A & E Appraisals Blog - Maricopa County Arizona - Real Estate Blog

Working RE Magazine recently featured an announcement that eTrac, an online web based appraisal management system, is offering appraisers an opportunity to sign up in the eTrac network for free.

FREE is always nice, right? So I signed up and began exploring some of eTrac’s offerings. The website states:

"The eTrac Network is designed to provide mortgage brokers, lenders, BPO management companies and consumers with access to qualified real estate professionals. The network can be accessed directly from our website at no cost or from within our management products. eTrac Enterprise Edition or OASIS for lender users have direct access to the entire network of real estate professionals. The system allows users to efficiently find, assign and receive services from thousands of qualified real estate professionals nationwide."

I am not sure, but it would appear that if you don’t have an eTrac website (pricing starting at $199/year) – how would you complete and send reports to the client ordering through the eTrac network?

My next stop was checking out the eTrac “Webforms” module. Another quote from the eTrac website:

"eTrac Web Forms is the newest way to produce your appraisal reports- entirely online, allowing appraisers to be completely mobile and autonomous. This unique approach to delivering software as a service will give appraisers what they really want- a simple solution that will work on their Windows PC, their IMAC, their iPhone, or any Internet browser based. No installs, no PDF drivers, no hassles. "

I found that eTrac offers the Webforms “lite” version for free. You can create new files and send them right from the web. The only limitations they claim for the free suite, is you can only access the last 20 files you create. You must upgrade to store more than 20 files. You can see it at http://www.appraiseanywhere.com.

While this module is free, I also noted some downsides:

There are no quick lists or drop-downs for entering and saving some of the common form phrases such as "Ranch" in the form. So for longer comments, you type it all in - and likely would type it "off line" since if you lose your internet connection after typing in three paragraphs into the Additional Comments section - and lose what you were typing? AARRRHHGGG!
You have to upload each and every image including maps for comp locations.
It does appear there is "over flow" in the forms to the addendum. However, if you copy a three paragraph area, it only keeps the first line from where the break is - you'd have to re-paste or type in your text.
You have to set up signature files with an appraiser profile. There is a password protection with this - but I found no where on the eTrac or http://www.AppraiseAnywhere.com site where it discusses security of these features? Basically, I signed up for a Demo of the AppraiseAnywhere.com site - and can effectively complete a report there (although it would take me about 15 times as long as compared to using WinTOTAL by a la mode, inc., due to the lack of quick lists, integrated photo database, etc) - but hey...it's free right? But where is the element of security for my signature or the data which is nicely typed into individual fields? Any worry of data mining here? I am not saying they DO this - but there is no where I found on the Webforms site or eTrac in general which discusses security of the data? Even the FAQ at http://myetrac.com/faq.asp does not give much on this issue.
It is interesting that when creating a new file, you can import an AIReady file. So if you are a lender, mortgage broker, etc - and perhaps have an AIReady file sent to you...can you import that into this forms package and do some editing? OOhhh...that makes me even more scared of AIReady delivery!

Just for giggles, I took one of my files and created an AIReady file (*.env file) - and then uploaded it to the eTrac Webforms program. It uploaded and allowed me to open and view the file in Webforms.

I can view all the pages that transferred. I then sent myself the file from Webforms - and it sent me a link to view a PDF file. Lo and behold - the PDF produced from this imported ENV is MUCH different from MY PDF file! Many sections didn't keep all the text as the formatting was changed - so some comments are truncated. The address city, state, zip of the comps is blank.

For example, my original WinTOTAL form shows: (click image to view in full)

But the ENV file, imported into eTrac shows : (Click image to view in full)

Ouch - missed a couple of lines of important text, huh? Not to mention - you could take the ENV file, import it, and then only print/email a PDF containing pages you want. So what if I have 6 pages of scope of work from David Braun's USL Documenter included in my report? What if the client didn't like all that "extra stuff" and just wanted to send 10 pages of a 32 page report?

Ouch - they could repackage this pretty easily just importing that ENV file and make it one continuous looking file! My WinTOTAL software produced PDF has page #s - so if you see page 22, 23, 31......you know some got dropped in the printing process! But use an AIReady ENV file - and repackage it pretty easily with this FREE Webforms program!

I know there are many other products out there which can crack your PDF security. At least this module doesn't allow you to change the text in the Webforms area....but you can sure change photos! I took this file and uploaded new photos.

What if you had an addendum detailing deferred maintenance which was eliminated, and then someone could even easily upload new photos of another home because the subject looked "less than desirable"? All too easy using Webforms and an AIReady file.

So, my review of Webforms by eTrac leaves some gaping questions to be answered - and my warnings to those using it would be to consider the liability of a web hosted form program which does not detail how the data is stored and how (if at all) it will be used by you.....or others.

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AUTHOR: Richard D Ferris - AmcAppraisalsinc.com - Servicing all of Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, and Seminole Counties. Also servicing Deltona, Deland, and Orange City in Volusia County. - Phone 877-789-5249or email me: richard@amcappraisalsinc.com

AZ Real Estate Commentary

Review: eTrac Webforms - Is free really free?