GAAR Viewer Assists Appraisal Reviewers, Underwriters

OXFORD, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FNC Inc.®, the mortgage technology company known for automating processes for the nation’s major lenders, has released a new product designed to make appraisal review more efficient.

The Web-based workflow software, GAAR Viewer, works hand-in-hand with one of FNC’s flagship products, the Generally Accepted Appraisal Rules™ (GAAR®)—software that scours appraisal reports for any regulatory compliance violations, as well as inconsistencies and excessive adjustments--possible indicators of unsupported values and/or fraud.

“This thorough, automated review tool serves as an assistant to the underwriter or reviewer, providing instant results of potential issues,” said Gwen Magrisso, GAAR project manager.

Designed to save time for reviewers and cut costs for banks, GAAR Viewer presents an on-screen view of the appraisal report with any rule firings and related fields on the appraisal report form highlighted in red. Reviewers, underwriters, QA professionals – any users of GAAR Viewer – can hover their cursor over the highlights to reveal the rule reference number and description of the potential violation.

For example, suppose an appraiser accidentally failed to answer a question that requires a checkmark in a “did” or “did not” question (“My research __did or __did not reveal any prior sales of the subject property…”). With GAAR Viewer, the question would be highlighted in red on an image of the appraisal report and the rule reference number and reason for firing would be available at a glance. The reviewer would then have an opportunity to decide next steps, which may include returning the appraisal report to the appraiser for correction.

“The result of using GAAR Viewer is a more accurate appraisal review and ultimately a more reliable appraisal report. For lenders, that means greater confidence in the property valuation on which their loans are supported,” said Karen Mogridge, FNC’s product manager for collateral data and analytics.