Clear Capital unveils new valuation tool.

CLEAR CAPITAL (FORMERLY BPO TRACKER), Truckee, California, has launched a new valuation tool. Clear Capital's new proprietary PI + AVM[TM] product applies supportable human adjustments to an automated valuation model (AVM) value conclusion for a more refined and confident value outcome. The Clear Capital PI + AVM provides additional clarity to an AVM report by analyzing property characteristics that often reside below the radar of automation, according to the company.

"Clear Capital's PI + AVM effectively captures the space between AVMs and solely human valuations," said David J. DeMello, chief appraiser and vice president of business development for Clear Capital. "By analyzing and weighting the results of a unique property inspection, we are able to determine whether the property's relative condition and lot characteristics would influence the AVM value in a positive or negative manner."

While an AVM compares a subject's quantitative factors with nearby properties, the PI + AVM provides a property inspector's answers to relevant qualitative assessments. The inspector's answers are analyzed and weighted by both Clear Capital's proprietary systems and quality assurance team. The end result is a report that illustrates the AVM value, the AVM's estimated value range, and a graph representing the results of the combined PI + AVM analysis.

A highlighted red bubble next to the AVM value indicates that the PI + AVM analysis concurs with that value. A red bubble above or below the AVM value indicates that the inspection revealed characteristics of the property that are superior or inferior, respectively, to what is typical in the neighborhood. These are characteristics that the AVM alone could not detect. An example of Clear Capital's PI + AVM report can be found at www.clearcapital.com/samples/piavm.pdf.

AVMs are more reliable in homogenous markets where public record data is plentiful. The models typically employ hedonic or index-based logic (or a combination of the two) to analyze public record data to calculate an approximate value for a particular property. Yet, even in markets where public records data is abundant, there is no current reporting category for a property's "relative characteristics." According to Clear Capital, its new PI + AVM answers those questions and assigns quantitative adjustments accordingly.