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Shuffling the Deck

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88 Black and white reruns of the Honeymooners can be streamed to any television, smart phone, or tablet. Jackie Gleason is as funny as ever, an episode can almost be over before you realize no one has checked their cell phone. In the "Funny Money" episode, Ralph finds a suit- case full of money, which turns out to be phony money. It's interest- ing how the storyline is still relevant in the world today, even though we think of technology as having progressed immensely in the same 50 years. Today, Alice could literally buy her own ticket to the moon. Technology has led the charge in improv- ing our lives. Today's society could not function without cell phones, laptops, GPS mapping, and dual monitors. It seems standard for today's working lifestyle. But it's a double edged sword. Data floods almost every facet of society, and valuation data is no exception. From A to Zillow, everywhere you look there is data, good data, au- tomated data, raw data, adjusted data, estimated data, and bad data. e industry doesn't need more data. It needs better data. All the data points in the world cannot accurately assess the subject and comparable sales/ listings conditions. Ultimately an accurate condi- tion assessment dictates an accurate final value. Primary search criteria when selecting comparable properties for a valuation product are typically location, quality of construction, gross living area (GLA), etc. But beyond these criteria, condition is the category that allows for large swings in value simply based on a subjective opinion. RAW DATA HELPS, BUT CONDITION IS WHERE MONEY IS MADE OR LOST e appraisal industry, along with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, addressed the condition assessment with the Universal Appraisal Dataset (UAD) requirements, which made the condi- tion assessment an absolute comparison, not a relative one. e logic, in part, was to standardize the data inputs to help the reader understand the report better. Describing a house as "average condition" didn't tell the reader anything about the actual condition, just how it compared to the other houses in the neighborhood. It was relative to the other houses; if they were all falling apart, falling apart was average. e UAD definitions provide a clear description to be applied to the subject house. Although not an industry require- D A T A & R E S E A R C H / R A N D Y P E R R Y In the property valuation industry, there is no shortage of attainable data points, but putting that data to good use is more complicated. In this era of elevated compliance concerns, better data and better communication lead to successful results. VALUATION DATA OVERLOAD

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