Mercury Network Appraisals for Less Time & Money

Maintaining Appraiser Independence for Lenders

The HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) mandates that lenders separate anyone on the sales side of the business (loan originators — the loan officers and loan processors) from appraisers, or that they put in place "prudent safeguards" to ensure that a commissioned employee can't influence an appraiser.  This is no simple task.  It totally changes the appraisal procedure and makes appraisals more costly for the consumer while putting the majority of the money into the hands of the AMC's that were created.  By eliminating the middle man you save time and money.

Avoid the AMC
On the surface, an obvious solution might seem to employ the services of an appraisal management company (AMC) to act as a firewall between the loan origination staff and the appraiser, but for many lenders that level of separation isn't practical or even desired. Plus, the overhead of the appraisal management company means an appraiser has to be willing to work for less than their normal fee typically a lot less.

Mercury Network solves this problem by operating in a "double blind" mode that hides the identity of the appraiser and the lender, making it easy for the two to communicate while still maintaining HVCC compliance. There are already tens of thousands of appraisers ready to accept orders, and the appraiser selection system lets you take into account factors like turnaround time, percentage of orders selected, proximity to subject and more for maximum flexibility.

For lenders that still allow loan originators to communicate directly with appraisers (which is allowed in many situations) they'll appreciate Mercury Network's audit trail of communications that ensures complete transparency during the entire process. Simply put: It's a solution that meets your needs as a lender no matter what level of separation you decide is prudent. And with Mercury Network, a lender can use the same appraisers they've known and trusted for years.

In addition to HVCC compliance, Mercury Network includes numerous time saving features to make the process of managing appraisal orders more efficient. One example is the delivery system used by the appraiser which incorporates a customizable set of review rules that run before the appraiser sends the report, thus increasing loan production staff efficiency with fewer resends..

It's likely you already depend on a la mode technology
Over 50% of all appraisal reports today come through a la mode in some way. Since 2002, a la mode's servers have managed tens of millions of appraisals for over 200,000 mortgage professionals. That same reliable backbone that has been behind thousands of appraiser's business websites is what's driving Mercury Network today. Of course, if you simply look at the bottom of your appraisal reports, chances are at least half of them have "a la mode" in the footer. So rest assured a la mode which has been producing real estate software since 1986 is no newcomer to the industry.

To learn more about how Mercury Network uses technology to streamline your workflow and allows you to remain HVCC compliant, visit Mercury Network at www.mercuryvmp.com. Or contact a la mode, creators of the Mercury Network, at 1-800-434-7260.