For Further Information Contact:
Marsha Berenson, Media Coordinator
800-285-1288, Ext. 2828
e-mail marsha.berenson@msbinfo.com
For Immediate Release
Drive for Appraiser Accountability Spurs Marshall & Swift’s Certification Program
Los Angeles – September 24, 2008 Marshall & Swift (M&S), a MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, Ltd.
(MDA) business, and the leading worldwide provider of residential and commercial building cost data to the
real estate appraisal market, announces new support for the appraisal process through its appraiser
certification program. As the appraisal industry experiences increased regulatory oversight and a demand for
evidence that appraisers use best practices, M&S, (a co-founder of one of the professional appraisal
organizations that in 1987 helped to establish the Appraisal Foundation) has joined the fight to demonstrate
the quality of valuations performed by appraisers. M&S demonstrates this by giving appraisers proof of
licensed access to its industry-standard replacement cost data for their property valuations.
The new M&S Licensed User Certificate is available to M&S licensed customers at
https://certification.marshallswift.com, and is for attachment to any appraisal report. The certificate is written
confirmation that the appraiser maintains current building cost information in accordance with appraisal best
practices, and supports the residential appraisal form requirement that the appraiser list a source of current
data when calculating a cost approach valuation. Marshall & Swift also provides an online registry of
certificate holders should lenders wish to confirm appraisers’ access to current building cost information as
part of their underwriting process.
M&S President Peter M. Wells notes, “Marshall & Swift cost data remains one of the most important and
defendable sources of property valuations in the lending process required by the mortgage and appraisal
industries today.” Wells states that