Appraisal Firewall Quick Start Guide

Appraisal Firewall Quick Start Guide Information for Manager Users BASIC USAGE AND LAYOUT... 2 MANAGER SETTINGS... 3 ORDERS... 5 PINNED ORDERS... 6 WORKING IN AN ORDER... 7 RELATIONSHIPS... 9 LENDERS TAB... 9 Edit Division... 11 Edit Settings... 12 Manage Users... 15 Manage Appraisers... 16 MANAGE REVIEWERS... 17 Manage AMCs... 18 USERS TAB... 19 APPRAISERS TAB... 19 AMCS TAB... 20 MESSAGES... 20 ARCHIVES... 22 SIGNUPS... 22 REPORTING... 23 1

Basic Usage and Layout The basic manager user account has access to all clients accounts and their orders, plus can create new manager users and edit all manager account settings. Use the action links along the left hand side of your account to perform specific actions in Appraisal Firewall: view all your existing Orders list, manage your client and appraiser Relationships, view Messages between all users, work with older orders in Archives, view new users under Signups, and run Reports to manage your clients and help with billing. The Manager Settings link at the upper left of your account allows you to view and edit your company account in Appraisal Firewall. Click the Profile icon to modify your login or customer service contact information. The Orders section contains all of your appraisal orders. You can use the Pipeline and Post Delivery management tools to filter your search to specific order types. Click on an order within any list to open it and review the order information. When complete, you can access the appraisal PDF report from within an order. The Pipeline Orders List is the default view whenever you log into your Appraisal Firewall account. You can choose to view any order type you wish by selecting it in either the Pipeline or Post Delivery management tools. The Orders List below will populate the list associated with the order type you have selected. 2

Manager Settings With Manager Settings you can modify your fees, add credit card processing information, and add your private label website address. The pricing entered under Manager Settings is the default pricing for your account. You can also set pricing on a per client basis in the Relationships window. 3

Profile Accessible by clicking the person icon at the upper left hand side of your account, you can use the Profile option to view and edit your company information, including contact numbers, login credentials, and company address. 4

Orders The Orders tab at top left is your main view into all orders that have been placed by your clients in Appraisal Firewall. Use the Search box to locate a specific order. You can choose to view any order type you wish by selecting it in either the Pipeline or Post Delivery management tools. The Orders List below will populate the list associated with the order type you have selected (ie if you select Supplementing in the pie chart, the list will filter down to display only orders in a supplementing status). You can sort by any of the columns within any orders list by clicking the column header (ie view all overdue orders by clicking the clock icon column header). Expand the arrow icon to the right of the Export All button above any order list to modify the columns displayed to you. Minimize clutter and view the information that is most relevant to you by choosing to display the columns with the information that impacts you most. 5

Pinned Orders To the right of the Orders tab is the Pinned tab where you can view all orders you have pinned for closer monitoring. Any order that you have pinned in an order list will automatically show in your pinned orders for easier order management. 6

Working in an Order From the Order List, clicking on an order card opens the appraisal so that you can view the details about that order. The basic order layout includes tab menus along the top and feature options along the right. You have quick and easy access to the features that will impact the order most depending on the status of the order and tab you are viewing. Some features are only available if they are currently relevant to the order (ie you can only access the Dispute feature after a report has been delivered). Communications - displays all messages and all activities that occurred on the order. This is your main compliance tool in Appraisal Firewall. You can send messages and review past ones from this screen. Property Information this tab contains all details about the subject property such as address, the report ordered, and loan information. Billing Details displays all accounting activity related to the order (service fees, price changes, receipts, etc). Documents view, download, and forward all files (purchase contract, credit card authorization, appraiser invoice, etc) associated with the order. You can print hardcopies of the communication log to go along with the loan file for compliance purposes to prove that no undue appraiser influence occurred. 7

Manage Parties allows you to view, add, or remove users associated with the order and view the appraiser assigned to the order. Notes add an order-specific note to the order. You can view the notes users under you have created. Order Features The action menu at right lets you work more efficiently on your orders. The action buttons that are highlighted in green are specific to the particular tab you are viewing. However, you can use any of the action buttons at right, even if they are gray. Here are the actions that you can take from the menu at right: Edit Details users can modify order details such as address, due date, loan number, and appraisal type. Appraisers are notified by email when a change is made to the order. Print view and print the details of the order. Send Message lets the user send a message to the appraiser. Rotation Managers can disallow Originators, Processors, Brokers, and Supervisors from sending messages to appraisers depending on settings in the My Users screen. Hold Order/Resume Order place the order on hold and limit functionality of all users working on it. Users can still send messages but the report cannot be uploaded. Using this feature generates an email to the appropriate parties letting them know the status of the order. Request Revisions only available on completed orders. If the report requires some adjustments (change lender name, adding another comp, etc) and the value is not being disputed, use this feature to communicate to the appraiser what revisions the report needs. Dispute only available on completed orders. This feature allows you to add additional comparable sales you would like the appraiser to consider. Order 2 nd Appraisal enables you to order a second appraisal on this property that will automatically be routed to a new appraiser. Use this feature when two appraisals are required for one property such as an FHA flip. When selected, a New Order screen will appear, with property information automatically populated. Order Reinspection request for an appraiser s reinspection of the property. This feature generates a new order that will be routed to the same appraiser assigned to the original order. When selected, a New Order screen will appear with property information automatically populated. Send to UCDP available only on completed orders after you have entered UCDP credentials on your rotation manager profile, choose this option to manually submit the uploaded appraisal report to UCDP. Fannie Mae SSR/Freddie Mac SSR when a report is submitted to UCDP, Fannie/Freddie Submission Summary Reports are returned back to let you and the appraiser know if the appraisal has been accepted by UCDP or if the appraiser should modify the report. Cancel Order this cancels the appraisal order. Cancellation/Trip fees may apply. Change Price available only after an appraiser requests a price change, select this feature to increase the price of an order, respond to an appraiser s price change request, 8

