Is a big box value provider the same as an appraisal

I want to share an exchange from this week. The initial email and my reply follow

Hi Wade, Thanks again for connecting with me. I wanted to get your expertise on the legitimacy of the attached report and where this data is possibly sourced from. There is a company that offers two services to protest your property tax: a property tax appeals report and a full-service expert appeal. My mother purchased the property tax appeals report from them last year to dispute the property tax on her home. The report she received is attached. I researched the company and it seems like you just enter your address and county on their website and this report is instantly generated. Since it does not seem like a person is actually researching the property, I am concerned about what their data source is and its accuracy.

The report you have attached appears to be an advanced form of a CMA report. A CMA report is a tool Realtors/Brokers use in estimating a property’s value. This does not appear to be an appraisal though as it does not contain the elements required in an appraisal report. I am not sure how the Central Appraisal District (CAD) will view a report like this. I do not believe it will carry near the weight of an appraisal. That is due to the amount of training, licensing, and requirements an appraiser must meet when completing an assignment. This is also based on the general approach to reaching a value conclusion in the attached report. An appraiser must define and analysis the market trends as well as elements of a property that the typical market participant give weight to when purchasing. The appraiser then adjusts based on these differences to come to a current value conclusion. The company that has put this report together appears to have developed a matrix of their own to value properties based on a score card. I am unsure of how they determine the score for properties contained in the report or how they picked the properties. You can think of this style of report similar to one of the big real estate value websites estimating matrix. In some cases, these can provide you with a fairly accurate conclusion of current market value and other times they are completely wrong. All in all, I do not believe the CAD will give much weight to the value conclusion in this style of report, correct or incorrect. They put significant weight on an appraiser’s report since they understand the process in which an appraiser arrives at a conclusion of value and that we are bound by an ethics code. We utilize recognized methods and techniques when completing an assignment and face consequences when we do not complete our job in an ethical manor that preserves and protects the public trust in our profession. If I can be of any more assistance, please feel free to reach out to my office. I hope this has been useful to you and I am here if you need me.