The New Appraisal Form Starts November 2: What Sacramento Buyers and Sellers Should Know

If you're buying, selling or refinancing in Sacramento this fall, your appraisal is about to look different. The new appraisal form becomes the standard on November 2, 2026, for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

At Surroundings, we handle the home and the loan side of a move. Here is what is changing, what stays the same, and what to have ready.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are retiring their old appraisal forms. In their place is one redesigned report, the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report. The industry name for the update is UAD 3.6.

Until now each type of property had its own form. Houses, condos and manufactured homes each had one. So did co-ops and two-to-four unit buildings. All of those forms are being retired. The new report adjusts to the property in front of the appraiser instead of starting from a form number.

Fannie Mae says the new report has a similar look and feel to the loan application and the Closing Disclosure. Those are two documents most buyers already know.

The date is tied to when the appraisal is submitted to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's appraisal portal. It is not tied to the date you applied for your loan.

If you're in escrow now, an appraisal sent in on or after November 2 needs the new format. Lenders that need more time can ask the agencies for an exception, so a few may use the old format for a while longer. Ask your loan officer which one your file will use.

• Condition and quality, inside and out. The rating scale is the same, but the definitions were rewritten to be clearer. The report can now rate the inside and the outside separately when they differ.
• Updates, room by room. The appraiser records the update status of kitchens, bathrooms and flooring.
• More detail on a second unit. An accessory dwelling unit gets its own size, condition, rooms and location in the report.
• Comments where they belong. The catch-all page of notes at the back is gone. Each section has its own space for comments.
• Rent in the same report. When a loan needs a market rent estimate, it now goes into the appraisal itself.

The new report covers traditional, hybrid, desktop and exterior-only appraisals. It is for mortgage purposes, the same as before.

The appraiser now records updates piece by piece. That makes your records more useful. Gather receipts and permits for big updates before the appraiser comes. Think roof, kitchen, bathrooms and floors.

If you have a second unit on the lot, have its permits and square footage ready too. The report describes it in more detail than before.

The appraisal is for the buyer's lender. It doesn't set your list price. For that, start with a home valuation and our guide to selling your home in Sacramento County.

Your appraisal will read differently from the ones friends or family showed you a few years ago. The number at the end still answers the same question for the lender.

Plan for timing. If your appraisal lands near November 2, ask early which format your lender is using. That way nothing has to be redone.

FHA, VA and USDA requirements are built into the new report, and each agency sets its own rollout. If you're using a VA loan, ask about VA's timing. For the rest of the process, see our guide to buying a home in Sacramento County.

Condos used to have their own appraisal form. That form is retired too, so condo appraisals move to the same report as houses. The report notes when the land is owned in common, which usually means by the association.

The appraisal is one piece of a condo loan. Lenders also review the building itself, and those rules changed this year. We cover them in what changed for condo loans in 2026.

Does the new form change what my home is worth?

The form changes how the report is written. The appraiser still values the home from its condition, its features and nearby sales.

Is the new form only for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans?

The November 2 date is theirs. FHA, VA and USDA requirements are included in the new report, and each agency sets its own timing.

Do I need to do anything different as a seller?

Have your update records ready. Dates, receipts and permits help the appraiser describe the home accurately.

Are you buying, selling or refinancing around November 2? Talk with our team and we'll tell you what to expect for your file. As mortgage brokers we shop loans across a network of approved lenders, and you're always free to bring your own.