How the Tidewater VA Appraisal Process Works

The Tidewater VA appraisal process is a required step where, if a VA appraiser expects the home to appraise below the contract price, the appraiser must notify a designated point of contact and give that person two working days to submit additional comparable sales before the value is finalized. It applies to every VA-financed purchase in the country, not just properties in the Tidewater region of Virginia where it originated. Used well, it’s your best chance to keep a deal alive without renegotiating or paying cash to close a gap.

What Triggers Tidewater

Tidewater is not triggered by a low offer, a nervous seller, or a shaky market. It’s triggered by the appraiser’s own working conclusion during the appraisal that the property will not support the contract price. At that point, VA Circular 26-17-18 requires the appraiser to pause before issuing the report and invite additional market data from the transaction’s point of contact.¹

One detail matters here: the appraiser is not allowed to disclose the specific value they’re leaning toward during the Tidewater window. You’ll know the value is coming in low. You won’t know by how much. That shapes how you respond, because you’re arguing for the contract price as supportable, not negotiating against a specific number.

The Two-Working-Day Window

The clock starts when the appraiser contacts the point of contact listed on the appraisal request form. That’s usually the lender’s loan officer or, in many cases, the buyer’s real estate agent. From that moment, there are two working days to get additional comparable sales to the appraiser.¹

Two working days is short. Weekends and federal holidays don’t count, but they also don’t help if the notification comes late on a Friday and your agent isn’t reachable until Monday morning. If nobody on your side responds, the appraiser finalizes the report with the data already in hand, and the low value becomes official.

Ask your lender at the start of the transaction who is listed as the point of contact on the appraisal request, and make sure that person actually monitors phone and email during the appraisal week. A missed call here costs you the window.

What Counts as Usable Comparable Sales

The VA is specific about the form your submission should take. Additional sales data should be presented in a format similar to the comparable sales grid on a standard appraisal report. Sales must be verified as closed. Pending contracts can be submitted, but they must include all addendums and a narrative explaining why they’re relevant to the subject property.¹

What tends to work: recent closed sales of genuinely similar homes, in the same neighborhood or an adjacent one, adjusted for the obvious differences (square footage, bed/bath count, garage, lot). What doesn’t work: active listings, unadjusted price-per-square-foot arguments, or a list of higher-priced homes that aren’t actually comparable. The appraiser is a licensed professional applying appraisal standards, not a negotiator, and material that doesn’t meet those standards won’t move the number.

How to Prepare Before the Appraiser Calls

The most useful Tidewater work happens before Tidewater is ever triggered. A real estate agent working with VA buyers in a rising market should have backup comparable sales assembled around the time the offer is written, especially when the contract price is at or above recent closed prices in the area.

Practical steps to take at contract signing:

Confirm who the point of contact will be on the appraisal request and how they’ll be reached.
Ask your agent to pull three to five recent closed comps that support the contract price, in grid-ready format.
If the market is moving faster than closed sales reflect, identify pending sales your agent can document with addendums.
Note any features of the subject property (updates, lot size, view) that generic MLS data may understate.

When the call comes, you’re not building a case from scratch under a two-day deadline. You’re sending a package that’s already sitting in a folder.

What Happens After Tidewater

Once the window closes, the appraiser reviews any material submitted and issues the final appraisal. If the additional comparables change the outcome, the value can come in at or closer to the contract price, and the transaction moves forward under the Notice of Value.²

If the new comparables don’t change the outcome, the appraiser must provide a written explanation of why they were insufficient.¹ That written explanation matters. It tells you whether the sales were rejected as not truly comparable, whether the adjustments were considered but didn’t close the gap, or whether there was a factual issue with what was submitted. Read it carefully before deciding your next move, because it shapes whether a formal appeal has any chance.

If the Value Still Comes In Low

Tidewater doesn’t guarantee a good outcome. When the final value lands below the purchase price, you have four options.³

Request a Reconsideration of Value

A Reconsideration of Value is the formal appeal of a VA appraisal after the final report is issued. Any party to the transaction can request one, but it must be submitted in writing through the lender.⁴ The VA will only change the value if the new evidence clearly warrants it by professional appraisal standards.

Strong ROV submissions typically include up to three recent comparable sales not used in the original appraisal, with MLS printouts and a narrative explaining why they better represent the property’s value. Factual errors in the report (wrong square footage, missed bathroom, mislabeled lot) should be documented with evidence. When additional comparable sales are provided in grid format, the appraiser must respond in writing within five days.⁵

Renegotiate the Purchase Price

Ask the seller to reduce the price to the appraised value. Any next VA buyer the seller finds will face the same appraisal, which gives you real leverage even in a competitive market. In a buyer’s market, sellers often agree quickly.

Cover the Difference in Cash

The VA lender will finance only up to the appraised value. If you want to keep the contract price intact, you pay the gap out of pocket at closing. The VA requires you to certify in writing that you’re paying the difference with your own funds and won’t carry any unpaid obligation related to that cash payment after closing.⁶

Walk Away

The VA escape clause lets you cancel the contract and recover your earnest money when the appraisal doesn’t support the purchase price.⁷ It only works if the clause is in your contract from the start; the VA won’t guarantee a loan on a purchase agreement that lacks it. Confirm with your agent that the language is included before you sign, not after the appraisal comes in.

1
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Circular 26-17-18
2
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Pamphlet 26-7 Chapter 13 – Value Notices
3
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Home Loan Guaranty Program Quick Reference for Real Estate Professionals – Section: Appraisal Results and Tidewater Initiative
4
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Reconsideration of Value Request SOP
5
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Reconsiderations of Value – VARO St Paul
6
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Report and Certification of Loan Disbursement – VA Form 26-1820
7
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Escape Clause