Method and apparatus for validating an appraisal report and providing an appraisal score

Abstract

A computer-based method for validating an appraisal report includes receiving appraisal data for a property, receiving property data for the property, verifying the appraisal data meets an appraisal guideline, providing a list of appraisal items that are present in the appraisal data, providing a medium discrepancy amount and a high discrepancy amount for the list of appraisal items, calculating a difference amount between the appraisal data and the property data for each appraisal item, and comparing the difference amount to the medium discrepancy amount and the high discrepancy amount.

1 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium for identifying a discrepancy between a comparable property used by a real estate appraiser and a more relevant comparable property that was not used by the real estate appraiser, the medium comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by processor circuitry cause the processor circuitry to:
 receive over a communications network and through a data communications interface the appraisal input data for a property, said appraisal input data comprising data describing the comparable property used by the appraiser to appraise the property;   identify a list of appraisal items that are present in the appraisal input data which form a basis on which the appraisal was performed, the list of appraisal items being attributes of the property;   query via the processor circuitry whether a public records database to determine whether one or more other comparable properties are (i) closer to the property than the comparable property used by the appraiser, and/or (ii) more characteristically similar to the comparable property used by the appraiser at least with respect to sales date, lot size, and number of bathrooms and/or bedrooms; and   using a result of the query, automatically generating and displaying on a web page a ranked list of the other comparable properties that are identified in the query so that any of the other comparable properties that are ranked higher than the comparable property used by the appraiser are identified on the web page as the more relevant comparable property.   
     
     
         2 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes displaying the ranked list of the other comparable properties along with the comparable property used by the appraiser. 
     
     
         3 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes generating and displaying a field indicative of whether the more relevant comparable was identified by the appraiser. 
     
     
         4 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes generating and displaying a listing summary of the property along with the ranked list of the other comparable properties. 
     
     
         5 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the property data is selected from a group consisting of an address, a sale price, a sale date, a location, a type of leasehold, a lot size, a home size, a view, a design and appeal, a quality of construction, an age or year built, a condition, a bedroom count, a bathroom count, a roof type, a functional utility, a heating/cooling type, energy efficient items, a number of garages, an amenities list of the property, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the medium further comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by processor circuitry cause the processor circuitry to perform steps comprising:
 setting a user-established discrepancy threshold;   calculating with the processor a difference amount between each appraisal item and a corresponding attribute of the one or comparable properties, the difference amount being a financial value amount for a sales price, and the difference amount being a quantity for appraisal items that are characterized by quantity.   
     
     
         7 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 6 , wherein the medium further comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by processor circuitry cause the processor circuitry to perform steps comprising
 determining an existence of a potentially invalid comparable when the difference amount exceeds the user-established discrepancy threshold.   
     
     
         8 . The machine-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the medium further comprising computer-readable instructions that when executed by processor circuitry cause the processor circuitry to perform steps comprising
 identifying an appraisal report from the appraiser as being potentially fraudulent when the potentially invalid comparable is included in the appraisal report.   
     
     
         9 . A method to identify a more relevant comparable property that was not used by a real estate appraiser when appraising a property comprising:
 receiving over a communications network and through a data communications interface the appraisal input data for a property, said appraisal input data comprising data describing the comparable property used by the appraiser to appraise the property;   identifying a list of appraisal items that are present in the appraisal input data which form a basis on which the appraisal was performed, the list of appraisal items being attributes of the property;   querying a public records database to identify one or more other comparable properties that are (i) closer to the property than the comparable property used by the appraiser, and/or (ii) more characteristically similar to the comparable property used by the appraiser at least with respect to sales date, lot size, and number of bathrooms and/or bedrooms; and   using a result of the query, automatically generating and displaying on a web page a ranked list of the other comparable properties that are identified in the query so that any of the other comparable properties that are ranked higher than the comparable property used by the appraiser are identified as the more relevant comparable property.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes displaying the ranked list of the other comparable properties along with the comparable property used by the appraiser. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes generating and displaying a field indicative of whether the comparable was identified by the appraiser. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the automatically generating and displaying includes generating and displaying a listing summary of the property along with the ranked list of the other comparable properties. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the property data is selected from a group consisting of an address, a sale price, a sale date, a location, a type of leasehold, a lot size, a home size, a view, a design and appeal, a quality of construction, an age or year built, a condition, a bedroom count, a bathroom count, a roof type, a functional utility, a heating/cooling type, energy efficient items, a number of garages, an amenities list of the property, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 setting a user-established discrepancy threshold; and   calculating with the processor a difference amount between each appraisal item and a corresponding attribute of the one or comparable properties, the difference amount being a financial value amount for a sales price, and the difference amount being a quantity for appraisal items that are characterized by quantity.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising
 determining an existence of a potentially invalid comparable when the difference amount exceeds the user-established discrepancy threshold.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising
 identifying an appraisal report from the appraiser as being potentially fraudulent when the potentially invalid comparable is included in the appraisal report.   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus configured to identify a more relevant comparable property that was not used by a real estate appraiser when appraising a property comprising:
 circuitry configured to
 receive over a communications network and through a data communications interface the appraisal input data for a property, said appraisal input data comprising data describing the comparable property used by the appraiser to appraise the property; 
 identify a list of appraisal items that are present in the appraisal input data which form a basis on which the appraisal was performed, the list of appraisal items being attributes of the property; 
 query a public records database to identify one or more other comparable properties that are (i) closer to the property than the comparable property used by the appraiser, and/or (ii) more characteristically similar to the comparable property used by the appraiser at least with respect to sales date, lot size, and number of bathrooms and/or bedrooms; and 
 use a result of the query, automatically generating and displaying on a web page a ranked list of the other comparable properties that are identified in the query so that any of the other comparable properties that are ranked higher than the comparable property used by the appraiser are identified as the more relevant comparable property. 
   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to display the ranked list of the other comparable properties along with the comparable property used by the appraiser. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to generate and display a field indicative of whether the comparable was identified by the appraiser. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to generate and display a listing summary of the property along with the ranked list of the other comparable properties.