Veros Real Estate Solutions announced the availability of property-specific disaster data in conjunction with its VeroVALUE automated valuation model (AVM) reports and portfolio review services.
In regions declared as disaster areas, the new data set will allow lenders, servicers, appraisal management companies, and other mortgage transaction participants to determine whether a U.S.-based residential property has been directly affected, Veros announced in a press release.
Today, federal disasters are declared at the county level, meaning the entire county is declared a disaster, even though it only affects a portion of the properties located within the region. As a result, all properties within the county are flagged as being in a disaster area, which halts loan funding.
Because most mortgage lenders serve a broad or even national geographic area, they have limited ability to truly know whether or not a specific property is impacted by a disaster. Veros now can eliminate this challenge by identifying disaster area impact at the parcel level, the company said.
“With the release of this new data source we can now provide our customers with accurate property-specific disaster data, allowing them to quickly assess whether or not properties have been impacted by the disaster,” Veros Product Management Director Luke Ziegenmeyer said in the release. “Additionally, our data is continually updated as the disaster unfolds, ensuring that our customers are always making their risk-based decisions with the most current information.”
Property-specific disaster monitoring data is available for the majority of declared disaster areas and includes hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, storm surges and tsunamis.
“This new component to our VeroVALUE Automated Valuation Model has the potential to be of tremendous benefit to everyone from lenders and servicers to the GSEs, government agencies and capital markets firms,” Veros President and CEO Darius Bozorgi said. “It’s part of our ongoing commitment to provide innovative solutions that support the lending industry's need to streamline processes mitigate risk and create cost efficiencies.”