The 24-Hour Appraisal Diet: Slim on Time, Light on Credibility
Brian Zitin’s declaration that the appraisal “bottleneck” has been obliterated by Reggora’s 24-hour turnaround reads less like a breakthrough and more like a tech startup’s victory lap around a profession it barely understands. According to the post, decades of valuation nuance, regulatory compliance, and boots on the ground expertise have now been solved, at no extra cost to the borrower, in every location, and without compromising standards. All it took, apparently, was a few million dollars and a launch video.
It’s a bold claim, not because speed isn’t desirable, but because speed without substance is just marketing. The idea that rural appraisals, where town records are locked behind part-time clerks, and urban or suburban assignments, where tenant access is more art than science and rarely on demand, can all be completed in 24 hours without cutting corners is a fantasy dressed in venture capital. If this were truly USPAP compliant, it would mean appraisers are now clairvoyant, able to verify data that hasn’t been shared, inspect properties they haven’t entered, and reconcile comps that don’t exist, all while maintaining the same fee structure. Miraculous.
Of course, we’re told not to worry, actual appraisers are involved, and the reports are “real.” But the profession has heard this tune before. Every few years, a new tech solution promises to streamline valuation, only to quietly admit later that it’s really just an AVM with lipstick. The difference this time is the insistence that nothing is being replaced, just… accelerated, as if the problem was never complexity, but simply a lack of hustle.
The irony is rich. Appraisers have long been pressured to work faster, cheaper, and with less autonomy, all while absorbing the liability. Now, the same industry that squeezed them dry is promising to respect their expertise, just as long as it fits into a 24-hour window. It’s not that appraisers can’t work quickly, it’s that quality takes time, and time is the one thing no algorithm can fabricate.
If Reggora has truly cracked the code, if they’ve built a system that supports appraisers in meeting every standard, verifying every detail, and delivering credible results in a single day, then let’s see it. Not in a sizzle reel, but in a full report, from a real assignment, in a real town. Until then, the applause will remain on mute, because in the real world, valuation isn’t a bottleneck, it’s a safeguard, and some things are worth waiting for.
- How Bureaucratic Overreach Turned Real Estate Appraisers into Scapegoats - September 25, 2025
- The 24-Hour Appraisal Diet: Slim on Time, Light on Credibility - September 5, 2025
- The Harbor Model: Where Appraisers Take the Helm - August 8, 2025
Someone on another forum made an astute observation – this 24-hr time is probably based on the clock beginning to tick after the property inspection has been completed by a PDC (ie., bifuricated appraisal) and where most of the report is prefilled (including comp selection) by data integrations and AI? Because even getting the property access person to reply within 24hrs just to set up the inspection, let alone, inspect it – is near impossible. Who knows – maybe reggora really cracked the code because they sure convinced the coastal VCs to throw a bunch of money their way for this. Guess we’ll see if they can pull it off…
And if that is the case, may the states and more come down hard on those participating in this hot mess -including the appraisers. Hyrbrid type appraisals and data collected by unlicensed, unregulated, untrained data collectors aren’t worth being the lining in the bottom of a bird cage. Not to mention the potential dangers of allowing data collectors access to property and people.
Oh, but Fannie, in their latest email, says they’re trained. I mean, gosh, if Fannie said it, it must be true, huh? Smirk emoji.
https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/property-valuation?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10965074&utm_term=5121337&utm_content=43310400&sfmc_id=2003674520
Chase-san, you will become a great ally of the appraiser. Understand the ways of the dark side, resist their deception, you have achieved.
“Applause will remain on mute” LOL
Job in this am from them. 350. Countered 550. My standard for that area. Withdrawn in seconds. The race to the bottom is real.
The race for the bottom has been happening for years. It’s not going to get any better either.
I can’t even get what I was getting in the 1980’s-1990’s for today’s much more complicated and remote properties. Personally, I think we’re all just p*ssin’ up a rope, thinking that things will ever get better. Given the now-now-now mentality of the public and most businesses who sell products and services to the public, we’ve become dinosaurs. This poison is everywhere. I’ve taught karate on and off for five decades and people come in and want to learn to do a jump back kick like Chuck Norris used to do. I tell them that it will take five to fifteen years to learn that. They look utterly shocked and walk out. They’ll go to a dozen karate schools until somebody lies to them and tells them they can learn it in a couple of lessons. We’re up against a tsunami of stupidity and cluelessness. Good luck.
