CoesterVMS, a nationwide provider of appraisal management services and technology, successfully integrated its Cloud Control appraisal management technology into the Ellie Mae Encompass360 mortgage management system, giving Encompass360 users the ability to order Coester appraisals with a single mouse click. The integration also allows users to automatically schedule appraisal appointments and process check payments through an integrated e-check tool.

“Integrating Cloud Control into Encompass360 helps ensure a hassle-free appraisal process for everyone — the lender, the appraiser and most importantly, the borrower,” said Bill Reichel, production manager for Weststar Mortgage, a rapidly growing mortgage banker with more than 30 branches across the country. “At Weststar, investors appreciate our 100 percent compliance, which includes appraisals, and borrowers appreciate our focus on making transactions as fast, smooth and straightforward as possible. We couldn't be happier about this integration, which enhances our performance in both areas.”

With Coester’s Cloud Control now integrated with Encompass360, the user simply clicks “order appraisal,” enters the borrower’s credit card information and the borrower’s availability, and clicks “confirm.” The Cloud Control system auto-populates the appropriate fields in the appraisal report using information from Encompass360, then automatically finds and schedules a qualified, experienced, licensed appraiser who is available to complete the appraisal.

Since lenders typically function as middlemen, contacting both appraisers and borrowers to schedule appraisal appointments, it can take days or more than a week to schedule an appraisal. This indirect method of scheduling often results in broken and rescheduled appointments, and appraisals being reassigned to other appraisers. With Cloud Control’s automated appointment setting feature, however, Encompass360 users never have to make a call or send an email – a first for the appraisal industry.

After the appraisal appointment is set, Cloud Control provides automatic updates to the lender and the borrower and can deliver the completed appraisal report directly to Encompass360. When the appraisal is completed, it is quality checked with Coester’s cData, the industry’s most intricate and thorough automated appraisal review technology. Should cData uncover any discrepancies, errors, omissions or other issues, Cloud Control automatically sends the appraisal back to the appraiser to be corrected, along with detailed information on the areas in question. The appraisal does not get returned to the lender until all issues are addressed.

“Much of the appraisal process is antiquated and redundant. That can really slow down the mortgage cycle and add costs for both lenders and borrowers,” said CoesterVMS Chief Executive Officer Brian Coester. “There’s no reason lenders should have to add days or even a week to the mortgage cycle just to schedule an appraisal or make sure it’s compliant and up to standard — and with Cloud Control, they don’t have to. We’re really excited about working with Ellie Mae and offering Encompass360 users a way to access faster, more compliant appraisals.”