SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA, Dec. 21 /CNW/ - Scottsdale Arizona based Pinnacle Peak Appraisal and Calgary Canada based Zaio Corporation (TSXV- ZAO) are pleased to announce a mass appraisal initiative in Arizona's Maricopa County. Maricopa is one of the largest counties in the United States encompassing the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert. The county has a population of over three million residing in about 800,000 to 1 million residential homes.
Under terms of the recently announced agreement, Pinnacle Peak Appraisal is required to appraise virtually every home in Maricopa County each year for the next five years. Pinnacle Peak Appraisal has licensed 32 of the 65 Appraisal Zones in Maricopa County from Zaio. Mr. Thomas Inserra, CEO of Pinnacle Peak Appraisal will act as the Area Development Office for the entire County. As such, he will assist Zaio in licensing the remaining Zones and in marketing the valuation products to customers in the area. The mass appraisal process will begin in January 2006 and is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2006.
Rodney Mitton, CEO of Zaio said "Zaio is partnering with quality appraisal firms such as Pinnacle Peak Appraisal to ensure the valuations on all residential properties are carried out accurately and timely with adjustments to values input on a regular basis. This allows us to deliver accurate appraisal reports and other valuation products to lenders, realtors, investors and others within seconds, in much the same way a lender obtains a credit report today"
"From a strategic standpoint, the agreement with Zaio gives our appraisers the opportunity to compete with Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) which now account for about 50% of the nation's appraisal market and allows us to offer new products and services that other firms will be unable to provide" stated Thomas Inserra.
Zone Appraiser licenses are sold for US$7,500 with discounts for payment in full and for multiple zone purchases. Payments can be made monthly over twelve months. License fees represent one-time revenue to the Company. Recurring revenue is generated through the sale of appraisals and other valuation products, including Zaio's GeoPic database.
Zaio's process is very scaleable and allows for significant growth in the database with minimal increases in overhead over the next three years. In addition to Phoenix, the Company plans to launch in six major cities across the country in 2006.
About Zaio
Zaio is developing a complete and comprehensive digitized photographic database of every residential and commercial property in cities across the United States. This is accomplished by photographing one property at a time from the street until every property in a city is in the database. In addition, the database is populated with assessment data and recent sales data on residential properties which, when combined with Zaio's proprietary software, allows a property appraiser to populate the database with sufficient additional information that a full exterior appraisal report complete with a digitized signature can be generated within seconds of being requested by a lender. The Zaio technology substantially eliminates the delays currently experienced by lenders before a financing can be closed.
About Pinnacle Peak Appraisal
Pinnacle Peak Appraisal is a Division of Pinnacle Peak Advisors, LLC based in North Scottsdale, Arizona. The company's founder, Thomas Inserra, is the former Chief Appraiser of Citicorp and National Chief Appraiser of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He is very experienced in managing large scale appraisal efforts. More information is available at www.PinnaclePeakAppraisal.com or by contacting Mr. Inserra at (480) 575-8114.
Additional information regarding Zaio Corporation can be obtained from the Company's website www.zaio.com or from SEDAR at www.sedar.com .
###
