Clear Capital, a national real estate valuation company, announced today the launch of two desktop appraisal products, according to a press release shared with FinLedger.
The two products, Desktop Appraisal and Desktop Data Collection, are both aligned with standards recently established by GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The products are designed to provide a modern, time-efficient appraisal process for mortgage lenders.
“The recent additions of desktop appraisals to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s selling guides were an important milestone for our industry, as the desktop option can help deliver more timely appraisals while mitigating appraiser capacity restraints and helping to standardize property data collection,” stated Duane Andrews, CEO of Clear Capital, in the release.
Desktop Appraisal is a GSE-compliant 1004 Desktop/70D residential appraisal tool that Clear Capital says can deliver reliable opinions of values with price certainly consistent with traditional appraisals, but at a faster speed.
“Through our Desktop Appraisal solution, seasoned appraisers can deliver an opinion of value up to 50% faster than a traditional appraisal, meaning mortgage lenders can confidently close loans faster for their customers,” Andrews said.
The company’s Desktop Data Collection product is a certified, background check tool that uses a property data gathering service to capture information and photos. It also generates high-fidelity (HiFi) floor plans with interior walls and ANSI-aligned digital gross living area (GLA), according to the release.
The property data gathering service utilizes a network of certified data collectors, namely real estate agents or brokers on Clear Capital’s panel, who coordinate with property contacts to complete residential property data collection.
After these collectors gather property condition information, the data is reviewed for quality assurance and then supplied to an Appraisal Management Company (AMC) or direct-engagement appraiser panel of the lender’s choosing.
“Our experienced panel provides coverage across 90% of the U.S., meaning lenders can broadly adopt Desktop Data Collection and quickly scale nationwide,” stated Dan McAlister, Director of Product Management at Clear Capital, in the release.
“The product can be easily integrated into many leading order management systems, simplifying the order process. Lenders can engage their existing AMC or direct-engagement appraiser panels to reliably complete the desktop appraisal with the necessary property data,” McAlister said.
Clear Capital also noted that lenders can purchase a package which includes both products, or choose to use Desktop Data Collection as a standalone product.
In other recent proptech news, Home365 raised a $26 million Series B for its property investment and management platform. Audience Town CEO Ed Carey also discussed using data to advertise and market along the home buying journey.