First American Real Estate Solutions, the nation’s largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services announced the addition of InsureBASE, a residential property estimated replacement cost (ERC) calculator from BlueBook International, to its suite of solutions this past spring. InsureBASE, which covers more than 90 percent of the U.S. population, is available to all First American customers, allowing them to address residential valuation and compliance as part of their existing protocol. Appraisers, insurers, lenders and others can reduce risk by determining and maintaining accurate ERC values for residential property structures.

Buzz: What exactly is this?

First American: Estimated Replacement Cost refers to the cost to replace new of the physical structure associated with a particular property. Actual Cash Value and individual physical characteristics are also included.

Buzz: Besides Estimated Replacement Cost, is there additional value in the product?

First American: Certainly. Appraisers in particular will enjoy the Cost Approach Method already completed for them in the Appraisal Assisted Residential Costs Analysis report. This should save them time and money.

Buzz: What about AVMs, are they included?

First American: AVMS and AVM range reports are also included. Another application could be for lenders to determine volatility of their portfolio.

Buzz: Volatility measurement - how does that work?

First American: Lenders looking for the “spread” will take the current market value (AVM), subtract the replacement cost (ERC) to get a general idea of the land value. In a declining market such as what we are working with today, understanding the risks associated with your portfolio is powerful.

Buzz: How can this be made available?

First American: InsureBASE.html is a web-based product. You can sign up for a per-report or draw-down subscription through First American. XML integration is also an option for direct system-to-system applications. Bulk data is also available if multiple reports are needed.

Buzz: How many and what type of customers are using this now?

First American: InsureBASE is the fastest growing product segment at First American at the moment. We are signing new customers up all the time. Those customers are appraisers, lenders, insurance and also legal firms. There are hundreds of InsureBASE installations, representing thousands of users.

Buzz: If there were one message you would like for anyone reading this to take away, what would it be?

First American: InsureBASE drills all the way down to the street and neighborhood level – making it far superior then other replacement cost calculators on the market today. Plus, when partnered with First American, this application is the new standard to beat.

For more information, please contact First American Real Estate Solutions at 800-345-7334, Option 1.