09/30/2026
There is a good argument making the rounds this week that the industry gives away more than a billion dollars a year in listing data to the companies building valuation models and training AI. Worth a read.
The number we keep coming back to is a different one in the same piece. The mortgage industry is targeting 90 percent desktop appraisals. That means fewer people actually standing on the property.
A data feed knows beds, baths, square footage and price. It does not know the driveway sits eight feet onto the neighbor's lot, or that the addition went up in 2009 without a permit, or that there is an easement running across the back third.
That is Schedule B work, and it is why we push to get the commitment and the survey in front of you early instead of the week of closing.
Have a deal with something strange in the legal description? Send it over. We would rather dig into it with you now than explain it to your buyer later.
