E-ppraisal Inc. may have the right combination of useful new technology, and the humility to know it can't do everything. The 18 employee firm is focused on giving real estate appraisers a quick method of finding values of properties that can eliminate the traditional method of searching through listings of former sales and driving around neighborhoods looking for comparable homes. The company is also aiming its software at lenders, so they can quickly determine if a loan is going to work. The software helps eliminate a lot of the processing and research for appraisers, and can be done from a PC connected to E-ppraisal servers. E-ppraisal also is focused on lenders, since a quick appraisal of a property can give a bank a better understanding of its potential loan portfolio.
Appraisers can do more appraisals without losing quality.
A typical appraisal may take three to five days, but according to E-ppraisal, a customer armed with its software can get an appraisal done in less than 48 hours. Lenders use appraisals so they can determine how much to lend against a property. According to Kaiser, the company tested its system on 95,000 properties and came within five percent of the sales prices. Kaiser said that is a good enough percentage to make it useful for the appraisal business. The small company with 18 employees is the brainchild of Kaiser, who has past experience in banks and as an appraiser of properties.