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CLIENT
MANAGEMENT
Performance Report from JP Morgan Chase
We recently conducted a “touch-point” call with managers from JP Morgan Chase to
discuss our performance in completing assignments for them over the past year. The
following summarizes the conversation.
Timing
– Turnaround times continue to compress, and it is critical that appraisal
vendors adhere to due dates to help ensure that the bank can properly service its
clients. In general, we are meeting the bank’s deadlines, but it is critical to inform
them when delays are expected due to lack of receiving data in a timely manner, or
for other reasons.
QC
– Our QC reviews need to be more robust, and the clients cited recent
assignments where quality need to be improved. As a general rule, the following
concerns need to be addressed:
•
We often do not properly explain some assumptions to the reader. The addition
of one or two sentences would be adequate to help the reader understand the
appraiser’s rationale.
•
Appraisers and QC reviewers sometimes need to step back and consider if the
value conclusion makes sense. It is easy to focus solely on the assumptions and not
consider the big picture.
•
We often include too many sales in what appears to be a data dump from our
extensive database. Including too many sales is not useful, and it complicates their
review process.
•
We need to “streamline the story” overall. They are aware that we have “amazing”
data, and that is one reason they hire us; however, the reports often include
information overload. All sections of the report must be concise and linked to the
subject property.
Market Analysis
– It seems that our market analyses and cash flow assumptions are
written by different people. Sometimes they do not agree and, worse, can appear to
conflict. One example given was concluding in the market analysis that the market
remains soft, but then growing market rent each year throughout the forecast. While
there may be valid reasons for this, no connection is made in the report.
Argus Enterprise
– The bank reviewers have now completed training and expect to
begin using the software in December.
Cushman Contacts
– The client asked for a list of area leaders, office managers, and
practice group leaders, including their contact information. The list was compiled by
Marketing and sent to the clients.
Collateral 360
– The bank is moving to a new bidding and awarding system known as
Collateral 360. The software should be fully rolled out in Q1 2018.
Data Mining
– JP Morgan Chase is looking to collect data from each appraisal for
inclusion in its database for benchmarking and risk management purposes. They
asked that we work with EDR (developer of Collateral 360) to construct an automated
interface to seamlessly upload the information to their database.
Conflicts
– We absolutely must avoid conflicts when accepting assignments from the
bank. JP Morgan Chase considers brokerage relationships as potential conflicts, so we
must disclose any such connections relating to a subject property to allow them to
decide if a conflict exists in their view.
7
VARA
CORNER
by Jim Morrissey
First, I’d like to welcome Andrew
Sherman to the VARA team. Andrew
is focusing on research and analytics
for commercial and retail properties
in Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
He graduated from the University of
Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science in
Communication and is currently working
toward a Master of Science in Real Estate
at New York University with an expected
completion date of 2018.
Everyone should have received an email
from Moody’s to sign up for online
access. We changed from an intranet
link to a log-in because the intranet link
we were using needed an approved IP
address – and not only did that present
a problem for many of you who want
to access Moody’s from home, but on
occasion, IP addresses can change for an
entire office, and many of you were often
unable to access the reports you needed.
If you did not get an email from Moody’s,
please check your junk or clutter folders.
If you still don’t see it, try going to
www.economy.comand use the change
password option. Your email address is
already in the system so you should get
an email within a few minutes that will
instruct you how to set-up a password.
If you are still having problems, please
reach out to me, not Moody’s, and I will
get you up and running.
As we move forward with
KnowledgeVault, I’d like to encourage all
of you to reach out to your local VARA
to assist you with any questions you may
have or any comp runs you may need.
The VARAs were an integral part of the
testing process, so they are very familiar
with the product, and they can assist
with any training you may need as well.
Lastly, I am renegotiating our Reis
contract with procurement. There appear
to have been a lot of requests that went
to directly to them that I did not know
about. This has caused some issues in
the negotiation process, so I’d like to
ask each of you to please contact me if
you need something from Reis, and I will
work with them directly to get you what
you need. Thank you!