CubiCasa, a destination island or a helpful tool you can use on your next appraisal? As you may have guessed, it’s the latter. CubiCasa is an application that provides anyone, especially appraisers, with the sketch of a house by videoing it. You won’t need your laser measure this time but you will need your phone.
Here’s how it works: after downloading the app, walk into the house and start the video with your phone horizontal and tilted down about 45 degrees. Plan to go into every room and around all the walls on the inside of the house. When you get to a new room, you can use a microphone for a voice-to-text description of the room to label what you see while you are still videoing, in order to differentiate a living room from a music room, etc. As you’re walking around the house, pause briefly at windows and doors, but there’s no need to open up closets or small spaces. After you have snaked through every room, hit stop and confirm and upload your video. Within hours, you’ll have the sketch and the floor plan of the house, showing all the walls, rooms, stairways, and spaces. It can even map out furniture and appliances, sinks and showers, the oven, etc. There are helpful tutorial videos that explain the process as well as sample floor plans on their website—check it out, they are pretty cool!
Like every tool you will use, there are pros and cons. Some of the pros: you don’t have to open closets, move things away from the wall, or be extremely picky. Even if stuff is stacked against awkward wall angles or you can’t get close to the corner, you’ll get an accurate scan. Another great thing is that you get what you pay for—there’s no monthly subscription and there’s a free version, with other bells and whistles available at a higher price. Additionally, they are efficient. You don’t have to wait two weeks for the report, you’ll get it in a few hours.
Some of the cons: You can’t manually change the dimensions of things. If you receive an error, you have to request that they make the change. Also you can't really fill out a report and take pictures at the same time you’re doing the video, so you’ll probably have to go through the house twice. One option is that you could go through the house the first time doing the things you normally do, taking pictures, opening doors, and turning on lights. Then, go through the second time with the video. Lastly, they are not ANSI compliant, so don’t think that it’s an ANSI standard, but it’s darn close.
CubiCasa is a great tool to have in your backpack. Maybe you’ll try it out and decide to never do another appraisal your old way. Or maybe you’ll pull it out when you feel the need, like if you show up to a luxury property that is 10,000 square feet and you know you are going to be there over an hour trying to sketch it out. All in all, it’s a great program to use when you need to, even if you don’t use it all the time. Here’s the website if you want to go check it out: www.cubi.casa.
Check out The Appraiser Coach Podcast for more info on this topic:
