Apps and Digital Tools for Appraisers

By on September 11, 2026   /   adjustments, AMCs, appraisal charts and graphs, ROVs   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: Apps and Digital Tools for Appraisers,
AMCs and Value Pressure,
Deleted MLS Photos

September 11, 2026

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA AD: Vacant Land: Make Sure You are Appraising the Right Property
  • Essential Mobile Apps and Digital Tools for Appraisers in 2026
  • From Postwar Housing Solution to ‘Brady Bunch’ Fame—Is the Split-Level Home Ready for a Comeback?
  • Readiness Extends Beyond the Appraiser’s Report By Laurie Egan
  • MY AD: Bracketing Has No Empirical Support and Encourages Bias By Tim Andersen, MAI
  • Valutrust Turns the ROV Into a Pressure Tool
  • A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words – Until it is Deleted
  • My UAD 3.6 News – Nov. 2??, GSEs change to residential highest and best use and reporting for UAD 3.6
  • MBA Stats: Mortgage applications decreased 2.7 percent from one week earlier

 

 

Essential Mobile Apps and Digital Tools for Appraisers in 2026

Excerpts: The appraisal profession is becoming increasingly digital. Mobile devices, cloud-based platforms, workflow automation, and data-driven reporting tools are changing how you collect information, analyze markets, and communicate results.

As you prepare for industry changes such as UAD 3.6 and the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR), now is a great time to evaluate the tools you use every day.

While no single app will solve every challenge, the right combination of mobile and desktop tools can help you improve productivity, stay organized, and create a more efficient workflow.

The categories below highlight several types of digital tools and apps to consider as you build a technology stack that supports your appraisal business into the future.

Jump to a Section

  • More Appraisal Technology Resources
  • Property Inspection and Data Collection Tools
  • Mapping, GIS, and Location Research Tools
  • Sketching and Measurement Tools
  • Productivity and Organization Tools
  • Communication and Collaboration Tools
  • AI and Emerging Technology Tools
  • Choosing the Right Technology Stack
  • Preparing for the Future of Appraisal

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Comprehensive and worth reading the details.

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5 Excel Resources and How-To Guides for Appraisers

By on January 9, 2026   /   appraisal business, appraisal charts and graphs, forecast, state appraiser regulators, USPAP   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: Forecasts, Appraisal Forgery,
Excel Appraiser Resources

January 9, 2026

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA ad: A Case of Forgery
  • 5 Excel Resources and How-To Guides for Appraisers
  • Appraisal By Jim Amorin, MAI
  • Rare Sculptural Masterpiece by Architect Charles Haertling Hits the Market in Boulder for Under $4 Million
  • USPAP and the State Board By Timothy Andersen, The Appraiser’s Advocate
  • 2026 Housing Market Forecast: The Great Recalibration Appraisal By Kevin Hecht
  • When Protecting Tenants Starts With Targeting Property Rights By Desiree Mehbod
  • MBA: Mortgage applications decreased 9.7 percent from two weeks earlier

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5 Excel Resources and How-To Guides for Appraisers

By Jim Amorin, MAI

Excerpts: Are you getting the most out of Excel in your real estate appraisal work? If you’ve ever found yourself drowning in data or spending too much time on tedious tasks, it’s time to transform how you complete your appraisal tasks.

We’ll dive into five essential functions that can streamline your appraisal process and boost your efficiency as well as provide real-world examples to help you master these Excel tools and revolutionize your workflow.

VLOOKUP: Your Go-To for Vertical Data Retrieval

Imagine this: You’re working on an appraisal, and you need to verify the sale price of a property quickly. Instead of sifting through pages of data, VLOOKUP does the heavy lifting for you to pull information in a snap.

HLOOKUP: The Horizontal Companion

Now, let’s talk about HLOOKUP. If VLOOKUP is your vertical search tool, HLOOKUP is the horizontal counterpart. It’s perfect for those times when your data is organized across columns rather than rows.

XLOOKUP: The All-Rounder

XLOOKUP was introduced in 2019 as the successor to the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions. XLOOKUP empowers real estate appraisers to navigate vast datasets seamlessly and enhance the precision of their valuations.

