How Cogito Realty Partners’ appraisers use Valcre to deliver appraisals 50% faster

Cogito’s appraisers are turning appraisal reports around 50% faster

“Without exaggeration, I would say using Valcre has cut down the time it takes to appraise and write the appraisal of a property by 50%. Valcre is our best friend in the appraisal process, I can take on more work without necessarily working more hours and just doubling my output. And as appraisers, for the most part, we’re paid based on how many reports we can put out, on a commission structure, so the math is pretty simple there as to why it makes sense to use Valcre.” – Nora Derian, MAI, Senior Director

With Cogito’s leadership having used Valcre at a previous firm, the decision to implement Valcre establishing Cogito was a no-brainer. “When we were starting Cogito, there was no question that we would be using Valcre because it worked so well for us in the past,” says Nora.

Using Valcre, the Cogito team are delivering appraisals 50% faster for their clients, when compared to inefficient, manual methods experienced in prior roles. Cogito’s appraisers are doubling their output, giving themselves the opportunity to meaningfully increase their commissions.

As soon as an appraiser is assigned a job, they import all of the property information from the engagement letter into Valcre. From there, it flows directly into Excel and the appraiser can get to work, enabling them to focus where their expertise lies – forming opinions of value – rather than on manual data entry.

“Because of Valcre, I can get two, almost three reports done in a day. It’s super efficient, and lets me get my job done as efficiently and quickly as possible,” Jake Corriea, Valuation Associate

With Valcre, Cogito’s appraisers can now:

Easily find and use accurate, verified comparables

Before they look for fresh comparables or market research, the team checks the Valcre database to see what comps are available from previous projects the team has worked on. They can then import these comps into their current projects instantly, with the knowledge that they are accurate and verified.

“Being able to re-use the information, knowing it’s all verified and correct already, and being able to find it so easily, that’s one of the top things I look forward to when using Valcre,” says Jake.

Better still, Valcre’s comparable set feature (e.g. “Upper East Side, Retail, Ground floor, $200 per sf”), means the team can pull in groups of relevant comps in one click, cutting down considerable research time.

Confidently produce error-free appraisal reports

Once they’ve completed their research, with one click, the team is seamlessly able to transfer their property analysis from Excel into a Word report, with complete confidence that all of the information is correct. Important data (such as net income) are imported through links, which, when modified in Excel, automatically update throughout the Word document. This completely removes the need for Cogito’s appraisers to review the report for mistakes and erroneous formulas.

“I just have to make sure one cell is correct in Valcre and it’s correct everywhere else. The confidence in Valcre to make sure everything is correct, and everything’s right, is great. I do that all day, for every report, and it makes life so much easier, so so much easier,” says Jake.

Work effectively as a team, moving the entire business forward

With the entire team using Valcre, everyone has visibility into what projects are being worked on. This helps the team to work more collaboratively, moving everyone’s projects along. For example, Nora finds Valcre’s dashboard and mapping functionality particularly powerful:

“You can see what everyone is working on in the dashboard, and in the map, and see if there’s anything we can share. Sometimes just seeing the address, you don’t realize how close it actually is. But when you see it on the map with all the open jobs, it’s very helpful,” says Nora.