Quick Start Guide (print topic)

  

Installation

You take the security of your computer very seriously and so do we. Our software is digitally signed, and uses Microsoft's AppInstaller to ensure the integrity of the install process.

  1. Click here to download the Appraiser Grunt ALPHA Installer file. This install package runs about 50 Mb, and may take a few moments to download, depending on the speed of your connection.

  2. To protect your computer against malware, we recommend validating the installation software by using the following steps:

    1. take a moment to verify the downloaded file's properties.The downloaded filename should be "Appraiser Grunt ALPHA-x64.msix".

    2.  Right-click the file and select Properties from the popup menue. On the General tab, the expected file size is 40-60 Mb.

    3. Select the Digital Signatures page to verify that it was signed by George W LeMay.

    4. If the downloaded files meet all these criteria, you can safely start the installer by double clicking it.

    5. The first screen should be a confirmation screen.

    6. Final check: Make sure the Installation shows the publisher is George W LeMay. [Source note: Once installed, software updates will be downloaded to your local drive automatically, so the source listed for updates will be a special folder on your computer.] 

    7. If these items are confirmed, the downloaded file is valid and you can safely continue with the install.

  3. When the installer finishes, it will start Appraiser Grunt, and prompt you for information it needs to run. This screen will appear until all required fields are filled and Appraiser Grunt successfully once. You will be able to change any of the data in these fields within Appraiser Grunt using the program Settings function.

Output folder: Folder to save the CSV and Photographs in. To use an existing folder, click the … button to browse to it.

Source folders: Folders with XML appraisal report files to extract your data from. Clicking the … button opens a special panel to help you build the string. See Folders List Panel (below).

Licensing State, License number: Using these boxes, select your State first. The program will download your state licensing records so you can pick your License number from the list.5 Make sure YOUR name appears in the “Registered to:” box.

UADNet Member ID and Password: Enter these as shown in your welcome packet – capitalization of both are important

  • Complete installation: Enables when all fields have been properly filled out. This starts the building process of your CSV files and photographs from the files in your source files list7, and starts Appraiser Grunt.

  • Save and quit: Saves your work so far and closes the app without starting anything else.

  • Cancel: don’t save any edits, just close the app.

 Required Settings image
Folders List Panel:

Use the +Add… button to browse to a folder that has the appraisal report files you want Grunt to copy its data from adds that folder’s path to the list. If you check the box to the left of that folder path, then Grunt will also copy data from every folders in that folder path.8

Use the -Delete button to delete highlighted rows.
The Cancel button closes the pane without saving your changes
The Save button saves your changes, enters the code into the Source Folders box, and closes the pane.

In this graphic, all XML files found in the highlighted folder will be processed. XML files in the checked folder and each of its subfolders will also be processed.

The bottom left hand corner of the panel shows how many XML files that are in the folders in the list. Hints appear at the bottom of each screen for the control selected.
Seeing Your Data

Appraiser Grunt opens the Property Browser9 so you can view, export, print, and analyze your data. The data is read from your appraisal report XML files automatically in the background. Grunt saves your data in CSV. These files let you share or view it in most other programs10 easily. The number of records / sales found is shown in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Note: You may not see any sales data the first time Appraiser Grunt opens... It may not be finished collecting it from your appraisal files11.

Quick Find a sale by its Address: Type the address in the Address Lookup box, or the city or state in the City, State box. Grunt filters the sales immediately. Sales found include the strings found in these boxes.

Note: Click to expand the sidebar panels, or to shrink them.

Click the Picture button to show / hide photos.

Show Sales across (one record per column). Show Sales down (one record per row). If pictures are shown, they will re-arrange.

Search and Sort (lets you change what fields should be included in your output, your sort order, and your filtering instructions)

Auto automatically refresh the table data as the Search and Sort settings change.

Clear quick filter / sort remove all settings and show all data.

Filtering fields list: When checked, shows the list of field columns to show. Checked fields appear in filtering instructions table.

Output fields list: When checked, shows the output fields list. Checked fields in this list will appear in the output table.

