Getting Started Guide
Table of Contents
Manage Order Edit Notifications. 6
Manage Past Due Notifications. 7
Manage Accounts Payable (A/P) NET Terms. 7
Manage Compliance Certificates. 7
Appraiser Registration Terms and Conditions. 10
Appraiser Engagement Terms and Conditions. 10
Appraiser Registration Terms. 12
Introduction
We would like to thank you for becoming an Appraisal Host client. This guide is meant to be a step by step guide that you can use to initially setup your system. This is not a comprehensive tutorial of the system features and functionality. On many screens in the system you will see a blue question mark in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Clicking this will bring up the help information for the screen you are on.
If you have any questions related to setting up your new site, please visit our website at http://www.appraisalhost.com and click on Support. From there you should open up a support ticket and provide us with as much detail as possible and we will promptly resolve your issue.
Company Information
You will first need to start by entering in your company
information. You will find this by clicking on the Config menu. The
data entered here will display on various areas of the system as well as the
invoices that are created from the system.
Email Address
Your system will automatically send emails to users for all system related activities. In order for this to happen you need to define the email address you would like to show as the FROM email. When system users receive email, this will be the email address that shows up in the FROM field. To configure this, go to the Config menu, then click on Email Configuration.
In addition to setting up the FROM email address, you can also define:
1. BCC Email: This is an email address to send all system related mail to. This is typically used to log all system related emails in the event that you wish to do this. We highly recommend that you dedicate a separate email address for this and not enter an email address that is used on a daily basis as the volume of email will be quite large.
2. Restrict appraiser to email lender directly: By default our system allows the appraiser to communicate with the lender/client via messaging through the system. All messages are logged for audit/historical purposes, but if you wish to disable this function, you can do so by selecting “YES” to restrict this ability.
3. Restrict lender to email appraiser directly: By default our system allows the lender/client to communicate with the appraiser via messaging through the system. All messages are logged for audit/historical purposes, but if you wish to disable this function, you can do so by selecting “YES” to restrict this ability.
Welcome Email To Users
At this point, if you’d like to, you can send welcome emails (outside of the system) to users you would like to have register with your site. As this typically takes a few days for users to register, it will give you time to configure the remaining items in this guide.
Manage Appraisal Types
To setup your appraisal types, click on Config, then Manage Appraisal Types. You will see the following screen.
This list of appraisal types is completely customizable and is here to help you get started. You can modify or delete these as needed. This is where you will also setup your global rates for both what you charge your clients (Default Charge) and what you pay your appraisers (Default Compensation). Later, you can define specific pricing for a client or appraiser but you first need to setup your global pricing for when you do not have specific exception pricing for a client or appraiser.
If you click on the blue ? in the upper right of the screen, the help screen will walk you through how to setup the appraisal types and pricing.
Manage Order Edit Notifications
Order Edit Notifications are a function that allows you to
monitor any field on the order screens for changes and have the system
automatically send out a notification. To configure Order Edit Notifications,
click on Config, then Manage Order Edit Notifications. You will see the
following screen. Clicking on the blue ? in the upper right will bring up the
help for this
topic and walk you through how to configure Order Edit Notifications.
Manage Email Notifications
The system has over 30 different types of emails that are automatically sent out based on system events/activities. You have complete control over the subject line and body of these emails. We’ve provided some standard email notifications for you so you don’t need to create these from scratch. To review and or modify email notification you will click on Config, then Manage Email Notifications. Clicking on the blue ? in the upper right will bring up the help for this topic and walk you through how to configure Email Notifications.
Manage Past Due Notifications
Past Due Notifications are used to have the system continually monitor all orders in your system based on your defined past due criteria. When an order meets the criteria you’ve specified, it will put it on the past due section of the managers and appraisers dashboard and you can have the system send an email notification as well. To configure past due notifications you will click on Config, Manage Past Due Notifications. Clicking on the blue ? in the upper right will walk you through how to setup past due notifications.
Manage Accounts Payable (A/P) NET Terms
NET terms are the number of days
after a report is completed by an appraiser before you will pay the appraiser
for the report. You define this by specifying a number of days in the NET terms
box. After an appraiser completes a report, the
system will wait the number of days defined in this box before showing the
order on the A/P screen.
Manage Compliance Certificates
There are two types of compliance certificates in the system today. These are optional and are not required to run our system. The first one is Compliance Letters which are used to certify an appraisal report has been done in compliance with specific requirements. We do not provide any content for you on this but a framework to define your compliance certificate. The compliance letter will be sent out for those lenders that you’ve indicated you wish to send out a compliance letter. The second one is a Borrower Notification Certificate. This is used when delivering a report to the borrower via email and your client requires proof that you’ve done this for their records. This will only be sent out for those lenders you’ve indicated you wish to send out a compliance letter.
