Take Control of Your Appraisal Process

Many lenders rely on external appraisal management companies (AMCs) to handle appraisal ordering and coordination. While this approach ensures regulatory compliance with Dodd-Frank appraiser independence requirements, it comes at a significant cost: loss of control, reduced visibility, lower margins, and slower turn times. We walk through both sides of that trade in our breakdown of in-house versus outsourced appraisal management.

Appraisal Host enables lenders to bring appraisal management in-house by providing robust software with built-in compliance controls. This allows lenders to manage their own appraiser panels, control the ordering process, and maintain complete visibility, all while supporting regulatory compliance through role-based separation you configure and a documented record of it. Our guide to appraisal management software for lenders covers how that works order by order.

For lenders who want to maintain control over their appraisal process without the complexity of building custom systems, Appraisal Host provides the high-performance infrastructure needed to run compliant, efficient in-house appraisal management operations.

What does the desk see across an order's life?

Each order keeps its own timeline: every status change, who posted it, when, the note that came with it, and any file attached to it. Alongside that sits a file access log showing which documents were pulled and by whom, and, where separate client and appraiser due dates are in use, both of those dates on the order itself. Anything left sitting beyond the threshold your team set for its stage lands on the overdue view your managers already watch. The compliance certificate is generated and filed when the report completes.

Which way does the data move on a connected loan origination system?

On the loan origination lane we run today, Byte Software, data moves in both directions, but as two separate mechanisms rather than one sync. Byte sends the order in as a MISMO valuation request, so the property, borrower, loan purpose, case numbers and order notes land on the order without anyone retyping them. That system then asks Appraisal Host for the order whenever it wants an update, and gets back the current status, the status note, and, once the report is complete, the report, the invoice and the compliance certificate as attached files. Our Byte Software LOS integration page sets out how the connection is arranged and what it carries.

Manual data entry between your loan origination system (LOS) and appraisal management creates bottlenecks, introduces errors, and wastes valuable processor time. Every loan requires property details, borrower information, and loan terms to be manually copied from the LOS to the appraisal ordering system, and then completed appraisals must be manually uploaded back into the loan file.

Appraisal Host integrates directly with your LOS through secure APIs, creating a unified workflow that eliminates manual data entry and provides real-time visibility into appraisal status without leaving your LOS interface.

By eliminating the manual handoffs between systems, LOS integration takes the retyping out of order placement, keeps the data accurate, and leaves the appraisal readable from inside the loan file. Learn more about our integration capabilities.