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Tradewater Appraisal & Realty

The new appraisal report is here, and it is a much bigger report

As of November 2, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require every residential appraisal to be completed on a redesigned report known as UAD 3.6. It is the largest change to the home appraisal in about twenty years, and it changes both what you receive and what it costs to produce.

What changed

The appraisal form most people are familiar with was largely a set of check boxes and short blanks. The new report replaces it with a far more detailed document that asks the appraiser to record more about the property and to explain the reasoning in writing.

In practical terms, a home appraisal now reads and is built much more like a commercial appraisal report. That means:

• More information gathered at the property during the inspection.
• More detail on the site, the home, its condition, and its features.
• Written commentary on the local market and on how the comparable sales were chosen and adjusted.
• More verification, analysis, and review before the report is delivered.

Why fees are increasing

More to complete means more time on every assignment. Each report now takes longer to inspect, research, write, and review, and the new format required new software and training for our staff.

Apart from a few small adjustments, our appraisal fees have stayed essentially the same for about twenty years. We held them steady as long as the report stayed the same. The report has now changed substantially, and our fees have been updated to reflect the work it takes to do it properly.

What you get for it

The added detail is not busywork. A more complete report gives lenders and underwriters a clearer picture of the property and the reasoning behind the value, which helps reduce follow-up questions and delays. For homeowners and buyers, it means the opinion of value on one of the largest purchases of your life is documented and explained more fully than before.

This matters most on the kinds of properties we see every day in western Kentucky: homes on acreage, rural tracts, and small-town properties that automated valuation models do not handle well and that need a local appraiser to explain.

What has not changed

You still get an independent, well-supported opinion of value from a local, Kentucky Certified General Real Estate Appraiser who knows this market, along with the dependable turn times our clients count on.