Proposed Design of the URAR
Here’s the link to the ‘slide show’ the GSE’s have produced showing proposed design of the future, revised, URAR appraisal form.
In my initial very quick observation of the proposed changes, there is FAR MORE INFO REQUESTED about the subject and comparable sales than the ‘current’ 2005 URAR form has on it. If this is what the final version will be like, the appraiser’s time to ‘complete the form report’ may increase exponentially. It may mean that the cost of the appraisal will increase.
I hope people involved with this will be more sensitive to this aspect, unlike what was done when the MC Form and UAD were introduced and mandated. Appraisers were just expected to absorb the extra time involvement, with no increase in compensation.
But on a positive note, while ‘forms’ themselves are not USPAP compliant, some wording on the proposed design of the URAR form will more closely align with USPAP than the current URAR has. This will assist appraisers being more USPAP compliant without having to supplement the ‘form’ with additional commentary as is necessary now.
Per this announcement from the GSE’s, there is no stated effective date for implementing the revised URAR.
MARCH 14, 2022 – UAD redesign report to industry stakeholders
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have issued a report describing the input and development process for the new Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR), which will replace individual appraisal report forms on a future date.
Dave Towne on e-AppraisersDirectory.com
- New UAD Overhaul: What Appraisers Can Expect in 2025 & Beyond - September 19, 2024
- Cindy Chance Terminated - September 16, 2024
- Key Part of USPAP Not Available from TAF - July 19, 2024
I swear, my retirement can’t come soon enough.
Even if the subject characteristics are sliced into a thousand categories, considering public record files and lazy agents fail to identify big items by even current standards, the point of the extra data is useless.
Seek the truth.
I saw it at an AI committee meeting. It is going to require waaaaay more time. I figure it will run out a lot of old timers that have just about had enough. I say that as an old timer that has just about had enough.
Greg York hold the door I’m right behind you
I like the old form better. Its first page is condensed and I can easily fill it out at the house. Too much space in the form and too much paper.
Swore I would wait and not blow up over this… Ship of fools. But at least they made the time for like several work group sessions for something a hundred thousand people will spend millions of hours on. Wasted page space to boot.
I’m with the old timers, 35+ years is enough. The day that form is implemented I’m done (if not sooner…)
My go to management strategy of ignoring something until it goes away may not pan out this time.
and at the same time, desktops are sufficient enough, with 3rd party inspectors, no original comp photos, not ANSI compliant, just get it done, fast
When I read these comments 99% of the time I think of Dana Carvey’s “Grumpy Old Man” character on SNL. See if this sounds like us…
Totally agree, that’s what the Majority of Residential Appraisers are in this country- Old Men (& Women) & we’ve had enough! We want to chew on trees. Flibertyfloo!
I remember back when they shortened the narrative section to stop appraisers from writing too much commentary that confused the reader. And I don’t think the lenders realize that the folks reviewing/analyzing the report at their end will need a lot more training because I don’t think that most folks at the lenders understand the current forms.
NEW FORM is a overblown/over detailed cluster f with way too much space & pages.
OLD FORM is consistent & easy to read.
This is a joke considering Fannie wants desktop garbage w/no inspection etc. these days anyways.
Do you recognize the familiarity of the ‘updated design’? It’s made for mobile devices. The blocky cumbersome design and wasted page space is a dead give away. This is far more disappointing than we could have ever imagined.
Come on folks! Just think of all the time you’ll save doing the desktops all day! 🙂
I’m so happy we transitioned to exclusively doing non-lender work. I have no interest in adding several hours of work to an appraisal for less than market rate. The new scope of work commands double the current price for me to even consider it. I only have 5 years left to retire.
Why come out with new PIA forms if many homes are getting waivers, desktop, hybrid, and the bifurcation method?
New URAR Form + Inflation = $1000 Appraisal Fee
I will release the new form later this year for software developers. I will try to correct this mess of a new form if possible and open source it. The current FNMA forms were very hard to develop for production. It took me over 100 hours to code just the 1004 form. It appears FNMA no longer has experienced front-end developers and designers working on their forms.