What’s next, full loan approval and underwriting in 24 hours? This will not have a good outcome. They like to push the narrative that appraisals delay the process. How about just ordering them up front and not waiting until the last second?
it’s the only part of the process that has a shot of being manipulated.
Great point !
Mike Irvine What delays the process is Amc’s sending out bid request for days to up to a week shopping for the low ball appraisal bid.
I hear ya. I had one that kept making the rounds for well over a month. It was a nightmare of a property, and well outside of my coverage area. The engagement letter stated the property characteristics didn’t match public records, and the property likely has additional ADU’s (plural). They also wanted an FHA level inspection, even though it wasn’t going FHA. This was in a conforming tract home community. No thanks!
I’ve had bids come to me a number of times from different lenders or AMC’s over weeks and months on the same property. The loan could have been done a dozen times over, but for the lowest bid search of the penny-pinching AMC’s and lenders. Well, penny-pinching when it comes to appraisers.
33 years in the business and more than 50% of any article regarding the appraisal practice details on how the appraiser will be phased out and deemed unnecessary. I just hear Elton John singing “I’m still standing” every time I read these articles.
Some are just trying to make the only unbiased person in the transaction irrelevant. Appraisers are the bottleneck? Nope, we are helping to keep our economy safe while saving borrower and lenders from making bad decisions on property that is the collateral.
Scott Taylor What should be phased out are the Amc’s as they are unnecessary, because all they do is over charge the homeowner and gough money that belongs to the appraisers that do the work .
I am not against having a middle man in the equation as long as the middle man does not think he or she is an appraiser and wants to be compensated as one.
Reggora 01/2022; “In a world where we can hail a personal driver within minutes and track exactly how many blocks until our pizza arrives, why should the experience of getting an appraisal be any different?’ At least he’s not lying like FNMA, trying to con appraisers how diminished work products will magically cause appraisers to earn more money. This company has always treated appraisers like disposable employees, and continues to do so.
This ‘tech advancement’ brought to you by the same company whom for the life of them were simply unable to provide appraisers simple user options such as; accept bids or requests from amc’s Y/N. They refused to answer such basic questions as how many other appraisers the requests were sent to, what was the borrowers charge, what can be done to limit communications to only companies the appraiser wants to work with. They treat appraisers just like a pizza, set them on the open shelf, and say anyone can grab a slice.
I don’t know why people bother stating platitudes such as ‘uspap compliant’ anymore, or any synonym of such relating to ‘modernized’ GSE systems and appraisal. When it comes to stake holder interest, all it takes is a phone call and a generous donation to one of the appraisal trade groups, or even something as simple as preferring their referenced appraisers for increased work load, to cause a rewrite or dismissal of whatever ethical principal may stand in their way.
Regorra, like most of the companies of this nature including their preferred amc clients they work on behalf of; Treating appraisers like employees, arguably in violation of IRS rules.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee
This is where ‘appraisal performance grading’ comes into play. Tiered ranking, visibility, star ratings, etc.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/completing-form-ss-8
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss8.pdf
Recently retired 35 year Certified General appraiser here. Reminds me of years ago when a banker said “we don’t need appraisers because the industry cost of foreclosures is less than the overall cost of appraisals so we can save money not having appraisals.” I asked him if the overall market and foreclosed properties he was referring to had all been appraised, and he said they had been. I looked at him and said “than the appraisals worked.” He ended the conversation and left the room.
Desiree’s got chutzpah in spades, and thank goodness for it. While most tiptoe around the tech takeover of our profession, she walked straight into the lion’s den and lit a match.
Here’s the back-and-forth that deserves a standing ovation:
Desiree:
“Brian Zitin, you may not remember reaching out to me fresh out of college, asking how to build a platform that would empower appraisers, one where lenders paid for access, appraisers set their full fee, & no cut was taken from the professional doing the work. That vision had integrity. What Reggora has become does not.
Your company has undermined the appraisal profession by packaging it like fast food. According to your own website, ordering an appraisal is now no different than hailing a ride or grabbing a pizza, because apparently, decades of market expertise & regulatory oversight are about as complex as choosing thin crust or deep dish.
I’ve dropped every client that moved to your platform. I won’t work with any AMC, & I won’t contribute to enriching a system that treats appraisers as disposable inputs. Calling seasoned professionals “stubborn” for resisting commoditization isn’t just dismissive, it’s telling.