IF Statements: Decision-Making Made Simple

In Excel, the IF statement acts like a swift decision-maker, constantly asking, “Is this true or false?” Based on the response to this straightforward yet powerful question, Excel takes a divergent path, calculating different outcomes for the true condition compared to the false one.

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My comments: Understandable. I had never heard of this software. Detailed answers on how to use the tools by an expert: Jim Amorin, MAI

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Crazy Appraiser Stories

By on January 2, 2026   /   appraisal, appraisal charts and graphs, humor, non lender appraisals, real estate market   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: Crazy Appraiser Stories,
How to Do Regression, Resolutions

CHANGE YOUR TEMPLATES!!

January 2, 2026

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA AD: Borrower Wants Answers Appraiser Can’t Give
  • Off the Rails: Crazy Appraiser Stories
  • Inside Pacific Palisades’ Most Expensive Home—a $39.5 Million Hilltop Marvel
  • How to Build a Regression Model in Excel: A Guide for Real Estate Appraisers by Jim Amorin
  • Why Resolve anything? By George Dell, MAI
  • MBA, Fannie Mae see 2027 (and 2026) housing markets very differently
  • MBA STATS – None This Week

Crazy Appraiser Stories!!

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Off the Rails: Crazy Appraiser Stories

You’ve all got stories of crazy inspections: eccentric collections, mysterious apparitions, and unorthodox decor. Here are a few we found to be the most Buzzworthy.

Excerpts: Reflections

My assignment: a log home in the middle of the city. I go into the owner’s suite, and right in the middle of the room is this built-in whirlpool tub up on a pedestal with velvet steps leading up to it. The whole ceiling is just mirrors. I think, How am I going to deal with this? The owner is so proud of this custom owner’s suite they’ve built.

It isn’t something that the normal market would want, so it has a certain…market impact, let’s say. I handled it by cost to cure.

—Jared Preisler

Let That Sink In

When I was an appraiser trainee, I was tagging along with my supervisor on a packed day of about eight appointments. It was mid-January in upstate New York. Trust me when I tell you it was COLD. First appointment, 9am: we finished walking through the inside of the home and headed outside. I began walking around the back yard (tall winter boots on, of course) when I suddenly realized I was about three feet lower than I had been moments ago. I looked down to see brown, icy water pooling around my feet. I struggled to comprehend what was happening as my boots became completely submerged. Seconds later, the homeowner cracked the door open just wide enough to shout, “Watch out for the koi pond! It’s probably covered in snow!”

I spent the rest of the day wearing socks I borrowed from a homeowner and plastic bags stuffed into my boots, while a swampy smell permeated my boss’s car. Lesson learned.

—KWAppraisalGroup

To read more, Click Here

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Few comps in 2026 for Appraisers

By on December 12, 2025   /   AMCs, appraisal, appraisal charts and graphs, MLS   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: Few comps in 2026, NAR Revises Nonmember Broker/Appraiser Access Policy

December 12, 2025

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA AD: Can’t Certify the Work
  • The problem with comps in 2026 (and the good news)
  • Gravity-Defying Colorado Mansion Designed by a Rocket Scientist Hits the Market for $2.7 Million
  • Creating a Histogram in Excel: A Guide for Appraisers
  • My ad: The AMC Conundrum in the Appraisal Business, By Dave Towne
  • NAR Revises Nonmember Broker/Appraiser Access Policy Language
  • MBA Mortgage applications increased 4.8 percent from one week earlier

Appraisers and Local Market Analysis

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The problem with comps in 2026 (and the good news)

By Ryan Lundquist

Excerpts: We have a problem with comps in real estate. There just aren’t that many, and it’s made it much more challenging to figure out value. Yet, this could get a little better in 2026.

WE’VE HAD A COMP PROBLEM FOR THREE YEARS:

We’ve been missing about 30% of the normal number of sales. This is true both locally and nationally. This chart from Calculated Risk shows the gravity of the situation as we’ve been flirting with historically low volume for three years now. And what this means is we’ve had 30% less comps to choose from. Yikes!! This is exactly why it’s been challenging to value properties.

