203: Appraisal (or Property Inspection) Reports

Our appraisal report forms recognize the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice as the minimum appraisal standards for the appraisal industry.  In addition, we have established our own separate appraisal requirements to supplement the Uniform Standards because we believe that this is necessary to assure that all of our specific concerns are addressed for any given appraisal.  Our appraisal report forms are designed in a way that results in an appraiser's being in full compliance with our requirements if he or she provides all of the information required by the forms and presents the applicable data accurately and completely.

The appraisal report forms we use provide a concise format for presenting both the appraiser's description of the subject property and the valuation analysis that leads to the opinion of market value.  The appraisal report that should be used generally depends on the underwriting method and the type of property that is being appraised.  The appraiser must complete our forms in a way that will clearly reflect the thoroughness of his or her investigation and analysis and provide the rationale for the opinion of market value.  Although the scope or extent of the appraisal process is guided by our appraisal report forms, the forms do not limit or control the appraisal process.  The appraiser's analysis should go beyond any limitations of the forms, with additional comments and exhibits being used if they are needed to adequately describe the subject property, document the analysis and valuation process, or support the appraiser's conclusions.  The extent of the appraiser's data collection, analysis, and reporting must be determined by the complexity of the appraisal assignment.

An appraiser may use computer software programs that are designed to reproduce our appraisal report forms -- including programs that have "expandability" features that allow increases in areas of the forms that call for the insertion of narrative comments.  However, the sequence of the information -- as well as all of the specific information (including the instructions, entries, directions, etc.) -- must be exactly as it appears on the hard-copy of the form(s).

A lender may accept an appraisal report that is transmitted electronically using facsimile (fax) machines, Internet connections, wireless transmissions, or any other types of transmissions that use public or private telephone lines -- as long as the appraisal report adequately identifies the appraiser and includes a reproduced signature of the appraiser whose name appears on the report, and the lender represents and warrants to us that the appraisal report was created by the appraiser identified on the appraisal report and that the appraisal report is the complete and unaltered report submitted by the identified appraiser.  The lender may store any appraisal reports it receives (whether they are originally provided as paper documents or in electronic format) by using any photographic, electronic, optical, or other storage technology that enables it to retrieve and reproduce a complete and clear copy of an appraisal report (and its related addenda, photographs, and attachments) at any time in response to a request from us.  Regardless of the transmission or storage method used, the lender will be responsible for the accuracy of the information and the integrity of the documents and for assuring that the appraisal was prepared in accordance with our appraisal guidelines.