This course was created just for real estate licensees to provide a broad overview of the Big Data explosion and how the square footage information within public records is impacting home values. Students will look inside the public records data collection process, analyze automated valuations and the revolution happening within the mortgage industry.

We will discover the inside world of the MLS and how tax records influence all comparisons and valuations, explore the role of “Grade” in MLS and tax records, and examine CMAs and the power of price-per-square-foot using inaccurate property details. Public records and the Big Data myth of the “Official Record” for square footage will be revealed and students will learn why not to trust in Big Data, and specifically how it could impact Realtors® in the future. Big Data will change the way agents, appraisers, and everyone who works in the real estate industry does business. It will also expose consumers to a whole new level of unnecessary risk. At the end of the day, this class will help agents better understand how public records, MLS, AVMs and CMAs are all intertwined, and how big data will impact the future for us all.

Course Goals

• Gain a better understanding of how tax records are collected and why
• Review the purpose of the information gathered by the tax department and how it worked its way into the real estate information system
• Simplify the myth of the “Official Records” for square footage
• Examine the world of automated valuation models
• Identify the motivation behind the automated revolution
• Make sense out of Proximity and Comparability in AVMs
• Detect the dangers to agents and appraisers through the growing acceptance of automation in home valuations
• Identify the phrase and concept America thinks of when they think of real estate
• Review a history of NAR and the MLS
• Discuss the Realtor® organization’s greatest asset
• Inspect the differences between entering an Active listing verses a Sold listing
• Ponder the worst offenders for square footage errors in public records
  Gain a better understanding of above and below grade, and its impact on all property comparisons
• Uncover how the vast majority of CMAs share a common denominator
• Illuminate the use of AVMs in CMAs and the dangers of relying on computer selected comparable sales