SMART Mortgage Valuation was developed in 2011 in conjunction with a leading national Mortgage Valuation Panel Manager. eTech’s brief was to assist the Panel’s Chartered Surveyors to improve the speed and efficiency of undertaking Mortgage Valuation Reports (MVRs) for UK lenders and to deliver a robust, consistent and legible set of electronic Site Notes. The key components and features of the system include:

• Full integration with instruction systems to enable MVR instructions to be sent automatically to a PDA in the field
• Tailored question sets on the PDA linked to the Lender’s MVR form
• Lender’s Guidance Notes and Lending Policy integrated into the PDA
• Condition and defects can be recorded element by element using a flexible, easy to use icon-based menu system. This is supported with additional photographic evidence captured using the PDA’s camera, including a photograph of any drawn sketches or manual notes
• Where required, additional site note observations can be recorded as a voice file on the PDA which are stored by eTech as part of the electronic Record of Inspection
• The Lender’s MVR is pre-filled with the data captured on-site, ready for review and sign-off

In addition, a bespoke component was developed to deliver comparable mortgage data to the PDA. This innovation enables the surveyor to compare a Subject property against sold data from Comparable properties in the same location. The variance between the Subject and each Comparable property can be recorded on the PDA using Market Price, Property type and style, Year of Construction, Tenure, Condition, Floor area, the Number of Bedrooms, Reception rooms, Cloakrooms and Bathrooms, the Heating System Type, Conservatory, Parking, Date of Valuation, Type of Valuation (eg Land Registry). The surveyor can also include his or her own Comparable evidence if required. The software ensures that a photo is taken using the PDA’s camera of any additional materials relied on when completing the valuation, such as written particulars from an Agent to ensure the electronic Record of Inspection remains complete and reliable.