Mark Stockton began appraising real property in the 1960s. After developing the nation’s first fully-integrated banking software, Stockton formed a company for the sole purpose of developing tools and analytics to help appraisers generate more accurate property valuations more efficiently. The company was the first to copyright automated valuation model (AVM) technology and appraiser assisted automated valuation technology in 1981. Today, this pioneering appraiser launched Valuation Research LLC in 2012 with is partner Rob Hausman to market enhanced technology the company has been developing since 2003. Stockton sat down with Valuation Review to talk appraiser technology and how Valuation Research has wrapped its analytics in a new presentation layer to take advantage of the latest technology and added functionality that Stockton believes is essential to professional appraisers today.

Valuation Review: What’s the current temperature of the appraisal tech market and where does Valuation Research fit into it?

Stockton: The traditional appraisal product has lacked credibility and defensibility. Can you think of any other profession that has spawned an entire industry devoted to reviewing its product for compliance, completeness and reasonableness? We believe that is due, in large part, to the fact that appraisers have limited access to the information and analytics they need to do their job properly, and it underscores an obvious need for higher quality products. Our tools ensure the requisite level of credibility and defensibility necessary to make an appraisal report a useful tool in a decision making process.