Today, we're releasing tools that enable your clients to request bids for residential appraisals. You can see the FAQ here, or read on to learn more.
Residential bidding solves a problem
Lately, one of the main complaints we hear from lenders and AMCs is that order assignment takes too long. Sometimes it's because they're in a hot market or a rural area, or deal with complex properties, but the delays are almost always caused because their orders are being declined one after another, taking up to a couple of weeks to be assigned. So, we set out to build tools which would make this process more efficient.
Our most logical solution was to expose the order to multiple appraisers at once, making order assignment a parallel process rather than a serial one, and the result is our new residential bidding system. We know the word "bidding" sounds an alarm for a lot of folks, so we put together an FAQ based on conversations we've had with appraisers all over the country. Even if you don't read that, there are a couple of things we'd like you to know.
Fees and due dates aren't always predetermined
Our residential bidding system was meant to be flexible, so your clients can send bid requests asking for your required fees and projected turn times. Of course, they do have the ability to set their own fees or due dates when needed, and the bid request notification will make it clear if the fee and/or due date has already been determined.
Clients use their criteria to select bidding appraisers
Rather than blasting an email to 100 appraisers who might not be qualified for the job, your clients can use their own custom criteria to select a group of appraisers whose performance, credentials, location, or other factors fit well for the order. So, if you receive a bid request via Mercury, you can be pretty sure it's relevant to you.
We know that bidding systems have been exploited in the past and many appraisers have had bad experiences. It’s our hope that your clients will use this feature for its intended purpose (to reduce assignment delays) and that your experience with it will be much better than any other system you use. We genuinely want to hear what you think of residential bidding in Mercury, so once you've had a few of these orders, let us know at info@MercuryVMP.com.