THE BAD NEWS

We’re still poised to have historically low volume until there is a sharper change with affordability. The housing market simply feels stuck, and there isn’t a mechanism to quickly increase the number of buyers. In other words, it’s not going to be a market with robust volume for a long time since it’s going to take years to get buyers and sellers back. Yet, if the projection is correct about next year, it’s going to be something positive to get even a little more volume back. This isn’t standing ovation news, but maybe a golf clap is in order. And for my real estate friends, this is a solid reminder to stay focused.

SOMEONE WAS MAD AT ME FOR USING OLD COMPS

I had someone angry with me recently that I used much older sales as comps in a private appraisal. I tried to explain my rationale, but the person wasn’t willing to listen. Here’s the deal though. If there aren’t any recent comps, then we have two choices. Use older sales and adjust for how the market has changed, or go out further into other markets for more recent sales (doable, but not always ideal). In real estate textbooks, this issue doesn’t come up since there are always three model match sales over the past 90 days, but the real world is different. The truth is valuations today look a bit messy since we don’t have the luxury of ample recent sales. We simply have to do the best with what we have. Remember, when the market changes, how we do things sometimes has to change also.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Some interesting appraiser comments. This is a hot topic for appraisers now. Definitely a problem in most areas. What is your market like?

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Appraising with Inventory Shortages and Surpluses

By on December 5, 2025   /   appraisal, appraisal business, appraisal charts and graphs, real estate market   /   Leave a comment
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Newz: UAD Quality Ratings,

Appraising with Inventory Shortages and Surpluses

December 5, 2025

What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)

  • LIA AD: When a Property Owner Wants to Do the Appraiser’s Job
  • Understanding UAD Quality Ratings (Updated for UAD 3.6 and the New URAR)
  • Gothic-Inspired ‘Fairytale Castle’ in Miami’s Exclusive Coconut Grove Michigan Hits the Market for $24 Million
  • Navigating the Challenges of Inventory Shortages and Surpluses in Real Estate: Insights from a Chief Appraiser at a National AMC By Jim Jenkins, Chief Appraiser
  • What Is a Scatter Chart Analysis in Appraisal?
  • 53% of U.S. homes lost value in the past year, the most since 2012 – Zillow
  • MBA:  Mortgage applications decreased 1.4 percent from one week earlier

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Understanding UAD Quality Ratings (Updated for UAD 3.6 and the New URAR)

Excerpts: Quality ratings are one of the most familiar parts of UAD, but the way appraisers report them has changed under UAD 3.6 and the new dynamic Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR). While the Q1–Q6 scale remains in place, the way you apply, support, and reconcile quality is more structured and data-driven than in the legacy forms.

What “Quality” Means in UAD 3.6

In UAD 3.6, quality represents the materials, craftsmanship, and construction standards of a dwelling. The familiar Q1 through Q6 framework still applies, but the workflow is different:

Quality is no longer a single, form-level checkbox.

You now provide quality ratings in multiple places:

  • Exterior Quality Rating (Dwelling Exterior section)
  • Interior Quality Rating (Unit Interior section)
  • Kitchen and Bathroom Detail tables
  • Overall Quality (reconciled in Section 15)
  • The “overall” rating is informed by the component-level data you report in these earlier sections.

Other topics include:

  • What Does UAD Stand For?
  • What Are the Quality of Construction Ratings?
  • Breaking Down the UAD Quality Ratings (Q1–Q6)
  • How Quality Is Applied in the New URAR
  • Tips for Applying Quality Ratings Credibly

Final Thoughts

Quality ratings remain an important part of UAD, but the approach is more precise now. UAD 3.6 pushes appraisers to rely on observable details rather than broad descriptions or market norms. When you follow the definitions, support your ratings with the structured data, and reconcile logically, the quality rating becomes a clear and defensible part of your analysis.

To read more, Click Here

My comments: Comprehensive and well written. Worth reading.

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