Mercury 3.0 and the HVCC

We've already made our position on the HVCC clear. Click here to read more if you're not already familiar with our efforts against it.  However, we're in the business of providing technology solutions for real estate professionals.  Already having a proven system for managing the ordering, management, communication and electronic delivery of appraisal reports, it's natural that we would step up to the plate and refine that system to provide a solution that allows lenders, brokers and appraisers to keep their existing workflow while implementing the Prudent Safeguards required by the HVCC.

Developing solutions for a moving target

Fierce debate over the HVCC continues and it's safe to assume that there will be significant changes to the Code before it goes into effect.  To a certain extent, this means that Mercury 3.0 features are a moving target.  Rather than testing with a small group of betas and rolling out all at once in October, we're releasing 3.0 features every few weeks until October so that we can get feedback and suggestions from the widest possible audience.

New and improved features coming in 3.0

We haven't completely locked down the feature set in version 3.0.  However there are a few features that we're already working on that you should be aware of.  These two items are critical components to the new version and will be among the first to be released.

Black Box Appraiser Selection

The current Mercury 2.5 system already has an intelligent system for sorting and suggesting appraisers based on customizable set of criteria (percentage of orders delivered late, percentage of orders accepted, load level, average turnaround, number of orders allowed to expire and proximity to subject).  Version 3.0 will expand on this criteria adding load level as a percentage of stated capacity, technology available (such as mobile connectivity to acknowledge orders and provide status while in the field) and other relevant criteria.

Enhancing the selection engine will allow us to implement one of the most important features for establishing prudent safeguards against appraiser coercion.  Once the lender enables Black Box Appraiser Selection, appraisal orders are placed automatically to appraisers who match the lender's selection criteria.  Loan production staff never has the name or contact information of the assigned appraiser until the report is delivered to them.  Commissioned loan personnel can't circumvent the system and e-mail or call the appraiser offline.  All communications in double-blind mode are by checkbox interaction, with no free-form text possible.  Each side can request or send information, but the messages and replies are built using static text assigned to buttons on screen, so no coercive or inappropriate communications can take place at all.

Custom Uniform Appraisal Review Rules

Currently, our integrated Uniform Appraisal Review Rules, or UARR, provide over a thousand quick checks for compliance (across all types of forms) before the report ever leaves the appraiser's desk.  Other systems review the report only after it's already been transmitted to the AMC's or portal's servers, which means even the smallest mistakes require another transmission process, sometimes repeatedly.

New to version 3.0 will be the ability for lenders and brokers to customize the UARR using simple check-box style screens, to add review rules going beyond the general, even drilling down into geographically-driven unique conditions, or popping up interactively during the review process to ask custom questions.  When the UARR rules set is modified by a lender, the system automatically deploys a custom lender-specific plugin to all appraisers on the Mercury Network.  Rules are never out of date, and appraisers never have to worry about angering an underwriter due to not knowing that lender's particular preferences.