AI, MISMO unite to develop common data standards for valuation, mortgage industries.

In an effort to develop common data standards that bridge the valuation and mortgage lending industries, the Appraisal Institute and the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a non-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, have established an alliance.

"The Appraisal Institute is leveraging its relationship with MISMO to promote related and other intertwined data-based initiatives in which standards for valuation data are important," said Bruce Kellogg, MAI, president of the Appraisal Institute.

Data standards enable enhanced efficiencies by reducing unnecessary complexity common to all firms--the re-keying of the same data. In conjunction with the alliance between the Appraisal Institute and MISMO, an open standard for describing and commonly identifying a residential property at each step of the loan process has been created. This newly developed specification can be accessed at www.mismo.org.