While the world might be slowly getting back to normal, the housing boom is far from over. With listing prices continuing to skyrocket, appraisers are still having to manage high demands. There’s also been an increase in the number of appraised values coming in below the purchase price. HousingWire recently spoke to Brian Zitin, CEO at Reggora, on the common challenges facing appraisers and how those challenges can be alleviated.
HousingWire: How have today’s high listing prices impacted the appraisal process?
Brian Zitin: The high listing prices have certainly created an even more stressful appraisal experience for the borrower. There has been an increase in frequency of appraised values coming in below the purchase price, which means the borrower does not know whether they will be able to successfully get a mortgage amount that provides proper liquidity to them. On the appraiser side, they similarly have more pressure on them—both in terms of tension around the opinion of value but also to get the appraisal done quickly. As the market has heated up, consumers have begun competing more and more against cash offers, so the speed with which they can secure a mortgage is crucial.
HW: What are some common challenges you’re seeing with appraisals and valuations?
BZ: Overall turn time continues to be a challenge due to both the continued pattern of demand outpacing the supply of appraisers across the market, and the inefficiencies when it comes to ordering, scheduling, and delivering appraisals. This has caused upward momentum on appraisal prices as well, anywhere from 20% to even 100+% from the original fee as lenders request rushed appraisals much more commonly. As a result, the consumer either has increased closing costs or the lender is eating the fee and reducing their margin. As appraisal turn time is a primary focus for Reggora, we are highly focused on helping to fix and streamline the appraisal logistics to alleviate these challenges for lenders, appraisers and borrowers alike.
HW: How does Reggora serve both the lender and the appraiser to alleviate those challenges?
BZ: Reggora provides a modern software workflow solution which helps to streamline and automate the manual processes associated with the appraisal process. For lenders, the platform provides reporting and intelligence around vendor performance, fees, vendor capacities, order pipeline and statuses and much more. All this makes it easier for lenders to fulfill appraisals efficiently.
For appraisers, we provide free software that helps them spend less time and money on tedious tasks and more time on appraising. The platform enables appraisers to receive orders from current and new lenders, seamlessly manage their business through company management features, and improve transparency and organization.
HW: How does Reggora simplify the appraisal process?
BZ: Reggora’s primary objective is to simplify the appraisal process for everyone involved, and our platform is designed with that in mind. We automate previously manual pieces of the process to help the process move along quickly and smoothly. While automation and speed is crucial, we recognize that lenders also need to maintain certain levels of control and flexibility. Therefore we’ve designed our workflows to be highly configurable, allowing lenders to meet the unique needs of their teams and branches. With this type of automation built into workflows, our lender customers have reported saving up to 20 minutes of manual work per loan file.
In addition, our platform uses API integrations to seamlessly connect with lenders’ loan origination systems and points of sale. Not only does this simplify the synchronizing and access of data across systems, it also creates valuable levels of transparency for all stakeholders in the appraisal process.
Thanks to their advanced platform and manual process, Reggora is able to simplify the appraisal process for lenders, appraisers and borrowers.
