Getting started with North Star ^Appraisal.

1. Sign in

North Star runs in your web browser — there’s nothing to install. If you already have an account, go to appraisal.athenanorthstar.com, type your email and password, and click Sign in.

Don’t have an account yet? Sign up — it’s free and takes a minute. You only pay when you run a check ($25) or open an assignment ($99). Your browser will remember you on this computer.

2. Turn on two-factor

Do this first. Two-factor authentication is the single best way to protect your account, it’s free, and it takes about a minute.

1. Open your account menu (top right) and go to Settings → Two-factor.
2. Scan the QR code with any authenticator app.
3. Enter the six-digit code to confirm.
4. Save your backup codes somewhere safe — they’re how you get back in if you lose your phone.

Two-factor is a web-app feature. Turn it on here, on the website.

3. A quick tour

After you sign in, you land on your dashboard. Across the top you’ll see:

Evaluate

Check a finished report against the rules. $25 per check.

Assemble

Build a workfile for an assignment, step by step. $99 per assignment. This is where most of your work happens.

Sealed records

Your permanent, tamper-evident records. We’ll come back to these.

Rule sets

The rule catalogs we check your work against. Browse all of them free.

My rules

Your own custom rules, layered on top of the standard set.

Check history

A log of every check you’ve run, each with a reference hash.

Account menu (top right)

Your profile, your billing, your security settings (including two-factor), and the way to sign out.

4. Two ways to work

North Star does two jobs. Pick the one that fits what you have.

Evaluate — $25

You already have a finished report and want it checked. Drop it in, North Star suggests the rule sets that apply, you confirm, pay, and get an Evaluation Report on screen and as a PDF. Nothing is sealed.

Assemble — $99 per assignment

You’re building the work from source files. This is the main way people use North Star, and it’s what the rest of this guide follows.

5. Open an assignment

1. Click Assemble.
2. Click New assignment.
3. Give it a name — the property address works well.
4. Open it and pay the $99 to activate it.

You pay once per assignment. There’s no subscription, no monthly fee, and no card kept on file. Once the assignment is active, you’re ready to add your files.

6. Add your files

Add your source files — PDFs, Word documents, photos. North Star reads them for you, including scanned or image-only pages (it runs OCR so you don’t have to retype anything).

A required-document checklist keeps track of what the workfile still needs. As you upload, items tick off on their own. If something doesn’t apply, mark it N/A.

Drop in your engagement letter and North Star suggests which rule sets apply. You confirm the ones you want. Those are the rules your check will run against.

7. Run the check

When you’re ready, run the compliance check against the rules you picked. It takes a few moments. You’ll get a list of findings, grouped by how serious they are:

• A green check — this rule passed.
• A yellow circle — worth a look.
• A red mark — this rule failed. Clear it before you seal.

Click any finding to see what rule was checked, why it passed or failed, and where in your work to look — sometimes with a suggested fix. Make your changes, then run the check again. You can do this as many times as you want.

8. Review the draft addendum

North Star drafts a USPAP report addendum for you, section by section (SR 2-2(a)). Read every section and edit it in your own words. Where it needs something only you can supply, it leaves a clear placeholder for you to fill in.

This is a draft to build on, not a finished report. You’re the appraiser — the words, and the judgment behind them, are yours.

9. Consent and seal

When your workfile is ready, you seal it. First you’ll confirm a short set of attestations — a consent step that becomes part of the sealed record. Then click Seal.

North Star seals your deliverables, each with a matching seal file that proves it hasn’t changed. This is what shows you ran a real check on a real version of the work.

A sealed record is permanent. You can’t edit it later, but you can always run new work if the assignment changes — the old record stays exactly as it was. A sealed record doesn’t claim your appraisal is correct or your value is right; that stays your professional judgment.

10. Share the proof

Hand anyone the sealed record and its seal file, and they can check it themselves at verify.athenanorthstar.com. No account needed, and the file never leaves their browser. A check confirms:

• What was checked.
• When it was checked.
• What rules applied.
• That nothing has been changed since.

11. Add the mobile app and the Agent

Two extras you can add when you’re ready:

• The mobile app — take photos, voice notes, and sketches at the property, and they show up on the assignment. Available for Android today; an iPhone version is planned.
• The Agent — an optional desktop helper for Windows or Linux that notices new files and gets them onto the right assignment. It never assembles or seals anything itself — that always happens here on the website. See the Agent guide.

You don’t need either of them to use the website. They just save you time when you do.

12. Get help

Email support@athenadecisionsystems.com. Darin or Justin reads it, and we reply.

We don’t outsource customer help. The two people who built North Star are the two people you’ll talk to.