Millions in funding may buy scale, but it doesn’t buy respect. And it certainly doesn’t buy credibility.”
Brian:
“Desiree Mehbod When we first started Reggora it was actually supposed to start off as free form software that would compete with alamode and ACI, you even wrote about it
https://appraisersblogs.com/corelogic-acquisition-appraisers-ditch-a-la-mode#google_vignette
We built a free cloud based form software that was integrated into MLS & public records to help appraisers streamline the creation of reports, and guess what happened?
Appraisers didn’t want to use it!
Because they were scared to change , and even years later despite your article a la mode is still the most used appraisal form software (one might describe this as stubborn) same thing has happened to many tech companies who have built better software but appraisers refuse to relearn a new one
We gave up and pivoted to streamlining the rest of the appraisal process – all we have done is make processes that were manual and tedious more automated, it’s really that simple no fast food metaphor applicable”
Desiree (again, with precision):
“Brian Zitin, what you call “stubborn,” I call discerning. Appraisers didn’t reject your form software because they feared change. They rejected it because they saw through it. Streamlining is welcome when it respects the complexity of the work. What Reggora offers now isn’t simplification, it’s commoditization.
You pivoted from empowering appraisers to monetizing them, from promising fee control to building a system that treats valuation like logistics. The fast food metaphor still applies: mass-produced, low-context, & served up fast to please investors, not professionals.
And let’s not forget the early skepticism. The very article you linked described Reggora as a mystery. No ownership transparency, no about page, WHOIS info hidden. That lack of clarity wasn’t a fluke. It was a preview. Appraisers saw it then, & many still do now.
And let’s not pretend automation is neutral. When tech replaces judgment with templates & calls it innovation, it’s not progress. It’s erosion. Appraisers aren’t resisting evolution. They’re resisting being erased.”
———–
If more appraisers spoke with this kind of clarity, maybe we wouldn’t be watching our profession get sliced into deliverables & served up to venture capital. Let’s hope others follow her lead.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7369708564493406210/
Thank you! I’ll take “chutzpah in spades” as the highest compliment. Sometimes you’ve got to walk into the lion’s den, toss the match, & bring marshmallows. Appreciate you amplifying the message. May more appraisers find their fire
This crap has the same validity as instant coffee. And Regorra comparing the value of a home with the value of a hot pizza?? I don’t understand how these folks got control of our profession.
Because our voices were silenced in favor of the erosion of our profession and the greed of corporations – at least those who tried to voice. Too many appraisers didn’t speak out when needed and have yet to cooperate enough to put a stop to it. A massive strike might help, but may be too late.
Hey, it’s like beating out 4 minute abbs with 2 minute abbs. I dont need no stinkin’ 24 hr appraisal, I can do better with 10 hr appraisals, yeah, that’s it, 10 hrs. Anybody that buys into this load of crap needs their head examined. But as we all know…. Sorry, I just cant give this rubbish and bazarre rational any serious attention. Snake oil.
.
Let’s be honest, reggora’s 24-hour appraisal isn’t about meeting urgent demand, it’s about marketing leverage. They know full well that true 24-hour turnarounds are rarely needed, but having that option on the table gives them a foot in the door with lenders. It positions them as the solution, even when no real solution is needed, and the profession pays the price for the illusion.
It’s wild how these companies push “faster” over “better.” Reggora’s 24-hour appraisal claims to be a full product, inspection, report, delivery across urban, suburban, and rural areas. They call it “comprehensive” and “cost-effective,” which apparently means lenders get rush turnaround without paying rush fees. So appraisers are expected to drop everything, work faster, and still get paid the same.
Honestly, I’m just glad I don’t do any lending work anymore. Watching this race to the bottom from the sidelines is frustrating enough… can’t imagine being forced to play along. It’s not solving a problem, it’s selling a shortcut, and the profession’s footing the bill.
IMO, there is minimal reason for a 24 hour turn time, and for those few – it should be a rush. I just spent almost 6 hours in the field for a rural appraisal, limited comps, rain and muddy roads. If it were a 24 hour turn time, I would need to work nearly through the night to complete it – not only is our income at risk, but so is our health – I guess that’s not something that is considered.
User name checks out. That is indeed an expert level take. Thanks.
Remember, this same company is the one that stated appraiser’s are chomping at the bit to do Hybrids… I don’t know one appraiser (online or personal relationship) that wants anything to do with hybrids.