You can get a copy of the current 1004 form for software development below. Tag it or check back later this year for the new form.
https://github.com/michaelostrowski/1004
Additional free or open source technologies
http://www.hp-12c.com
https://github.com/michaelostrowski/UAD-listing-history-formatter
I’d be happy if we input on the regular form and then press a button afterwards that will format it into a report FHMA wants. I would want an extra line in the grid now that we have these ANSI issues.
Hi Mike. Thank you for jumping in. Not sure why you’d volunteer for the abuse of this industry but thank you none the less. I’m 100% for what Elizabeth said below. Ideally we’d be able to continue using the exact same form, and have that somehow auto fill the new form. Then appraisers like me would do interesting things like scan in the old form format all filled and adjusted nicely, as an image or pdf attachment in our reports alongside this updated mess of a new form. I think at FNMA we have a problem of programmers struggling to stay relevant and somehow prove they should keep their jobs. Forms redesign is unnecessary. I suspect they’re basement dwellers working remotely whom don’t even own pc’s and struggle to do everything involving traditional appraisal forms on their mobiles, hence the focus on mobile friendly form re design. In case you were not aware, here is the ‘old 1004 form’. As one can observe, the format was redesigned for somewhat easier readability but not much else changed. Looking back, I like the old forms quite a bit too. You should contract with alamode and click forms for some compensation for your efforts and because most appraisers will need some sort of integrated function into their software in order to make use of any open code options which may lend to minimal workflow disruption. It’s all wishful thinking though, fnma’s new focus is actively disrupting the appraiser community on purpose in order to pave the way to automate us out of existence.
By purposefully confusing traditional norms from form filling to sketching and measurement standards, to uncoupling the vital functions and knowledge base appraisers have by way of personal property inspections with third party inspectors instead, fnma simultaneously are staging the ‘appraisal form’ to be capable of being filled by anyone and then have analysis results supplemented by automatic valuation analysis software. With an additional benefit of making loan repurchase activity more difficult to achieve since people working under these new restrained conditions will have to come up with a hundred different random quirky methods and then some in order to comply with the illogical mandates the petty dictats fnma is pushing out, and nobody will be able to reverse engineer the development method. This is very clever yet deeply nefarious, using mandates and unwelcome industry restructuring to shift even more liability towards appraisers. Obvious is obvious. Even if in their ignorance the developers at fnma do not understand this is what they are accomplishing, that is what they have done. (Insert pr statement why appraisers should embrace these changes here.)
https://e-appraise.com/pdf/70-FHLMC_1004-FNMAE.pdf
Are fees going to increase as well then?
Awesome! Now you tack on a $5 charge. That should bring those 1990 fees to $280 per appraisal.
Retired! You’re late to the party. Checking the jobs boards was inspiring. There is such fierce demand for qualified skilled workers. Regardless if I were to chose janitor, parks tech, programs administrations assistant, assessor entry level, forensic review, any number of ancillary positions with new construction outlets, I’m bound to get a significant raise. Nowhere to go but up! Got to look at the bright side. Thinking of new home sales, as that does not even require a license and the average pay is literally three times what I gross now with potential for a +10x earnings factor. Or I could relieve myself of the stress, get some vacation days, punch in punch out at a regular assessors desk for a mere 150% of what I earn now, + benefits. If we’re going to lose the rich experiences involved with getting out there for personal appraisal inspections, all the connections we make being there in person, and knowledge we gain through that process, but instead lose our freedom of time management, I think it’s fair to say most of us want benefits and vacation days instead.
I’m a door knocker like most everyone here and with 48 years in the industry. I personally like the new redesign and am quite willing to make use of it provided the fees and turnaround times are in line with the amount of time & effort required to comply. I believe that state appraisal boards will benefit from the level of detail plus the automatic inclusion of USPAP-required information and analysis, and appraisers will benefit in the complaint process because subjectivity is being reduced that can lead to questions and USPAP violations. In my opinion, everything on that form simply documents what we should be observing, reporting and thinking about already. I also like the retirement of all those other forms for different residential property types (SFR,condo,2-4, etc). The new form appears daunting but I think once we get used to it we’re all going to be ok. In a long career I’ve lived through many changes and I’m still standing.