TransUnion, a company that provides services for residential lenders, today announced the launch of a semi-automated property valuation tool that is intended to provide accurate values when traditional automated models are inadequate but a physical property inspection is not required.
The new tool, called Appraiser Assisted Collateral Market Value, is based on the company’s automated valuation model, called Collateral Market Value. The tool is designed to incorporate data that is entered by local market appraisers and information from national property sales databases, local multiple listing services and public record data on tax assessments.
Users of the tool can adjust a property’s characteristics and add comparable properties not identified by the automated valuation program.
“This is another example of how we are focusing our solutions and capabilities on creating greater efficiencies and helping to mitigate risk for our customers,” said Bruce Schulkins, director of automated valuation services for TransUnion’s Real Estate Services division, in a statement. “We can now reach out and offer this additional benefit to more lenders, in more locations, for loans with varying levels of risk and complexity.”
Lenders can use the Appraiser Assisted Collateral Market Value tool to check the accuracy of appraisals used on incoming loans, which can assist in locating inflated appraisal values. Also, lenders can use the tool for portfolio reviews and to verify the collateral’s value on a delinquent account in the loss mitigation process, according to the company announcement.
TransUnion’s portfolio of valuation options includes pre-decision qualifier reports, photo and condition reports, automated valuation models, analyst assisted AVMs, desktops, broker price opinions and full appraisals.
TransUnion Real Estate Services is a subsidiary of TransUnion LLC. Founded in 1968, Chicago-based TransUnion employs 4,100 associates that support clients in about 30 countries.
