BRAVE vs Yardi Data Feeds

They Look Similar — They're Not

A BRAVE file and a Yardi data feed both contain commercial property numbers in structured form. That surface similarity causes confusion. The differences are fundamental.

Dimension	BRAVE	Yardi data feed
Produced by	Appraiser	Property owner / manager
Triggers	Appraisal engagement	Continuous (daily / monthly)
Represents	Appraiser's opinion of value + supporting data	Actual operating reality
Audience	Lender credit team	Investor / asset manager / accounting
Scope	99 fields, point-in-time	Hundreds of fields, time-series
Includes value conclusion	Yes (cap rate, NOI, reconciled value)	No
Includes vacancy assumption	Yes (stabilized)	No — actual vacancy only
Format	XLSX or CSV	XLSX, CSV, JSON, SQL — varies
Spec	usebrave.org	No public spec — owner-defined

What Yardi Data Feeds Actually Are

Yardi Voyager and other property management platforms (MRI, RealPage) generate continuous data feeds for the property owner's downstream systems:

• Rent roll snapshots (daily or monthly)
• Operating statement (monthly close)
• General ledger detail (daily)
• Tenant data (lease terms, renewals, expirations)
• Capex pipeline and replacement reserve schedule
• Physical occupancy reports
• Marketing and leasing pipeline

These feed investor reports, asset management dashboards, portfolio analytics, accounting systems, and tax reporting. The recipient is the owner's internal team or their external investors.

What BRAVE Files Are Instead

A BRAVE file is produced once per appraisal and reflects the appraiser's analysis:

• The 99 BRAVE fields represent the appraiser's conclusions on value, stabilized income, and the supporting data the appraiser collected and analyzed.
• The income figures are the appraiser's adopted values for underwriting purposes — which may differ from actual current operations (e.g. stabilized vacancy of 5% even if current physical vacancy is 2%, because the appraiser believes long-term stabilized vacancy will rise).
• The cap rate is the appraiser's selected rate, supported by sales comps and survey data.
• Value conclusions across approaches (income, sales, cost) are the appraiser's reconciled positions.

The recipient is a lender's credit team using the file to underwrite or monitor a loan.

When Each Is the Right Deliverable

Use case	Right deliverable
Bank originating a CRE loan	BRAVE file (if the bank requires it)
Bank monitoring an existing CRE loan (covenant testing, watchlist review)	Yardi operating feed from borrower
Asset manager reporting to fund LPs	Yardi feed → investor report
Property tax appeal	Yardi feed → tax appeal narrative
Loan workout, market value reassessment	New BRAVE-format appraisal
Portfolio rebalancing decision	Yardi feed across multiple properties
Insurance scheduled value	Cost approach in BRAVE (or separate insurance valuation)
Lender annual review	Borrower's Yardi operating feed + possibly a new BRAVE appraisal

How Yardi Data Feeds Into BRAVE Files

When an appraiser is hired to value a Yardi-managed property, the appraiser will request Yardi reports as input to their analysis. The appraiser does not embed the Yardi feed in the BRAVE file — they:

1. Pull the trailing 12-month operating statement from the owner (Yardi-generated)
2. Pull the current rent roll
3. Analyze the data — apply normalizations, market-rate adjustments, vacancy assumptions, expense adjustments
4. Use the analyzed figures in the BRAVE Income category

So Yardi feeds the inputs to a BRAVE file. BRAVE represents the appraiser's processed conclusion from those inputs (plus market comps, plus narrative reasoning that lives in the PDF report).

For the step-by-step Yardi-to-BRAVE workflow, see BRAVE for Yardi Users.

Why a Lender Needs Both

Banks running CRE portfolios use both:

• BRAVE files at origination, at material credit events, and at periodic revaluations — to capture the appraiser's professional opinion of value.
• Borrower operating data (Yardi or equivalent) between revaluation events — to monitor whether actual performance matches the underwriting case.

A lender that only had BRAVE files would have point-in-time appraisal data but no operating monitoring. A lender that only had Yardi feeds would have operating reality but no independent value opinion. Both are needed.

Standardization Status

• BRAVE is published and open at usebrave.org. All BRAVE files use the same 99 fields in the same structure.
• Yardi feeds are not standardized industry-wide. Each owner configures their Yardi chart of accounts, report layouts, and export formats. Two owners' Yardi feeds for the same property type will not match field-for-field.

This is why BRAVE works for centralized lender ingestion (a Bank OZK underwriter knows exactly what fields and what format to expect) but Yardi feeds require per-borrower onboarding work.

Quick Links

• BRAVE for Yardi Users — how Yardi data populates BRAVE Income fields
• What Does BRAVE Stand For?
• BRAVE for Banks