What to Look for in a Property Valuation Software

It is a known fact that the better you underwrite your deals the less likely it is that problems will arise in the future. Deals go bad for so many reasons: the financial situation of the client changes and the client defaults, the client was a high risk deal to begin with, mortgage fraud and more…this can cost you big.

In this day and age technology has brought us so many resources that make knowing more about applicants easier. When underwriting a deal your underwriters likely review the applicant’s credit, validate their documentation and may even ‘Google’ applicants and check them out on social media - all in an effort to execute a good lending decision.

One tool that every lender’s underwriters should have in their toolkit is a property valuation solution. Sure, when a deal is submitted through CMHC or Genworth or Canada Guarantee, these organizations will utilize the application and determine if they will grant the high ratio default insurance. However, there are many benefits to learning as much as you can about a property before you even submit the deal to an insurer.

You may have already started investigating property valuation solutions for the reasons we are about to list below. Maximum benefits will depend on the property valuation solution you choose. Here is our short list of things that you should look for when evaluating a vendor for property valuation solutions.

Your property ownership solution should provide the ability for you to:

1.      Validate property ownership – By the time a deal gets to the point of closing your underwriter has already spent considerable time both underwriting and dealing with the client and broker. Once a deal is instructed, likely an insurer and a real estate lawyer have invested time in the deal as well. Having the ability to validate property ownership information will enable your underwriter to ensure that there are no surprises on closing.

2.      View the property being financed – Viewing the property that is being financed enables you to uncover issues that could change your lending decision, for example, rental properties, properties under construction, etc. 

3.      Validate property value – Validating property value in advance using your property valuation solution reduces the time your underwriters spend working on deals where the value is not there. The number of applications that go to insurers like CMHC and are inevitably declined because of value will be reduced, increasing closure rates with the insurers.

4.      Identify fraudulent deals – Your property valuation solution should provide tools that help you identify fraudulent deals.

5.      Generate reports that you can share internally and with broker partners and clients.

The more capabilities you provide to your underwriting team, the lower the cost per deal. Your team will be able to process more deals, faster, and your partners will appreciate that you have the ability to better filter your deals and make sure that you are only financing deals that represent reasonable risk to you. This is why it is vital when choosing property valuation solution to do your homework and ensure that you choose an application that provides you with maximum capabilities.

For more information about property valuation solution options please visit www.purview.ca/lenders or call 1-855-787-3439. Interested in knowing more about Purview For Lenders, click here to watch a brief overview video about our application that includesautomated property valuation.