Black Knight Approved by Fannie Mae to Support New Home Valuation Option

Black Knight, Inc. [NYSE:BKI) is officially one of only six vendors currently approved by Fannie Mae to support their new home valuation option — value acceptance plus property data

Fannie Mae announced the new option on March 1, 2023, as an alternative to traditional appraisals in updates to its Selling Guide. The value acceptance plus property data valuation option allows for properly trained and vetted third parties to collect interior and exterior data on a property under consideration. 

Lenders, appraisal management companies (AMCs), and other industry professionals can use SCOUT—Black Knight’s mobile property inspection app—to easily collect data as part of the value acceptance plus property data process. 

From there, the lender (or their vendor) reviews the collected data for accuracy and to ensure the property meets the requirements for loan eligibility. 

SCOUT and SCOUT QC

Introduced in 2020, the cloud-based SCOUT app enables users to easily collect detailed property data (interior and exterior) using a mobile device. 

App users input specific property characteristics and take photos based on Fannie Mae’s data requirements. GPS tracking and other measures confirm the location of the data and photos collected. 

The SCOUT mobile app simplifies the property valuation process for lenders and borrowers, reducing costs while contributing to faster origination turn times. 

Black Knight also provides SCOUT QC, a cloud-based inspection quality control tool that enables the lender (or the lender’s AMC quality control staff) to review the inspection for accuracy and determine loan eligibility using proprietary pass/fail logic. The already integrated API seamlessly uploads completed inspections to Fannie Mae.

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. 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

Ben Graboske

President, Black Knight Data & Analytics

The SCOUT app also comes equipped with advanced fraud protection features. It works on any camera- and GPS-enabled mobile device and supports a full suite of valuation types, including appraisals, hybrids, and BPSs (Broker Price Opinions). 

On Thursday, March 23, Black Knight is hosting a free webinar to discuss GSE valuation options. Register here to learn more. 

Top takeaways for real estate agents

Home appraisals have been the subject of debate for some time, now, which is why news like this—and technological advancements like SCOUT and the Plunk app—are so worth sharing and learning more about. 

We’re big fans of tools that not only streamline but improve critical processes for real estate transactions. The less time and money it takes to determine a property’s fair market value, the quicker you can move on to helping your client get the outcome they want.