According to the Chicago Tribune article A focus on appraisals in a snap
What Zaio claims to be doing is automating the process while still incorporating the appraiser's judgment.
A kind of "instant appraisal" already is available in the marketplace in the form of AVMs, the best-known supplier of which is Zillow. But AVMs are based on algorithms of public data, and their critics say they are unreliable -- more an estimation tool than an appraisal.
Zaio, instead, is trying to reinvent the "drive-by appraisal," in which a trained appraiser visits the property, photographs it and evaluates its exterior, based on industry-accepted criteria.
Drive-bys are often used for refinancing, home-equity and other loans that typically do not call for the more rigorous, full-walk-through appraisals usually needed for a purchase loan. Producing a drive-by can still can take a week, Ross said. And the delay sometimes derails deals that are well under way, as appraisals trickle in that do not match expectations, he said.
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