or request a price decrease from the appraiser. Invoice displays all costs involved in this appraisal order and to whom they should be remitted. This includes an itemized list of applicable technology transaction fees, appraisal fees, and billing service fees. Assign Appraiser (Admin Only) you can assign this appraisal order to an appraiser of your choice. Select Assign Appraiser to display a list of eligible appraisers for this property. You can assign the order to an appraiser within your panel, or select one from the All Appraisers list. Select the Backup AMC radio button to route this order to an AMC. Assign Appraiser is available if the order is not currently assigned to an appraiser. Relationships The Relationships window is your guide into all your clients accounts. This window lets you enable settings and review company information on a per-client basis. You can access and manage your lenders, appraisers, AMCs, and other manager users in your office. In addition, you can view a summary of a selected client and any orders they have. Lenders Tab The Lenders tab in the Relationships window displays all your clients and their settings and allows you to manage and work within their orders. Select or search for a particular client to view their information, settings, or orders. You can also tag your lenders to be able to sort to filter to find clients and orders that you monitor closely. Create a tag using the tag icon within a client s Profile. Then, use the tag drop down menu to find all lenders that you have tagged with the same filter. For instance, if you tag several lenders as manager bill, you can then sort to view all your clients where you bill the lender and then pay the appraiser on behalf of the lender at one time. 9

To edit an individual client s settings or work within their account, use the dropdown arrow next to the lender. Edit Lender View and edit a lender s company and contact information. Open Dashboard View the client s orders and work within them. Manage Divisions View, create, and modify all divisions under the selected company and view orders on a per division basis. Clients with a single division are labeled as Main. Manage Users - View and edit the list of users under this lender. You can change user types and assign users to different divisions. 10

Manage Divisions If your client s company operates with a single division or branch, the Divisions tool is where you can access their account settings and manage the appraisal panel, and any reviewers associated with the account. For companies that operate with multiple divisions, Appraisal Firewall provides the ability to set up multi-divisional appraisal management. To add a new division to a lender s account, click Create Division. Each division has its own panel of appraisers, settings, reviewers, and AMCs that an administrative user can view and edit. Edit Division Edit the name, contact information, and account status using the Edit Division feature. 11

Edit Settings Use the Edit Settings drop down menu to designate what kind of appraisals your lender performs (residential/commercial), enter UCDP credentials to take advantage of the Appraisal Firewall direct integration, view transaction fees, and select more company-specific options. The General tab allows you to manage order requirements and appraisal routing settings. In the Billing section you can modify transaction fees, enable UCDP submission, and assign an internal manual reviewer to all your orders. 12

The Manager section allows you to modify features that cannot be edited by the lender. You can change division settings to modify how you manage your client. The Products tab allows you to control the types of appraisal products your clients users are allowed to place. By checking Include All Products, users will have a list of all of the system s products to choose from when placing an order. If you would like to limit users to specific appraisal types, unselect Include All Products and select the products in the list below that you would like to have available to your client s users. 13

You can also add a custom product that is unique to your lender. To add a product to the Product List, locate the Add Product field above the list of standard products. Enter the name of the custom product, then click Add. When using the Custom Products feature, you will need to manually select all other products that should be available to users (the Include All Products feature will no longer be available once Custom Products are enabled). Appraisal Firewall allows appraisers to set their own appraisal fee prices. With new GFE requirements and specific variances that need to be met between the GFE and the HUD-1, many lenders are looking to reduce the variance on their appraisal costs and fix them. The Pricing screen allows you to do this to override appraisers prices, and to pay these exact amounts only. You can keep the default setting of All, All so that across all counties and all states, users pay the exact price per appraisal product that you enter in under the Amount column. You can also enter specific fixed prices per county and state (and even down to Zip Code) and keep the All, All for any orders placed outside the specific county/zip/state. Hint: To fix pricing for a specific county, but default back to appraisers pricing for everywhere else, you can remove the All, All entry just hover over it and click the blue X at right. This allows you to fix prices in certain counties, but to keep the appraiser s pricing for appraisals ordered outside of this specific county. 14

