The Future of Home Appraisals

Having an appraisal of a home done is absolutely necessary in order to determine the value of the property. Lenders need to be sure that the amount of money requested by the borrower in a form of a mortgage is in line with the property they plan on purchasing. Without an appraisal, it’s very difficult for a buyer or seller to proceed. It’s also important to real estate agents who are trying to close deals with clients, as lenders require an appraisal to be carried out long before negotiations start to take place.  

The process of obtaining an appraisal has been more or less the same over the last few decades, and realtors today probably don’t remember a time where things were done any differently than they are now. Experts come to the property, and by using a variety of different criteria, they are able to appropriately price it. The process can be rather long and tedious and those who have gone through the appraisals time and time again would likely say that they wish there was an easier way to go about it.  

Thus, the future might be looking up when it comes to home appraisals. Here’s how:  

Using Technology to Automate Appraisals

The appraisal process and technology, unfortunately, don’t really go hand in hand. But, technology is gradually making its way into the real estate industry, especially in terms of the appraisal process. This year, three best friends got together to build a $5 million start-up called “Bowery Valuation” which will take the appraisal process to the next level. One of the biggest investors has been Cushman & Wakefield, which is sure to give the company the appeal it needs.  

Bowery Valuation won’t completely automate everything about the appraisal process just yet. Right now, it’s a tool that appraisal experts can use to make their job a lot easier. Instead of needing to continuously write down repetitive information, snap photos, and read through records of the property, with Bowery Valuation, things like public record data are pulled in automatically. Then, appraisers can use the tool to produce reports by answering subject-level data questions based on natural language, helping appraisers to drastically reduce the time they’d normally spend doing their job.  

However, as innovative as Bowery Valuation is, the current focus of this technology is solely on commercial properties. But, no matter what kind of real estate business you’re in, it’s curious to see how this will transition into other fields of real estate in the next couple of years. With a quicker and more efficient appraisal process, buying and selling a home can and would be easier than ever before.  

What do you think about the way appraisals are currently being done and do you think a company like this will lead the way for appraisals in the future? Let us know!