
neighborhood in the past 12 months, for example, and what is the
variance outside the range.
[0040] The appraisal report module 160 provides detailed
information about the subject property and any comparable
properties as provided by the appraiser. The discrepancy report
module 165 generates and provides the discrepancy report to the
client.
[0041] The appraiser report module 170 generates and provides a
list of appraisers and lists the number of medium severity, high
severity and failed appraisal reports associated with each
particular appraiser. The medium severity may be weighted less than
the high severity. The high severity may be weighted less than the
failed appraisal reports. Each appraiser may be assigned an
appraisal score from for example 1 to 1000 based on the number of
medium severity, high severity and failed appraisal reports. The
higher score may indicate a better appraisal having a lower number
of medium severity, high severity and failed appraisal reports.
[0042] The appraiser reports may be organized in a number of ways.
For example, each appraiser report may list the appraiser's name
and license number, an appraisal score and a turn time (i.e., the
number of days it takes the appraiser to complete the appraisal)
for each appraisal performed by the particular appraiser, an
aggregate appraisal score and an average appraisal score based on
their entire portfolio of appraisal scores. In addition, the list
may include an indicator (e.g., default, repurchase, etc.) and a
number of the appraiser's properties that have moved into a default
or repurchase state. The appraisal report can sort the appraisers
based on one or more of the following: aggregate appraisal score,
average appraisal score, default number or rate, repurchase number
or rate, and average turn time. The appraisal records database 110
can store the appraiser reports information.
[0043] FIGS. 8A and 8B are exemplary discrepancy reports using
exemplary appraisal data 111 and exemplary property data 116
according to an embodiment of the invention. The discrepancy report
module 165 outputs a discrepancy report, which lists the appraisal
items, the number of medium severity discrepancies and the number
of high severity discrepancies (1380). The discrepancy report shows
a discrepancy amount, a discrepancy percentage, and a severity
level between the appraisal data 111 and the property data 116 for
each discrepancy rule and/or for each validation rule. The
discrepancy report is provided for the subject property and any
comparable properties identified by the appraiser. In addition, the
discrepancy report provides other comparable properties identified
by the validation and scoring module 150 (shown in FIG. 8b as
Analyzer's Top Comparables). The discrepancy report can be provided
in Word, HTML or batch file format. The discrepancy may color-code
all the discrepancies based on severity.
[0044] FIG. 9 is a map of the results identifying the subject
property, the comparables from the appraiser, and the comparables
from the validation and scoring module 150 according to an
embodiment of the invention (1380). For example, the subject
property is shown using a star, the comparables from the appraiser
is shown using circles, and the comparables from the validation and
scoring module 150 is shown using flags. The map feature allows an
appraisal reviewer to determine subjectively if the comparables
provided by the appraiser appear to be the best comparables for the
subject property.
[0045] FIGS. 10A and 10B are graphical user interfaces used by a
client to input the appraisal data 111 from the appraisal report
105 and select the discrepancy amounts for some of the appraisal
items listed on the appraisal report 105 according to an embodiment
of the invention. The graphical user interfaces may be
automatically filled in by the processing module 125.
[0046] FIGS. 11A and 11B are exemplary discrepancy reports using
exemplary appraisal data and exemplary property data according to
an embodiment of the invention.
[0047] FIG. 12 is a map of the results identifying the subject
property, the comparables from the appraiser, and the comparables
from the validation and scoring module according to an embodiment
of the invention.
* * * * *