After a lender orders a home appraisal, a licensed appraiser contacts you or your agent to schedule a walkthrough, researches comparable sales, writes a valuation report, and sends it through a quality-control review before delivering it to the lender’s underwriter. What happens after a home appraisal is ordered typically plays out over 6 to 20 days, and the fee for a single-family home usually runs between $400 and $800, paid upfront or rolled into closing costs. The value the appraiser reports then drives your loan-to-value ratio, your mortgage insurance requirement, and, if the number comes in below your purchase price, a set of decisions you’ll need to make quickly.
The Appraiser Contacts You to Schedule a Visit
A licensed appraiser reaches out to you or your real estate agent to set up access to the property. The walkthrough itself can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on the size and complexity of the home.1Nationwide. The Home Appraisal Process: How it Works During the visit, the appraiser measures the exterior to confirm total square footage, counts bedrooms and bathrooms, and notes the overall condition. Permanent improvements like central air conditioning, a finished basement, or a recently replaced roof factor into the final number.
The appraiser also examines structural elements: the foundation, roof condition, siding, and any visible defects that could affect marketability. Inside, they evaluate the layout, the quality of finishes like flooring and cabinetry, and whether the floor plan functions well by current standards. Safety hazards and signs of deferred maintenance get documented too, because lenders need assurance the property meets basic habitability requirements. Observations are compiled into field notes and photographs using the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (Form 1004), the standardized form required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for most single-family residential loans.2Fannie Mae. Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (Form 1004)
How to Prepare for the Visit
You can’t control the comparable sales data, but you can make sure the appraiser sees the property at its best. Fix deferred maintenance items like peeling paint, cracked caulking, and leaky faucets before the visit. These are inexpensive repairs, but visible neglect can lead an appraiser to question whether larger problems exist behind the walls. Keep the home clean and accessible, especially the garage, attic access points, and utility rooms.
Prepare a written list of improvements with approximate dates and costs. An appraiser may not realize the HVAC system was replaced two years ago or that the kitchen was remodeled unless you point it out. This won’t guarantee a higher value, but it makes sure genuine upgrades aren’t overlooked. Not every improvement adds dollar-for-dollar value, though. Swimming pools, garage conversions, and highly personalized design choices often return less than they cost because they narrow the pool of interested buyers.
Research, Comparable Sales, and the Final Value
Back at the office, the appraiser shifts from observation to analysis. The core of the valuation is the sales comparison approach: finding recently sold properties similar in size, age, location, and features to the subject home. Fannie Mae’s selling guide requires the appraiser to report the comparable sales history for the prior 12 months.3Fannie Mae. Sales Comparison Approach Section of the Appraisal Report Appraisers pull from Multiple Listing Service records, public sales data, and their own market knowledge to select at least three comparables.
No two homes are identical, so the appraiser makes dollar adjustments to account for differences. If the subject property has an extra bathroom that a comparable lacks, the appraiser adds value. If a comparable sits on a larger lot, value is subtracted. Each adjustment reflects local market preferences rather than a fixed formula. Fannie Mae does not impose specific caps on net or gross adjustment percentages, but when adjustments are large enough to suggest the property doesn’t conform to its neighborhood, the lender’s underwriter will scrutinize whether the final value opinion is well-supported.4Fannie Mae. Adjustments to Comparable Sales The phase ends when the appraiser reconciles the adjusted comparables into a single opinion of value.
Quality Control Review Before You See It
Before the lender acts on the report, it usually passes through a quality-control review. Many lenders route this step through an Appraisal Management Company. The reviewer checks that the appraiser followed the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, which set the rules for professional conduct, methodology, and reporting.5Appraisers.org. Appraisal Review and Management (ARM) – About They look for clerical errors, missing signatures, logical gaps in the reasoning, and whether the selected comparables are reasonable given the subject property’s location and characteristics. Federal AMC oversight rules under Regulation Y back this review layer.6eCFR. 12 CFR Part 225 Subpart M – Minimum Requirements for Appraisal Management Companies Once the report clears review, it moves to the lender’s mortgage department.
When You Get a Copy of the Report
Federal law guarantees you a copy. Under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s Regulation B, lenders must provide applicants with a copy of every written appraisal developed in connection with a loan secured by a first lien on a dwelling.7eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations The lender must deliver this copy promptly upon completion, or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first. You can waive the three-day window in writing if you need to close sooner, but reviewing the report before closing is almost always worth the wait.
Electronic delivery is permitted as long as the lender complies with the E-Sign Act, which requires your consent to receive documents electronically.8eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations Most lenders now deliver appraisal reports through their online portals or via secure email. When you receive it, review the factual details carefully: confirm the square footage, bedroom and bathroom count, and noted features match reality. Errors in these basics can drag down the value, and catching them early gives you a chance to request a correction.
