Featured news — posted August 31, 2005

The way the Aurora generation of WinTOTAL manages and helps you select and work with comparables is one of the most exciting advances in the new version. At our summer Technology Convention, descriptions of these new features drew rounds of applause at our opening session. And the Comps Management classes were among the most packed for the duration of the whole event.

There's good reason for excitement. For too long management of comps has been unwieldy at best (especially using software other than WinTOTAL) and has never had this kind of technology behind it. Aurora includes all sorts of high-octane new features and capabilities, but they're not bells and whistles. Something as low to the ground as being able to view potential comps alongside your subject, saving you tons of time and effort, is finally possible.

You can see the features described below, and many more new and exciting things Aurora does, "in action" at the Aurora Video Library.

Search, review and place comps in your report with Aurora's enhanced Comps Database

With Aurora's enhanced Comps Database, a comps search screen is built right into the new Comps PowerView and all your comps can be collapsed and expanded to show all their data and photos at once, rather than having to view them one at a time. You'll save keystrokes and time this way, and have much more flexibility in the way you search, mark and place comps in your reports.

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Aurora includes a comprehensive detailed search tool, but the easiest way to get started managing comps is with Quick Search. With Quick Search you can configure your Search PowerPane to include the fields you normally search on with just a few clicks. Once you've got it the way you want it, you save and don't have to redo the PowerPane again till you want to change it.

Enter search criteria to find comps in your database. As you type, Aurora lets you know how many comps in your database match your criteria so far. That way you can expand or further limit your search on the fly.

One of the most useful parts of Aurora's SQL-driven search capabilities is proximity search. Address geocoding makes it possible to search your database for comps within a certain physical proximity, instead of relying of the same ZIP code or even your designated neighborhood.

You click Find Now to pull up the comps that match your search terms. With one click, get driving directions to each from your office, and place all the comps on a street map for a visual overview.

Once you're satisfied, place the comps you select in your report. Now the really exciting part starts. (See an online tutorial video on finding and placing comps by clicking here, and a wealth of other tutorial videos indexed here.)

View all your comps in a side-by-side view

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Behold the side by side, horizontally scrolling comps grid. Some consider it the "star" of Aurora. With this innovative side by side view, you can easily swap the positions of comps on the screen, including automatically moving the "best" comp closest to the subject on the left. You can hide comps to get them out of the way temporarily, or remove them entirely (with an option to save them to your digital workfile if you want).

Mentally calculate the time you could save if you could: Copy data from the subject — for example, Location: Urban — to all the comps lined up beside it. Or copy the contents of any comp, or the subject, to a blank comp to create a new one that's not in your database yet. Or copy individual data fields or "clone" comps entirely in your Comps Power View. It adds up!

One of the more attention-grabbing features for people who have gotten their hands on Aurora has been its "Push Forward" feature. With it, you can copy data from the subject or any comp across the comps grid with the push of F2. No more retyping all the same neighborhood information for each comp.

Each comp includes a summary on top, and a picture (if you have one) that expands when you hover your mouse pointer over it.

Use the new Auto-Adjuster to create, save and load adjustment "templates." This allows you to fine tune the neighborhood's market reactions to physical differences between the subject and the comps, especially with lots of comps in the report. You just need to change the adjustment factor to see the line item dollar effect to all of the comps rather than spending time on recalculating.

As you adjust, the adjusted sales price of each comp changes accordingly. You can even save time by letting Aurora calculate a suggested value for the subject based on the comps you've selected and adjustments you've done. If you like it, import it, or whatever value you conclude, into your report along with all the comps and adjustments with a click.

See an online tutorial video on Auto Adjustments and working in the side-by-side comps grid by clicking here. Browse Aurora Video Library, where we're adding new videos all the time. And watch this space for an ongoing tour of Aurora as the release date fast approaches.

There's going to be a change in how search results for appraisers on the XSites Network are returned starting Thursday, September 1. If your profile indicates you do work in more than one state, you should have received an e-mail about this already.

Starting September 1, you can be listed as doing business in your home state for free. But to show up in other states' results, you'll need to pay $99 per year per extra state. Elite bundle members get two free states. For everyone, there's a limit of five altogether.

So if a potential client searches for an appraiser in Reno, Nevada, the search results will include:

 appraisers whose main offices are located in Nevada

 appraisers who have changed their default "home" state to Nevada (see below)

 California appraisers, for example, who do business in Reno, and who have purchased the right to be listed in Nevada's results as well as California's.

You're probably aware that in recent months we've revamped how the XSites Network searches appraisers and returns search results to potential clients. Now, instead of information you enter and maintain specifically for the Network, search results return a link to your Appraiser XSite. How you market your services and convince potential clients to do business with you is entirely in your hands.

We responded to concerns that the Network itself was inserting itself into the process of your getting and doing business. And we don't want your client to confuse the XSites Network with all the competing directories that charge you for your listing or skim off the top of your fee. Your client is looking for the best, most professional service from an appraiser they can trust. We help them find your site, and you take it from there.

We've improved how clients search for and choose an appraiser. They can search within 100 miles of a ZIP code, for example. Clients can sort search results by company name, city, state, XSite owners with online ordering capability, even appraisers who use WinTOTAL. And they can click right through to your online appraisal order form if you choose.

Another improvement we've made in response to user feedback is limiting the number of states appraisers can designate themselves as doing business in. Unfortunately, some users were gaming the system so that they showed up in states far from their offices, where they might not do much (or any) business.

Correcting this makes search results more reliable, which is good for your clients. It makes sure you're competing for business with other appraisers who actually work in your same area, not a bunch of large, remote offices, which is good for you.

Your free "home" state will be the one where your main office is.  You can change that "home" state if for example, your office is on the border of two states and you do most of your business "next door."  To change your "home" state if you have the Aurora generation of WinTOTAL, start at your XSites' My Office page and then go to Business Management | Options | Coverage.  Otherwise, you can still start at the My Office page but you'll go to Orders | Profile | Coverage Information instead.

Regardless, to be listed in a second state (or third or more, if you don't have our Elite bundle) you'll have to pay for it.  Click here to buy additional states.

If you're only listed in one state — and this is the first you're hearing about this — just know that we're improving the XSites Network to ensure that you don't have to compete for business with appraisers who aren't located and actually doing business where you are. If you have any questions about this new policy, it may be answered on our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, or please send us an e-mail to corpsupport@alamode.com and we'll answer promptly.