Incenter’s virtual appraisal solution brings “arms-length” photos back to the remote inspection process

As many real estate professionals saw firsthand, the valuation process was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. With social distancing and lockdown orders, inspectors and agents struggled to determine a home’s value without being there in-person.

To help mitigate these pain points, Incenter Appraisal Management is offering remote BPO and remote inspection capabilities paired with AVMs. These virtual solutions enable lenders and servicers to get their eyes on a property, regardless of whether they can appraise it in person – as long as the homeowner has access to a cell phone.

“Unlike any bifurcated or traditional ‘in-person’ inspection product, the inspector, agent or appraiser is able to see and view the images and video of the home by using the homeowner like a ‘human tripod,’” explained Mark Walser, president of Incenter Appraisal Management. 

Incenter’s Remote BPO and remote Inspections don’t require homeowners to download mobile applications and take pictures on their own. The inspector attesting to the home inspection or the real estate agent performing the BPO Inspection is able to take the pictures they want via the owner’s camera. This process speeds the return of accurate broker price opinions and inspections to the lender, without borrowers or third parties visiting the property or manipulating the images, introducing a crucial “arms-length” component of the process previously unavailable in a mobile inspection performed with a homeowner.  

From an accuracy perspective, the pictures and images generated are geo-location coded and meta-tagged, and the inspector can see and mark up the images in real-time without the risk of missing something out of frame. Not only does this solution benefit the inspector, but also the borrower. They don’t have to have someone physically visit their home, and they don’t have to download an app or do any of the work themselves. 

“This remote process makes for 100% accuracy and zero possibility of image manipulation from the person at the property holding the camera,” Walser said. “This also ‘future-proofs’ the inspection process from any potential negative impacts like pandemic lockdowns or natural disasters.  As long as there is someone at the property, an inspection can be done in hours or days, not weeks.”

The remote BPO’s and remote inspections keep the process going, even during a lockdown. Using this technology, homeowners, lenders and inspectors don’t have to worry about putting off the inspection process or skipping it altogether.  The many applications for financial institutions of this technology include Home Equity Lending to Insurance inspections.  

“It’s a game-changer for consumers and speeds up the inspection process while also keeping the homeowner and inspector safe,” Walser added. “Our solution brings back the notion of ‘arms-length’ images to a remote inspection process, which is something the industry definitely needs right now.”