Export BRAVE from ARGUS

ARGUS and the BRAVE Standard

ARGUS Enterprise (and its predecessor ARGUS DCF) is the industry-standard tool for commercial real estate cash flow analysis. While ARGUS is primarily a valuation modeling tool rather than an appraisal report writer, the cash flow projections and valuation outputs it produces are essential inputs to the BRAVE standard.

Exporting BRAVE data from ARGUS requires a different approach than exporting from a full appraisal platform like Valcre. ARGUS covers the income approach and DCF valuation fields comprehensively, but property identification and comparable sales data must come from other sources.

What ARGUS Exports to BRAVE

ARGUS maps most directly to these official BRAVE field categories (BRAVE uses dot-notation field names organized into 6 categories: Job, Property, Income, Value, Appraiser):

Income Fields (16 BRAVE fields)

ARGUS is strongest here. The platform's rent roll, operating expense projections, and cash flow summaries map to:

• Income.RentalIncome: Derived from the ARGUS rent roll at market rents.
• Income.OtherIncome: Non-rental income from the ARGUS model.
• Income.PotentialGrossIncome: Total PGI from the model.
• Income.VacancyLoss: ARGUS applies vacancy assumptions including general vacancy and absorption vacancy.
• Income.EffectiveGrossIncome: Calculated automatically from the above.
• Income.OperatingExpenses: Total operating expenses from the ARGUS model. Note: BRAVE captures total expenses in a single field, not line items.
• Income.NetOperatingIncome: The stabilized or projected NOI from the ARGUS model.

Value Fields (24 BRAVE fields)

ARGUS exports the core valuation parameters to the Value category:

• Value.CapRate: The going-in cap rate used for direct capitalization. The official validator enforces a 0-20% range.
• Value.DiscountRate: The IRR target used in the DCF analysis. See also capitalization rate for context on how these rates relate.
• Value.TerminalCapRate: The exit cap rate applied to the reversion year NOI.
• Value.CapitalizationValue: Value via direct capitalization.
• Value.CashFlowValue: Value via DCF analysis.
• Value.IncomeApproach: The income approach value before reconciliation.
• Value.ReconciledFinal: The concluded final value.

For full details on these fields, see our BRAVE Cap Rate Fields Explained guide.

Export Workflow

ARGUS Enterprise

ARGUS Enterprise does not yet have native BRAVE export. Export your cash flow data to Excel and use the BRAVE template to map fields manually, or use AppraisalAPI to extract BRAVE data from the final PDF report.

1. Open your completed ARGUS Enterprise file.
2. Export your cash flow summary, valuation results, and key assumptions to Excel.
3. Use the BRAVE Excel Template to map the ARGUS output to the corresponding BRAVE fields.
4. Review the mapped fields for completeness and accuracy.
5. Export the completed template as CSV or XLSX for BRAVE submission.

ARGUS DCF (Legacy)

If you are still using ARGUS DCF (the desktop version):

1. Export your cash flow summary and valuation results to Excel.
2. Use the BRAVE Excel Template to map the ARGUS output to BRAVE fields manually.
3. Export the completed template as CSV for BRAVE submission.

What ARGUS Does Not Cover

ARGUS is a valuation modeling tool, not a complete appraisal platform. You will need to populate the following BRAVE fields from other sources:

• Property fields (52 fields): Address, legal description, zoning, building characteristics, tax assessment, and sales history — all in the Property category using dot notation (e.g., Property.AddressStreet, Property.Zoning, Property.YearBuilt).
• Job fields (3 fields): Client reference, report date, and currency type.
• Appraiser fields (4 fields): Appraiser name, license state, license number, and expiration date.

Note: BRAVE does not include comparable sales fields. Comp data remains in the PDF report narrative.

These fields must be added manually or imported from your appraisal report writing software.

Validation After Export

ARGUS exports are generally clean on the income and valuation fields, but issues arise when merging ARGUS data with manually entered fields. Common problems include:

• Unit inconsistencies: ARGUS may report income in annual figures while your manual entries use monthly figures.
• Rounding discrepancies: ARGUS calculations carry more decimal places than most BRAVE validators expect. Round to whole dollars.
• Missing fields: The property identification fields left blank by ARGUS must be populated before submission.

Run the merged file through AppraisalAPI.com to validate the complete BRAVE submission before sending it to your lender.

For more on common validation issues, see our Common BRAVE Validation Errors guide. For an overview of the standard, read What Is BRAVE? or learn about the 99 fields of BRAVE in detail.