How the Value Shapes Your Loan
With the appraisal in hand, the underwriter plugs the appraised value into the loan approval framework. The key calculation is the loan-to-value ratio: the mortgage amount divided by the lower of the purchase price or the appraised value. If you agreed to pay $400,000 but the appraisal came back at $390,000, the lender bases the loan on $390,000. That single number ripples through every downstream decision.
A higher LTV ratio means more risk for the lender. For conventional loans, crossing the 80% LTV threshold triggers a requirement for private mortgage insurance, which adds a monthly premium to your payment. The underwriter also confirms the transaction complies with secondary market guidelines set by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, since most conventional loans are eventually sold to one of those entities.
If the Appraisal Comes In Low
An appraisal that lands below the purchase price creates what’s called an appraisal gap, and it’s one of the most stressful moments in a home purchase. The lender won’t increase the loan to cover the difference, so someone has to absorb that gap. You generally have three options: negotiate with the seller to lower the price, bring extra cash to closing to cover the shortfall, or walk away from the deal.
Walking away without losing your earnest money deposit depends on whether your purchase contract includes an appraisal contingency. This clause gives you the right to cancel or renegotiate if the home doesn’t appraise at or above the agreed price. In competitive markets, some buyers waive this contingency to strengthen their offer, but doing so means you’re on the hook for the gap or you forfeit your deposit if you back out. Think carefully before giving up that protection.
Requesting a Reconsideration of Value
If you believe the appraisal missed something, you can ask your lender to initiate a Reconsideration of Value. In 2024, federal regulators issued interagency guidance clarifying how lenders should handle these requests from consumers.9Federal Register. Interagency Guidance on Reconsiderations of Value of Residential Real Estate Valuations Under this framework, lenders should have clear processes that let borrowers raise concerns early enough for issues to be resolved before the final credit decision.
A Reconsideration of Value isn’t a do-over or a negotiation. You need concrete evidence the appraiser didn’t consider: comparable sales that were missed, property features that were incorrectly reported, or market data that supports a higher value. The lender sends this information to the original appraiser, who decides whether the new evidence changes the opinion of value. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. If the appraisal contains a factual error like the wrong square footage or a missing bathroom, this is the right tool to fix it.
Different Rules for FHA and VA Loans
Government-backed loans add layers to the appraisal process that conventional borrowers don’t encounter. If you’re using one of these programs, the differences matter.
FHA Appraisals
FHA appraisals follow stricter property condition requirements than conventional appraisals, because the FHA insures the loan and wants assurance the home meets minimum health and safety standards. An FHA appraisal is valid for 180 days from the effective date of the report.10HUD. Mortgagee Letter 2022-11 – Appraisal Validity Period One detail that catches buyers off guard: if the deal falls through, the lender must order a new appraisal for the next buyer’s loan, even if the original is still within its 180-day window. The appraisal is tied to the specific FHA case number, not just the property.
VA Appraisals and the Tidewater Process
VA loans have a built-in safeguard against surprise low appraisals called the Tidewater process. When a VA appraiser determines the value is likely to come in below the contract price, they must notify the lender’s designated point of contact before completing the report.11Veterans Benefits Administration. Procedures for Improving Communication with Fee Appraisers in Regards to the Tidewater Process The appraiser doesn’t reveal the estimated value at this stage, only that it’s trending below the purchase price. The lender and the real estate agents then have two business days to submit additional comparable sales or market data that might support the contract price. After reviewing that information, the appraiser completes the report. Even if the additional data doesn’t change the value, the appraiser must explain in an addendum why the submitted information wasn’t persuasive.
When You Might Skip the Appraisal Altogether
Not every mortgage requires a traditional appraisal. Fannie Mae offers what it calls value acceptance, where certain transactions can proceed without an appraiser visiting the property. Eligible transactions include purchases and refinances on one-unit properties and condos that are principal residences or second homes, as long as the loan receives an Approve/Eligible recommendation through Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter system.12Fannie Mae. Value Acceptance A separate program targets rural high-needs areas, allowing purchases on principal residences with LTV ratios up to 97% for borrowers earning at or below the area median income.
Qualifying for a waiver depends on factors the borrower doesn’t control: the property’s data history, the loan’s risk profile, and the automated underwriting results. Your lender will know at the time of application whether a waiver is available. Even when one is offered, some borrowers opt for a full appraisal anyway because they want independent confirmation they’re not overpaying. That peace of mind can be worth the fee, especially on a first home purchase.