To configure these certificates globally go to Config, Manage Compliance Certificates. Clicking on the blue ? will bring up the help screen for this function and walk you through how to configure the certificates.
These are the global certificates.
If you have a need for a lender specific certificate, you can configure that
under the
lender company settings screen and choose to use that certificate and not the
global certificate.
UCDP Portal
Our system is integrated with the GSE’s for automatic submission of reports to the UCDP portal. This integration provides for the retrieval, storage and delivery of SSR’s as well as a workflow around Hard Stops. This requires Direct Integration credentials provided by the portal team in order to use this function.
If you haven’t already received the UCDP setup instructions, please contact support by opening up a support ticket on our website at http://www.appraisalhost.com
Once you’ve completed the setup, you
will receive your Direct Integration (DI) username and password, you will need
to
enter these into the UCDP Portal screen which is found under Config, UCDP
Portal.
Next, you will need to go into each lender that you want to submit to the UCDP for and configure their settings. You will find this screen by going to: Companies, Lender Company, Edit, UCDP. You will need to activate the portal for the lender and enter the required information.
Next, you will need to go into your
appraisal types and link each appraisal type you would like to have sent to the
UCDP
to the correct UCDP order type. You will find this by going to Config,
Manage Appraisal Types, Edit, UCDP
Once you’ve completed these steps, all new orders created after this will be sent to the UCDP based on the lender and appraisal type.
Appraiser Registration Terms and Conditions
The system can be configured to show a terms and conditions link when appraisers register. The link states, “By clicking submit you agree to the following terms and conditions”. The link when clicked will display your terms and conditions. You can create your terms and conditions by going to Config, Appraiser Terms and Conditions, Registration Terms and Conditions. Once there you will activate it and then enter in your terms and conditions.
Appraiser Engagement Terms and Conditions
The system can create an appraiser
engagement letter that is sent out with every appraisal assignment email. To
configure this you will go to Config, Appraiser Terms and Conditions, Appraiser
Engagement Terms and Conditions. You will need to first activate it as it’s off
by default and then create your terms and conditions document. You can use
system
variables just like in the email editor to pull information in from the order.
AMC Fees
If you are an AMC, several states now require that you disclose your AMC fee. We give you the ability to display this fee on a state by state basis on either the order screen, the invoice or the certificates. To set this up, go to Config, AMC Regulations, AMC Fees. You will put a check mark in the place that you would like AMC fees to show.
AMC License Numbers
If you are an AMC, several states
now require that you display your AMC license number. By entering a license
number in the appropriate state box, the system will automatically display that
number on the order view screen for the lender/broker and appraiser. In
addition, you can use the license number variable in email notifications. To
configure this
go to Config, AMC Regulations, AMC License Number
AMC Rules
If you are an AMC the system allows
you to create rules that the appraiser must adhere to when accepting/fulfilling
an order. These rules will be shown on the order view screen for the appraiser.
You also have the ability to put these into engagement letters or emails if
required. This is in addition to lender specific rules that you will create on
a lender by
lender basis. To configure AMC rules go to Config, AMC Regulations, AMC Rules
and enter in the rules.
Appraiser Registration Terms
On the Appraiser Registration page
you can display what your registration terms/requirements are for appraisers
that wish to register with you and be on your panel. This is done by going into
Config, Appraiser Registration and entering in
any registration terms/requirements you have.
Company Setup
All users in the system must be attached to an existing company before they can login. You will create companies by going to the Companies tab and clicking on Add A New Company. To get detailed instructions on how to setup new companies click on the blue ? in the upper right corner of the companies screen for the help page.
User Setup
Users are entered into the system in one of two ways, either through self-registration or by creating them manually. To manually create a user, go to the Users tab and click on Add a New User. Click on the blue ? in the upper right corner for the help screen on how to create and activate users.
Checklist
We are providing you with this checklist that you can print out and check off items as you work through the setup of your system.
|
Item |
Complete |
|
Company Information |
|
|
Email Address |
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|
Welcome Email To Users |
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|
Manage Appraisal Types |
|
|
Manage Order Edit Notifications |
|
|
Manage Past Due Notifications |
|
|
Manage Accounts Payable (A/P) NET Terms |
|
|
Manage Compliance Certificates |
|
|
UCDP Portal |
|
|
Appraiser Registration Terms and Conditions |
|
|
Appraiser Engagement Terms and Conditions |
|
|
AMC Fees |
|
|
AMC Rules |
|
|
Appraiser Registration Terms |
|
|
Company Setup |
|
|
User Setup |
|