Filter / Sort instruction table.

Double click the field name to toggle the sort criteria from none, to ascending (+), to descending (-). Drag top cell left or right to change sorting priority. (left = first, right = last). In example, sort ascending by Price (Beds doesn’t have a sort preface character).

Enter filter value in appropriate cells. Properties shown must match all criteria. In the example shown, only records showing 3 bedrooms will appear.

Re-use Filter/Sort instructions:

Click the Save... button and give the current Sort/Filter definition a meaningful file name.

Click the Load… button and select open the Sort/Filter definition file, then click the Refresh button if necessary.
Comp Photos
Click a photo to open a picture in the Image viewer. The Image viewer lets you zoom in, copy it, or save it to a file by Right-clicking the picture, or resizing the window.
Panels
Change Screen Font… allows you to change the font used on the screens. The font affects the Property Browser and all Grunt’s sub-screens.
Edit Program Settings… opens a form to allow you to modify the settings for the program including adding or updating your email address, list of affiliates, and Password, and License number.
Edit Affiliates… is enabled for Affiliates. As long as both parties agree and are valid members of UADNet.com, Grunt automatically keeps your data and photos current across the internet.
Analyze panel
Statistics… takes the data showing in your table and brings it into the Statistical Analysis tool. (See below)
Paired Sales… identifies any pairs of sales suitable for market data extraction for the difference between 2 amenities. (See below)
Open matched pairs report… you can save your matched pairs analysis for future use. This allows you to open a previously saved report without re-analyzing your data. (See below)
Data Set
Grunt checks for new data on startup in the background. Extract file data... lets you manually trigger that processes without restarting Grunt. Use the check boxes to select the records to use for the data set.

Extract file data… start GruntExtract (if it’s not already running) to copy any new or missing data from your XML files. Grunt will pause until it finishes checking for new records.
Get current web data tells Grunt to retrieve the latest data and photos from other appraisers you share data with via UADNet.com.
My Comps Include records for properties that appear as comparable sales in my grids.
My Subjects Include records for my subject properties.
Affiliates Include records of other appraisers that I’ve agreed to exchange data with.
No duplicates Only show the most recent record of a comparable sale.
Analyses

Regression Analysis tool

  1.  Set the Dependent variable (units of comparison) you want to use.

  2. Check the field you want to examine. Your MS Excel style analysis will immediately appear with the Simple Linear Regression analysis.

  3. Add more fields (for a Multiple Linear Regression analysis), just check the other fields and the report will update as you make your changes.

You can remove sales from your dataset using the Source data tab by selecting the record and using the DEL key to ignore the sale, or the Enter key to include it.

The Reference tab summarizes each entry in your analysis.
Paired Sales Analysis tool
(example find matched pairs that for the difference between 3 and 4 bedrooms)

Select the Field (attribute) to analyze. [In this example, “Beds”.] This fills the value 1 list with all the unique values for this field in your data set
Set the Value 1 rating. [In this example, 3.] The status bar at the bottom of the screen will show how many records match value 1.
Set the Value 2 rating. [In this example, 4.] Again, the number of matching records will be shown.
You can use the Tolerances… button to set data sensitivities for specific fields, define aliases, and choose fields to ignore during your analysis. See Setting Tolerances for more details.
Click the Find pairs button. If any matched pairs are found, they will be opened in the Matched Pair Report Editor. This allows you to compare the sales paired side-by-side and document your analysis. See the Matched Pair Report Editor section for more details.
Matched Paired Report Editor

The editor displays each sales pair for ease of comparison.
The panel on the left controls display / print settings.
The panel on the right summarizes the analysis done. It can be edited to include your overall reconciliation of the analysis.
The panel on the bottom is for notes and a reconciliation about the comparison.

 Pair # the number of the pairing shown

Display Options:

Show All rows presents the data as found in the original grid for both sales.

Hide equal rows eliminates all rows that the search found to be equal.

Merge equal rows presents all data. If both columns have the same value, the value appears only once centered between the columns.