The appraisal form that's been used on nearly every conventional home purchase for the last 20 years is going away. Starting November 2, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are requiring appraisers to use a completely redesigned report, built on a new data standard called UAD 3.6. This isn't a minor form update. It's the biggest change to how homes get appraised since the current form was introduced in 2005, and it's going to touch every part of a transaction, not just the appraiser's paperwork.
I want to walk through what's actually changing, what it means for each side of the deal, and what you can do right now so it has as little impact as possible on your purchase.
What's Actually Changing
The form most people in this business grew up with, the 1004 for single-family homes, the 1073 for condos, and the handful of others depending on property type, is being retired. In its place is a single dynamic report called the URAR that adjusts itself based on what you're appraising. A condo assignment pulls in condo-specific sections. A manufactured home pulls in manufactured home sections. One report, built around the property instead of forcing the property into a fixed template.
The bigger shift is underneath that. The old forms relied heavily on narrative commentary, an appraiser typing out paragraphs explaining their reasoning in a comments box. The new standard replaces most of that with structured data: dropdowns, checkboxes, and specific data fields instead of free text. That sounds like a technical detail, but it matters. Structured data is easier to review, easier to compare across appraisals, and harder to gloss over. The gray areas that used to sit inside a paragraph of commentary are getting replaced by fields the appraiser has to actually fill in.
The Timeline
Lenders have had the option to use the new format since early 2026, and by this point most of the industry has been running both systems side by side. That dual period ends on November 2, 2026. After that date, every new appraisal submitted for a conventional loan through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has to use the new format. The old forms don't disappear from the system entirely until May 2027, but for anyone ordering a new appraisal after November 2, this is what they'll be getting.
What It Means for Buyers
You probably won't notice the form itself. What you might notice is the timeline. Appraisers are reporting the new format takes noticeably longer to complete, some estimate an extra two hours or more per report, because there's simply more required data to collect and the report won't let you submit until every applicable field is filled in. In the current system, an appraiser can skip a section that doesn't feel critical to the assignment. In the new one, they can't.
What most people don't realize is that this also means appraisers are going to be asking listing agents and sellers for more information than they used to: permit history on additions, specifics on updates, clarification on square footage. If that information isn't readily available, it can slow the appraisal down. So if you're under contract with a closing date that doesn't have much cushion, it's worth asking your loan officer to order the appraisal as early as your contract allows rather than waiting until the last responsible moment.
What It Means for Sellers
Sellers are on the other end of that same data collection. The more organized and accurate the information going into the MLS listing and made available to the appraiser, the smoother this goes. Permit records for additions, accurate square footage, documented upgrades. Under the old system, an appraiser might make a reasonable assumption and move on. Under the new one, they need the actual answer, and if it's not available, that becomes a delay that lands on the closing timeline, not just on the appraiser's desk.
What It Means for Agents
Listing agents who keep clean, complete, accurate MLS data are going to move their sellers' deals through faster than agents who don't, because the appraiser won't have to chase down basic facts that should already be documented. Buyer's agents have a different job here: understanding that advertised square footage and what actually gets reported in an appraisal aren't always the same thing, and making sure a buyer knows that before they get emotionally and financially committed to a number that might not hold up.
The mistake I'd want agents to avoid is setting a closing date around the old appraisal timeline and assuming the new process will move at the same speed. For at least the first several months after November, it probably won't, and building in some buffer up front is a lot easier than renegotiating a closing date after a delay has already happened.
What It Means for Lenders and Loan Officers
Our job in this is managing expectations before they become problems, not after. That means updating internal timelines instead of assuming a standard purchase appraisal comes back in the same window it used to, and building a buffer into contracts that have tight closing dates. It also means fee pressure. Appraisers are absolutely going to be charging more for the extra time this takes, some are projecting fee increases well beyond what buyers have been used to seeing. That's a conversation worth having with a buyer up front, not a surprise they find on their closing disclosure.
How to Plan Around It
None of this should derail a purchase if you plan for it instead of getting caught by it. A few things that actually help:
- Order the appraisal as early in the process as your contract allows. Every extra day of runway absorbs delays without threatening your closing date.
- Ask your agent to confirm the listing has accurate, complete information before the appraiser shows up, especially permit history on any additions or major renovations.
- Build a little more cushion into your closing timeline than you might have in the past, especially in these first few months after the November mandate while everyone in the industry is still getting used to the new format.
- Talk to your loan officer about appraisal fees up front so a higher number on your closing disclosure isn't a surprise.
The Bottom Line
This is a real change, and it's going to create some friction in the first several months after it goes mandatory. But it's not a reason to panic about buying or selling right now. It's a reason to plan a little further ahead than you might have a year ago. The buyers and sellers who come out of this transition the smoothest are the ones whose agents and lenders built in the extra time before it was needed, not after a delay already happened.
If you have a purchase in the pipeline that's going to close after November 2, 2026, it's worth a conversation with your loan officer now about timing, not after the appraisal is already ordered.