How Appraisal Age Requirements Work
Fannie Mae sets strict timelines for how old your appraisal can be when you close on your loan. The property must be appraised within 12 months before your loan closing date. This rule applies whether you're buying an existing home or one that was just built.
Say you ordered an appraisal in January for a home purchase, but complications delayed your closing until November. That appraisal would still be valid since it falls within the 12-month window.
When You Need an Appraisal Update
If your original appraisal is more than 4 months old but less than 12 months old at closing, you need what's called an appraisal update. The appraiser must inspect the property's exterior and review current market data to determine if the home's value has declined since the original appraisal.
Your original appraiser should complete this update, but your lender can use a different appraiser if needed. When a substitute appraiser handles the update, they must review the original appraisal and confirm whether the original value opinion was reasonable.
The update gets documented on Form 1004D (Appraisal Update and/or Completion Report). If this form shows the property value has declined, you'll need a completely new appraisal. If it shows no decline, your loan can proceed without additional work.
Desktop Appraisals Have Stricter Rules
Desktop appraisals follow different timing requirements. If your desktop appraisal is more than 4 months old at closing, you need a brand new appraisal. There's no update option like with traditional appraisals.
This stricter rule exists because desktop appraisals rely on data analysis rather than physical property inspection, making them more sensitive to market changes over time.
What Documents You'll Need
For appraisal updates, your lender will provide you with the completed Form 1004D. This form shows the appraiser's findings about whether your property value has changed since the original appraisal date.
If you need a new appraisal due to age requirements, you'll go through the standard appraisal process again, which means scheduling another property inspection and waiting for a new appraisal report.
When Multiple Appraisals Exist
Sometimes lenders order multiple appraisals for the same property due to regulations, company policies, or quality concerns. When this happens, your lender must choose the most reliable appraisal rather than simply picking the one with the highest value.
Your lender must document their reasoning for selecting a particular appraisal and submit their chosen report through Fannie Mae's system before your loan closes. This prevents lenders from shopping for the most favorable value.
Reusing Appraisals for Refinances
You can reuse an existing appraisal for a limited cash-out refinance under specific conditions. The appraisal must be less than 12 months old, and if it's older than 4 months, you'll need an update on Form 1004D.
The property cannot have undergone significant remodeling, renovation, or deterioration that would affect its market value. Both you and your lender must be the same as on the original transaction.
For example, if you bought your home 8 months ago and want to do a small cash-out refinance with the same lender, you might be able to reuse your purchase appraisal with an update rather than ordering a completely new one.
Why These Rules Exist
Fannie Mae requires fresh appraisals because property values change over time, especially in volatile markets. A 12-month window balances the need for current valuations with practical considerations about loan processing timelines.
The 4-month update requirement catches significant value declines that might affect the loan's risk profile. Real estate markets can shift quickly, and what seemed like a reasonable value 6 months ago might no longer reflect current conditions.
Common Problems and Delays
Appraisal timing issues often surface late in the loan process when borrowers discover their appraisal has expired. This typically happens when loan processing takes longer than expected due to documentation issues, rate lock extensions, or other delays.
Construction delays create particular challenges. If you're buying a newly built home and construction runs behind schedule, your appraisal might expire before you can close. Plan for potential delays and discuss timing concerns with your lender early in the process.
Market volatility can also trigger unexpected appraisal updates. In rapidly changing markets, even appraisals that are only 5-6 months old might show value declines that require new appraisals, adding time and cost to your loan.
References
For the official guidelines, see B4-1.2-04: Appraisal Age and Use Requirements in the Fannie Mae Selling Guide.
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Original Fannie Mae Guideline Text
B4-1.2-04, Appraisal Age and Use Requirements (06/04/2025)
Age of Appraisal and Appraisal Update Requirements
Multiple Appraisals of the Subject Property
Use of an Appraisal for a Subsequent Transaction
Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 Policy
Age of Appraisal and Appraisal Update Requirements
When an appraisal is obtained, the property must be appraised within the 12 months prior to the date of the note and mortgage.
When the effective date of the original appraisal report is more than four months but less than 12 months from the date of the note and mortgage, the appraiser must perform an appraisal update that includes inspecting the exterior of the property and reviewing current market data to determine whether the property has declined in value since the date of the original appraisal report. This policy applies regardless of whether the property was appraised as proposed or existing construction. The appraisal update must occur within four months prior to the date of the note and mortgage.
The original appraiser should complete the appraisal update; however, lenders may use substitute appraisers. When updates are completed by substitute appraisers, the substitute appraiser must review the original appraisal report and express an opinion about whether the original appraisers opinion of market value was reasonable on the date of the original appraisal report. The lender must note in the file why the original appraiser was not used.
The inspection and results of the appraisal update must be reported on the Appraisal Update and/or Completion Report (Form 1004D).
If the appraiser indicates on the Form 1004D that the property value has declined, then the lender must obtain a new appraisal for the property.
If the appraiser indicates on the Form 1004D that the property value has not declined, then the lender may proceed with the loan in process without requiring any additional fieldwork.
When the effective date of the original appraisal report is more than 12 months from the date of the note and mortgage (with or without an appraisal update) a new appraisal report is required. Except for single-close construction-to-permanent financing loans, these policies apply to all appraisals including those that receive appraisal and value representation and warranty enforcement relief (see B5-3.1-02, Conversion of Construction-to-Permanent Financing: Single-Closing Transactions).
See B4-1.3-12, Appraisal Quality Matters, for information concerning changes to the appraised value. See B2-1.5-02, Loan Eligibility, for information regarding property valuation requirements for mortgage loans sold to Fannie Mae more than four months from the note date.
Desktop Appraisals
When the effective date of the original desktop appraisal report is more than four months from the date of the note and mortgage, a new appraisal is required.
Multiple Appraisals of the Subject Property
If the lender obtains more than one appraisal for a loan due to applicable law, regulation, lender policy, or otherwise, the lender must
adhere to a policy of selecting the most reliable appraisal rather than the appraisal that states the highest value,
document the reasons for relying on the appraisal, and
submit the appraisal selected by the lender through the UCDP prior to delivery.
These requirements also apply if the lender considers an appraisal to be deficient (see B4-1.3-12, Appraisal Quality Matters).
Use of an Appraisal for a Subsequent Transaction
Fannie Mae will allow the use of an origination appraisal for a subsequent transaction if the following requirements are met:
The subsequent transaction may only be a limited cash-out refinance.
The age of the appraisal report must be less than 12 months from the note date of the subsequent transaction. If the appraisal report is greater than four months from the date of the note and mortgage, then an appraisal update is required. See preceding section, Age of Appraisal and Appraisal Update Requirements, for requirements for completing an appraisal update.
The lender must ensure that the property has not undergone any significant remodeling, renovation, or deterioration to the extent that the improvement or deterioration of the property would materially affect the market value of the subject property.
The borrower and the lender/client must be the same on the original and subsequent transaction.
Note: The appraisal must comply with all other requirements in the Underwriting Property section of the Selling Guide.
Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 Policy
Lenders using UAD 3.6 must follow the requirements in the UAD 3.6 Policy Supplement.
