An Open Letter to the Appraisal Industry from Jeff Bradford of Bradford Technologies, Inc

The valuation profession is at a tipping point. Lenders are seeking valuations that meet their requirements and are spending billions of dollars on alternative valuation solutions because the appraiser community is not meeting their needs. Almost everyone agrees that our industry must change if it is to meet those needs and challenges. This year alone, there were two conferences and numerous white papers on re-engineering the appraisal process. At Bradford Technologies, we also agree that changes are needed.

For 23 years, our goal has always been to empower appraisers with software to complete an appraisal report faster, better and cheaper than the next guy. It’s a simple goal and we are very good at it. But the problems facing the industry today will not be solved by developing faster form fillers. Appraisers don’t need a better form filler (or form) - they need better analysis tools and better solutions to industry problems if they are going to effectively compete.

Today we are pleased to introduce CompCruncher™, a new class of software called Computer-Aided Appraisal Software.  Three years in the making, it puts appraisers squarely in the middle of the valuation process, giving them the ability to produce supportable, transparent, accurate valuations quickly.  We are also introducing a new data rich Collateral Valuation Report™ (CVR), and a rigorous education and training curriculum to ensure competency in the use of the analytics and software.

To ensure trust and reliability of the Collateral Valuation Report, we also developed the supporting infrastructure which includes services for identity authentication and On Document Verification to combat appraisal fraud. We developed technology for quantifying market knowledge and now have a service that ranks over 17,000 appraisers for geographic competence. And we developed online credential management for appraisers to bring additional transparency to the valuation process.

In addition, we partnered with national data providers to bring all the information an appraiser needs to their desktop – instantly - ready to be analyzed. For instance, we provide up to 500 sales with three year sales history, imagery, geospatial information, economic trends for forecasting in addition to integration with over 700 MLS systems. The end result is that a skilled appraiser using CompCruncher is able to provide their client with an accurate, supportable estimate of value in less than an hour. With our sophisticated forecasting module, values for 30 to 360 days out from the effective date can be estimated helping risk managers and portfolio managers make long term value projections.

Repeatedly, in blind test after test, results have shown that CompCruncher can assist a knowledgeable appraiser in producing supportable valuations that are accurate to within a few percentage points of the actual contract price. Generally the value estimates have taken less than an hour to produce.  Please download our white paper for a detailed description of the overall solution and test results (see the links at the end).

This analytical capability is unprecedented and so today we are also introducing a new concept in deploying software. The initial cost to use CompCruncher is simply the cost of education. Before anyone can use the software, they must successfully complete our education and training curriculum – which is our way of ensuring competency in the use of the analytics.  Thereafter the cost is a service transaction fee to cover the cost of data and our services.

For the last nine months, we’ve conducted tests across the country in partnership with one of the nation’s premier appraisal companies - Forsythe Appraisals, LLC. The property data varied widely but the analytics proved solid, consistently producing accurate results in record time. As Alan Hummel, Senior VP – Chief Appraiser of Forsythe Appraisals stated, “this is a game changer.”

Welcome to the New Era of Computer-Aided Appraisals.

Today, we have appraisers across the country using CompCruncher. Over the coming months we will be expanding our national network of appraisers skilled in the use of the software.  We will also be developing relationships with the lending and investment community to ensure their non-lending valuation needs are being met by “CompCruncher” skilled appraisers. Instead of ordering a BPO, we want them to order a CVR from an appraiser.

We are excited about the future of the appraisal profession. We believe that the technology and solutions we have developed (and will develop) will help advance the profession. During the development of CompCruncher, we explored, among other analytical techniques, the use of DNA software to analyze neighborhoods and 3D cluster analysis to view markets.  We are on our third generation and work has already begun on the fourth generation of CompCruncher.

It is our firm belief that appraisers equipped with the education, training and tools to systematically analyze markets are the best choice to meet the valuation needs of this country and reclaim the billion dollar alternative valuation market.

We are looking forward to working with all appraisers and industry leaders to ensure that the non-lending valuation needs of the financial community are met by a professional appraiser. We also look forward to working with Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and FHA/VA to incorporate these advances into their traditional residential valuation needs.

Our mission is clear and our goal is compelling - we want to empower appraisers with tools they need to reclaim the billion dollar alternative valuation market they have lost to inferior products.

It’s time for valuations and appraisers to move to the next level.  We are there.  Join us.

Respectfully,

Jeffery J. Bradford

CEO

Bradford Technologies

P.S. I encourage you to learn more about the work we are doing. Please stop by our booth at following conferences:

• Valuation 2009, Nov 8^th-11^th in New Orleans.

• Appraisal Institute Regional Conference. Nov 19^th in San Francisco.

• Appraisal Summit Conference, December 9^th-11^th in Las Vegas. On the 9^th we are offering five hours of CE credit on “Statistics in Appraising.”

• Visit our website at www.AppraisalWorld.com/CompCruncher.htm.

Download our whitepaper “Reclaiming the Billion Dollar Alternative Valuation Market: The Collateral Valuation Report” at www.AppraisalWorld.com/CompCruncher/Whitepaper.pdf