Black Knight, Inc. is one of six vendors approved by Fannie Mae to support the GSE’s new valuation option: value acceptance plus property data. Fannie Mae announced the new option in lieu of appraisals on March 1 in updates to its Selling Guide.

With the new valuation option, lenders, AMCs and other property data collection companies can use SCOUT, Black Knight’s mobile property inspection application, as part of the value acceptance plus property data process. The option allows for a trained and vetted third party to conduct interior and exterior data collection on a subject property, a release stated.

As part of this process, the lender or their vendor reviews the collected data for accuracy loan eligibility requirements. Black Knight has worked closely with the GSEs to support their appraisal modernization initiative.

With the cloud-based SCOUT app, users can collect detailed interior and exterior property data using a mobile device. Through built-in rules, users input specific home characteristics and take photos based on Fannie Mae’s proprietary data requirements. GPS tracking and other measures to validate the photos and data are collected at the borrower’s property.

In addition to SCOUT, Black Knight also provides SCOUT QC, a web-based inspection quality control tool that empowers the lender or the lender’s AMC quality control staff to review the inspection for accuracy and loan eligibility. Completed inspections are uploaded to Fannie Mae using the integrated API.

“We are honored to be one of the small group of providers approved by Fannie Mae for lenders to use for the data collection process as part of the value acceptance plus property data option,” Ben Graboske, Black Knight Data & Analytics president, said in the release. “SCOUT is a great solution to support Fannie Mae’s appraisal modernization initiative. By using SCOUT, lenders experience significant efficiencies and cost savings as well as greater data transparency, minimize the potential for bias and realize faster origination turn times.”

SCOUT also includes fraud protection features, works on any camera and GPS-enabled mobile device, and supports multiple valuation types, including appraisals, hybrids and BPOs.