Our second annual Winter Convention in Las Vegas January 16-18 was an incredible success. Click here for a roundup. We want to thank all attendees, all the exhibitors, VIPs like former HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo, 2005 National Association of REALTORS® President Al Mansell, "visiting professors" like Henry Harrison, who taught an acclaimed seminar on the new Fannie Mae forms, and Jeff Jones, whose network security classes are favorites, the staff of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and everyone else who made the event so great.

One appraiser joined us all the way from Australia and was impressed with the event. He sent us a letter he wanted us to pass along to our readers that you can read here (PDF).

Aurora is the star
The event focused on the ways Aurora can save you time and effort, make you more productive and earn you more business. We announced a couple significant changes to Aurora, specific to the way it interacts with Appraiser XSites, which we'll detail in an upcoming e-mail.

Classes like Formfilling Shortcuts, Photo Management and Net.X Technology, Report Management, Digital Files and Archiving, Contact Management and Client Communications and Comparables and MLS Integration drilled down on the most useful and timesaving features of Aurora. Special Hands-On sessions were all full to capacity, allowing hundreds of appraisers to get even more intensive instruction on Aurora.

"The cornerstone of the entire process"
Secretary Cuomo praised the appraisal profession as the linchpin of the housing economy in his keynote address Monday. He learned as head of HUD that the health of the housing sector depended on two things: Americans' confidence in the broader economy, and their trust in the home buying and mortgage process. Appraisers deployed to protect the integrity of the mortgage lending process are absolutely essential to the latter, Cuomo said.

"You're not as effective as you could be in Washington," Cuomo said. "As a collective, you're strong. And by the way, as a collective, you're right." Cuomo was remarking about the introduction at the Convention of a new group called the Appraisal Advocacy Coalition (see below).

Concluding with a brief question and answer period, Cuomo's speech drew a standing ovation from the hundreds gathered in the main ballroom of the Rio. You can view the keynote address by clicking here for streaming video (be sure you're online).

Advocacy effort takes off
The Appraisal Advocacy Coalition was publicly unveiled at the Convention even though the official kickoff of the organization will not be until later this quarter. Hundreds visited the AAC booth in the Convention exhibit hall, though, expressing enthusiasm.

And nearly 500 attended a panel discussion over Tuesday's lunch where Jennifer Sides, a la mode's General Counsel, Ben Harris, Director of Public Affairs and Tim Vining, an appraiser from Washington state who sued for copyright infringement and won a large settlement, discussed the need for a more effective voice in Washington.

You can learn more about the AAC, which is an independent, non-profit organization, by visiting www.appraisaladvocacy.org.

See you in Orlando
Our second annual Technology Convention will be held in Orlando June 5-7, 2006. Watch this space for registration information, and plan ahead — these conventions sell out early! Thanks again to all who made it a success.

Tracking PowerView to become part of Files PowerView

XSite Order Manager/Mercury Desktop users who have installed Aurora have been using the Tracking PowerView to see and update everything about the status of an assignment and a report. In the coming weeks, the Tracking PowerView will be merged into a new Files PowerView.

The change will further simplify order management by putting the ability to view your orders and their status alongside your files. This consolidation saves you a click, and time going back and forth between PowerViews. Just as the Tracking PowerView was the first step in integrating XSite Order Manager functions into WinTOTAL, this change will tighten things even further.

Instead of the Tracking PowerView dashboard, you'll now simply select Set Status from the Appraisal Desktop toolbar and choose to With or Without comments. You can prepare template comments in advance, to keep from having to retype "Unable to complete inspection due to homeowner conflicts" each time that happens. Use the Message Template button to do so.

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Most importantly, you can use the Tracking folders view in the lower left corner to view all your files according to their status. For example, if you'd like to view all reports that are currently In Progress, choosing that Tracking folder will show those reports. You can also toggle between viewing all your orders, to just XSite orders, further filtering them by their status. It's all designed to make it even easier to see your files, show their status, and save you from having to jump from one PowerView to another.

Remember that the Files PowerView also includes detailed on-the-fly views that let you see an order form, a Workfile, DirectFax documents and more without searching for a report, opening it, unsigning it, re-saving it and so on. We added the former Tracking PowerView functionality to the Files PowerView because it's more intuitive. As part of the Files PowerView's more comprehensive assignment information, we think the change will save you time and effort.

Copyrighting a hot topic in Vegas

Tim Vining, the Washington state appraiser who won a $50,000 settlement from a client for copyright infringement, was cheered when introduced as the first appraiser to successfully defend his intellectual property rights at a panel discussion of appraisal advocacy issues at our second annual Winter Convention. His story riveted the hundreds gathered at lunch to hear about issues like copyrighting, false advertising of appraisal alternatives, AVMs and lender pressure.

Immediately prior to the panel attendees filled a seminar room where the whys and hows of copyright protection for appraisal reports were taught in a "bonus" seminar setting. And many of the hundreds who visited the exhibit hall booth for the Appraisal Advocacy Coalition were interested in finding out more about the issue of copyrighting.

Read an account of the copyrighting issue in the online edition of Working RE Magazine here.

As the idea catches on, we are improving the copyright tools in Aurora. Soon you'll be able to configure your report options to automatically include a copyright notice and the license agreement of your choice. You'll be able to select a footer instead of a watermark, and include a helpful FAQ page for your clients who aren't familiar with copyright protected appraisals. Watch this space for information about the changes, which are due to be completed shortly.