Comment: A While TurboValue's reports are not "go/no go" determiners, they do give enough information on which to base a "look/don't look" decision. The price per report doesn't look all that low at first glance, but compared to what it would cost (in man-hours alone) to otherwise procure all the information that a TurboValue report provides, this reviewer sees it as a good buy. Reports appear to be accurate and versatile, useful to owners, investors, lenders, brokers and other real estate professionals and entrepreneurs, for several purposes. And they're fast. They download via the Internet (upon receipt of a credit-card payment) in less than 30 seconds.

At present, TurboValue covers the five essential property types-office, industrial, retail, multifamily and hotel-in 146 markets, and its scope may soon be expanded globally.

In addition to estimating the value of a property, a TurboValue report provides economic and demographic data for the market area and compares the property in question to peer properties within a three-mile radius. "To generate these reports, we've pulled in an amazing number of data sources and employed various algorithms," says Robert G. Dobilas, senior vice president at GMAC. "You can download a report in 10 to 20 seconds, obtaining information that would take at least four to six hours to assemble via ordinary methods."

A typical TurboValue report consists of five to seven pages, with the information clearly organized. At present, no picture of the subject property is included, but Dobilas says the second generation of the product might include satellite imagery. However, the first page of the report does include a map, showing the building's location relative to all roads and comparable properties within a radius of at least three miles. The first page also includes all basic information on the building, including rentable square footage, amount of attached land, current occupancy, year built, and property class.

The second page consists of an economic overview of the metropolitan area in which the property is located, briefly assessing its strengths and weaknesses, analyzing the performances of its main industries, and delineating possible future scenarios. The information is clearly presented, and useful, but graphically very tight and not especially easy to read on a computer screen.

The following pages display a series of tables, progressing from demographic statistics for the metropolitan area, to a three-part summary of property value estimates. The demographic statistics go from macro to micro. The report provides population, median age, population density, total employment, employment percentage, household income breakdowns, and median household and per capita income, for not just the metro area, but for the areas within one-, two- and three-mile radii of the property.

Another set of tables compares the metro area in question with the region as a whole, and with the entire United States, in terms of asking rents; vacancy rates; rent change (expressed as percentage); vacancy change (expressed in basis points); and inventory growth. Five-year forecasts in rent growth, inventory growth and vacancy change are also compared to the rest of the US.

The report also picks out the top submarkets in the metro area, basing its findings on rent growth, vacancy and inventory growth. A table shows how each submarket is performing in terms of inventory (expressed in number of buildings and square feet); average asking rent; and vacancy rate. Finally, the report compares the property to several peer properties in that market in terms of age, rentable area, asking rent and estimated sale price per square foot. It also presents three separate property-value estimates, based, respectively, on sales, income capitalization and cost approaches.

TurboValue reports are based on an automated analysis of information gathered from a database of recent comparable sales, cap rates, national, regional and MSA-specific economic data and macro market and sub-market information-all frequently refreshed and updated. "The reports are not intended to replace formal appraisals," Dobilas cautions. "They help you decide whether or not to go ahead with a formal appraisal. He adds that the firm takes "a very conservative approach to estimating the value of a property." TurboValue is tested and calibrated quarterly by comparing predicted values against actual sale prices. To date, estimated values for each of the three approaches have fallen between 5% and 8% below the results of full appraisals.

While future editions of TurboValue will no doubt contain more data, and cover more markets, the product as it stands now provides good value. To obtain such comprehensive information, in seconds, would have been inconceivable a few years ago.

Readers can contact Joseph Dobrian at JDobrian@aol.com