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ELECTRONIC APPRAISAL Status of Pooled Fund, FHWA/Texas Project John Zimmerman, Director, Acquisition Section TxDOT Right of Way Division 512-416-2928 JZIMMERM@DOT.STATE.TX.US AASHTO/FHWA AUSTIN 2005. Outline of Presentation. →Status of Pooled Fund Project →Appraisal a Critical Element
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ELECTRONIC APPRAISALStatus of Pooled Fund, FHWA/Texas ProjectJohn Zimmerman, Director, Acquisition Section TxDOT Right of Way Division512-416-2928JZIMMERM@DOT.STATE.TX.USAASHTO/FHWA AUSTIN 2005
Outline of Presentation • →Status of Pooled Fund Project • →Appraisal a Critical Element • →Expediting Right of Way Acquisition and can the appraisal process be streamlined? • →Discuss and define Artificial Intelligence and its application to appraisal review • →Presentation by University of Texas Researchers of current status of project
New Research Project May Help in Appraisal Review Electronically • Texas is now the lead State in an AASHTO/FHWA Pooled Fund Research Project: • 1. To develop an electronic format for transmittal of appraisals. • 2. Once in an electronic format, to develop artificial (electronic) intelligence programs for assisting with appraisal reviews.
States With Committed Funds: • Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin • Benefits of participation are being able to provide input to the researchers and participate in surveys specific to a state’s appraisal process
IT IS NOT TOO LATE • If additional states would like to participate we can still accept more states willing to contribute ($10,000), as this is a multi-year research project. • Please contact me or Hilda Correa (512) 416-2902 to make arrangements to participate (John Zimmerman, TXDOT, (512) 416-2928).
Appraisal of Right of Way is Very Critical • Private property rights have always been very important under the Uniform Act. • Both the U.S. and state constitutions require that adequate and just compensation be paid when private property is acquired for a public purpose. • Land appraisal is a key up front element in the right of way acquisition process.
Two Important Appraisal Purposes • 1. To comply with constitutional requirements to adequately compensate a private property owner when such property is being acquired by the “public”. • 2. To also ensure that the governmental agency that is paying for such property is not paying an excessive amount. This is sometimes a difficult balancing act!
Appraisal Review • Under Federal and State procedures, land appraisals (usually prepared by independent fee appraisers) are reviewed by a state DOT staff appraisal reviewer, or a ROW consultant’s reviewer: 1. To be sure the appraisal has been prepared properly and within the law. 2. To ensure both the landowner’s and the public’s protection from unsupported values.
Traditional Manual Appraisal Review • Reviewer actually reads a paper appraisal report page by page and makes notes and manual calculations from figures in report. • Average paper appraisal reports may consist of 50 pages, some more, some less. • Review process can result in a delay in the acquisition process when there are many ROW parcels being acquired on a project.
Streamlining the Appraisal Review Process • In today’s technology advanced environment, there may be ways to use technology to assist in appraisal reviews. • Some refer to this as “artificial intelligence” • The first step is to have the formal appraisal reports and information entered into an electronic format (document and text preparation on a computer is part of this process (word processing)
Artificial (Electronic) Intelligence • This is utilizing a computer program, to search for certain key (defined) items, words, amounts, dates, etc. • This allows both reports and charts to be prepared as a summary, as well as specific pages or parts to be flagged so a reviewer may not have to read every word or amount in a 50 page report.
Examples of Artificial Intelligence Already in Use • The most simple form, which many of us already use, is being able to use a computer to find a specific word or group of words (or numbers) within an existing document. • A more complex program some have used, is the electronic tax preparation software, like “Turbo-Tax”. It checks for both math and information errors and calculates taxes.
Ways Appraisal Review Can be Improved with Artificial Intelligence • 1. Speed up the process by flagging the key areas that appear to need more intensive review by the person doing the review. • 2. Looking for specific inconsistencies so that the quality of the review can also be improved. • 3. Allowing comparison of other parcels in same project so better uniformity among the appraisals of multiple parcels, increasing possibility of acquiring more parcels by negotiation.
Presentation by Researchers • Dr. Zhanmin Zhang and Dr. Carlos Caldas • University of Texas Center for Transportation Research Austin, Texas
CONTACT INFORMATIONJohn Zimmerman, Attorney at Law512-416-2928JZIMMERM@DOT.STATE.TX.US