A VA Notice of Value is the document your lender issues after a VA-ordered appraisal, and it sets the maximum amount the Department of Veterans Affairs will guarantee on your home loan. The dollar figure at the top caps your loan. Any conditions listed below it, usually repairs or inspections, must be cleared before closing. The value is good for 180 days from the date the appraisal is completed; if you haven’t closed by then, you’ll need a new appraisal.
Your lender must get the Notice of Value to you promptly after receiving it. Read it carefully. It functions as both a price ceiling and a punch list, and every item on the punch list has to be resolved before the VA will issue a loan guaranty and let the loan close.
When the Appraised Value Comes in Low
If the NOV figure lands below your contract price, federal law protects you. Every VA purchase contract signed before you receive the NOV must contain the amendatory clause, commonly called the escape clause, drawn from 38 CFR ยง 36.4303. It says you cannot be forced to complete the purchase or forfeit your earnest money if the appraised value comes in short.1eCFR. 38 CFR 36.4303 – Loan Guaranty Provisions
You have three options:2U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Escape Clause
- Negotiate with the seller to drop the price to the appraised value.
- Pay the difference between the appraised value and the contract price in cash. The VA will only guarantee up to the appraised value, so that gap comes out of your own funds as an additional down payment.
- Cancel the contract and take your earnest money back.
Two boundaries are worth knowing. The escape clause only applies when the low appraisal is the reason for walking away; it isn’t a general contingency you can invoke for unrelated cold feet. And deposits made for upgrades in new construction aren’t treated as earnest money and aren’t protected.2U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Escape Clause
The Tidewater Warning Before the NOV Is Issued
You may get a chance to prevent a low value before it becomes official. Under the Tidewater process, the VA fee appraiser must notify the lender’s designated point of contact whenever the appraised value looks likely to come in below the contract price.3U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Circular 26-17-18 – Procedures for Improving Communication with Fee Appraisers in Regards to the Tidewater Process
From that notice, the lender or point of contact has two business days to send the appraiser comparable sales data supporting a higher value. Useful comparables include the street address, sale price, date of sale, gross living area, and a listing sheet where available. Quality matters far more than quantity. One recent closed sale on the same street beats five distant or dissimilar ones. The appraiser must review whatever you submit and attach a Tidewater addendum to the report; if the new comparables don’t move the value, the addendum has to explain why.
Appealing a Low Value: Reconsideration of Value
If Tidewater didn’t fix the number, or your transaction never triggered it, the formal appeal is a Reconsideration of Value. It starts with your lender’s Staff Appraisal Reviewer.
The strongest ROV packages lean on comparable sales the original appraiser overlooked or underweighted. Look for recently closed sales genuinely similar in size, condition, location, and age. Your real estate agent can pull them from the MLS. For each one, gather the final sale price, closing date, and any seller concessions.
Factual errors in the original report belong in the package too. Wrong room counts, incorrect lot dimensions, or missing upgrades like a finished basement or a replaced roof all affect value directly. Documentation helps: a contractor’s receipt for a $40,000 kitchen renovation the appraiser missed is exactly the kind of evidence that shifts a number.
The Staff Appraisal Reviewer evaluates the evidence first and may go back to the appraiser to discuss adjustments. If the discrepancy can’t be resolved at the lender level, the package goes to the VA Regional Loan Center for independent review. Some requests resolve in days, others take weeks. A successful ROV produces an updated Notice of Value with a new figure. A denial comes with a written explanation. Either way, you keep your right to invoke the escape clause if the numbers still don’t work.
Conditions and Required Repairs on the NOV
The dollar figure isn’t the only thing that can hold up closing. Every VA appraisal also checks the property against Minimum Property Requirements covering structural soundness, mechanical systems, water and sanitation, ventilation, electricity, and general habitability. Anything that falls short shows up as a condition on the NOV.
Common flags include a roof that no longer keeps moisture out, unsafe heating, electrical or plumbing systems, inadequate drinking water or sewage disposal, standing water in the crawl space, and, in homes built before 1978, deteriorating lead-based paint that is peeling, chipping, or cracking.4U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Real Estate Disclosures about Potential Lead Hazards A wood-destroying insect inspection is often required in regions with active termite populations.
Once the work is done, the buyer or seller provides receipts and invoices from qualified contractors. In many cases the original appraiser returns to the property to verify the repairs; the VA charges a flat $150 for that re-inspection, and only when the appraiser physically visits.5U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Appraisal Fee Schedules and Timeliness Requirements Completed work is documented on VA Form 26-1839, the official compliance inspection report, which goes into the loan file.6OMB. Compliance Inspection Report VA Form 26-1839 – OMB 2900-0041 Until every condition is cleared, the VA won’t issue the guaranty, and the loan can’t close.
Who pays? The VA doesn’t decide that. It’s a negotiation point, and buyers often ask the seller to handle MPR repairs as part of the purchase agreement. The VA’s own buyer guidance encourages negotiating with sellers on needed repairs or other concessions.7U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Home Loan Guaranty Buyer’s Guide Seller concessions on VA loans are capped at 4% of the purchase price, though repair costs that bring the property up to MPR standards are generally not counted against that limit.
When Repairs Can’t Finish Before Closing
Sometimes weather makes it impossible to finish exterior work in time. VA Form 26-1849 lets the seller enter an escrow agreement so the loan can close and you can take occupancy while the work is still outstanding.8Department of Veterans Affairs. Escrow Agreement for Postponed Exterior Onsite Improvements – VA Form 26-1849
The requirements are strict. The seller must deposit at least 150% of the estimated repair cost into escrow, or provide an irrevocable commercial letter of credit for the same amount. Funds are released in stages as work is verified, with a portion held back until everything passes final inspection. The seller stays personally liable to you for completing the work, free of liens, by the agreed deadline. The VA can also delay signing off on any item that could be damaged by other unfinished work, so the sequence has to make sense.
What the Appraisal Costs
The VA sets appraisal fees by state and county, and the borrower typically pays upfront when the appraisal is ordered. Under the fee schedule effective May 1, 2026, most single-family appraisals in the continental United States run between $650 and $850, with the majority of states falling at $700 to $800.9U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Appraisal Fees and Timeliness Table Remote and high-cost areas run higher; parts of rural Alaska reach $1,500, and island counties in Hawaii top $1,000. Late fees on unpaid appraisal invoices are authorized after 30 days but cannot be charged to the veteran.5U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Appraisal Fee Schedules and Timeliness Requirements
A repair re-inspection adds $150. Wood-destroying insect inspections, where required, are a separate cost, typically $75 to $150 for a standard residential property. Your lender can give you the exact appraisal fee for your county before you order.