Manage Users The Manage Users feature contains tools to help users in your client s office who have access to the system. You can modify your user settings, create notes about the user, run reports, and view orders on a per-user basis. Users listed in the system are displayed next to different colored profile icons that represent the user type. Green profile icons represent Administrator users, blue icons represent Supervisor users, and orange icons represent Originators. Click the Create User icon to give a new user access to the system. Click the arrow next to a user to view and edit their specific account information. You can change a user s rights, view their profile information, and access all their orders. 15

Manage Appraisers The Manage Appraisers feature lets you view current appraisers that are on your client s appraiser panel as well as locate new ones. This tab includes an interactive map that highlights all your appraisers areas of coverage and also enables you to filter to find ones with defined specifications. You can also add new appraisers to the panel, view an appraiser s profile, add notes, and modify an appraiser s area of coverage. The expanded view of the Manage Appraisers feature shows data from the selected division s appraiser panel and enhances it so that you will be presented with a sharp, interactive mapbased display. Beginning at the national level, you can drill down into state, county, and zip codes to view individual appraisers and their qualifications and add new ones to your panel. When you first access the Manage Appraisers feature to manage an appraiser panel, you are presented will the national view of your areas of coverage. States and territories highlighted in green indicate locations where appraisers offer coverage. You can zoom in to a state, county, and even zip code level to view all areas of coverage and what appraisers are associated with that area. 16

Manage Reviewers Your lenders can have users that manually review all orders uploaded under the selected division. You or an administrator can create a single reviewer or add multiple reviewers that will be part of a panel of reviewers. Reviewers on the panel are responsible to manually review and approve every report uploaded under this division. Supervisors and Originators will not have access to reports until they have been approved by a reviewer. You and your lender administrators can invite an existing user to also function as a reviewer. If the reviewer you invite currently exists in the system, they will automatically be added to the reviewer panel. If the reviewer you invite does not exist in the system, you will be prompted to create them as an appraiser or originator. Once the user creates an account, they will appear in the reviewer panel. Note: Adding reviewers to a panel does not enable the reviewer feature. For orders to be assigned to a reviewer, the manual reviewer feature within the Settings window of the division must be enabled. 17

Manage AMCs Your lender can utilize AMCs to provide out of area coverage when no appraisers are available on their appraiser panel. You or an administrator can also provide an AMC panel for users to choose from when placing orders. The AMC panel is helpful for fulfilling specific secondary marketing requirements of using a particular AMC for processing appraisals. You or the lender can even use a backup AMCs simply for automatic routing on out of area orders. You can search for new AMCs using the All radio and add them to the panel by clicking the plus icon. AMCs that are currently on your panel can be viewed under the My Panel section. You can modify AMCs' coverage areas and view their company info by clicking the arrow next to the AMC company name. 18

Users Tab Add other users in your office who should have access to your clients accounts and their orders. Because each user is tracked in the communications log of an order, providing unique login credentials to others in your office lets you track who performed work on an order. You can also view orders that others have pinned for closer monitoring, so you know how to follow up in case of someone s absence. Appraisers Tab The Appraisers tab lets you view current appraisers that are on your clients panels and enables you to put their accounts into an On Hold status. You can also view the appraiser s profile and create notes about the appraiser that are viewable to only you. View and work in any order the appraiser is associated with by clicking Open Dashboard button under any appraisers account info. 19

AMCs Tab Use the AMCs tab to provide out of area coverage and to provide an AMC panel for your clients to choose from when placing orders. The AMC panel is helpful for fulfilling specific secondary marketing requirements of using a particular AMC for processing appraisals. You can also create backup AMCs for automatic routing on out of area orders. Messages The Messages screen gives you a quick view of messages that may require your attention, including status updates and billing activities. Under the Unread tab you can view all unread messages you have received within the last 30 days. Double-click on any message to open that specific order and mark the message as read. 20

Use the Monitor tab to quickly view messages between users and appraisers under your company to assist with appraisal independence compliance concerns, and intervene to help troubleshoot user issues. Double click on any message to open that specific order. You can even view messages by a specified date range. Under the Activities tab you can view all system activities for orders under your scope including price changes, all messages, UCDP submissions, and edits to orders. 21

Archives With Archives, you have the ability to search for and restore archived orders. This allows your main order list to stay uncluttered, while also giving you access to old orders. Note: Appraisal Firewall automatically archives older, completed appraisal orders on your behalf that you can access in your Archives list. As a manager you can also archive an order from any order list by opening an order and selecting the Archive feature. Signups With Signups, you are able to monitor new lenders and appraisers who have signed up under your private label link or have been created by administrators under your account. Viewing new signups helps in tracking responses to marketing and makes you aware of new users who have joined the system. 22

Reporting View Open Order, Closed Order, and Custom Reports that pertain to all clients under your company. Select the drop down menu next to a report you want to run report to view and click Run Report. Please Note: Use the Reporting tool within a lender/division to run Appraiser Performance and Appraiser Coverage Area reports or reports that pertain to a specific lender. 23