Maybe you are getting ready to list your home and are working with your Realtor to set a price--you want to get as much as you can out of your equity, but you also want to set realistic goals that are achievable when the appraisal comes in.

Maybe you are a buyer and you want to know what your Realtor can do to keep your deal together. You found your dream home. You negotiated the terms. Now, it's looking like the appraisal might come in low. What do you do?

Or maybe you are thinking about putting your home on the market and you want to get it ready, knowing what appraisers are going to be looking for in your home to meet loan approval criteria.

These are all important situations that merit a thoughtful response. That's why I am here. I have a rare history that positions me as more of an expert in this area. I spent four years before becoming a Real Estate Agent, working as a loan officer. I worked closely with appraisers and took their valuable information to heart.

As a result, in the 18 years I have been a Realtor, I have rarely (if ever) had a home I priced come in with a low appraisal.

Now, sometimes, my clients are set on a price they want to sell for that is not supported by comps, and in those cases, appraisals can come in low. But, even then, I can offer assistance.

Appraisals are getting ready to change this November (2026). And I want to share my best advice and knowledge with you to help you be prepared. 

You've got a signed contract, a closing date on the calendar, and then the call comes: the appraisal came in low. It's one of the most stressful moments in a home sale, and it's more common than most sellers expect in a market like ours, where prices have been climbing and homes are moving faster.

Here's the good news: a low appraisal doesn't automatically kill your deal. There are real options for resolving it. But there's also a much better strategy — getting ahead of the problem before the appraiser ever walks through the door. And with major changes to the appraisal process rolling out this November, now's the time to understand both sides of this.

Key Takeaways

• A low appraisal has several possible resolutions — renegotiating price, the buyer covering the gap, a shared split, or disputing the appraisal itself.
• Sellers get exactly one formal reconsideration of value per appraisal, so it has to be done right the first time.
• Submitting strong, well-chosen comparable sales to the appraiser before or during the appraisal is one of the most effective ways to prevent a low value in the first place.
• Starting November 2, 2026, all appraisals sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must use a new standardized format called UAD 3.6, replacing the familiar appraisal forms with a more data-driven report.
• Appraisers are increasingly flagging health and safety issues — from stair railings to roof condition to HVAC systems — that can affect value or hold up loan approval, especially on VA, FHA, and conventional loans.

Here's the mechanic behind why a low appraisal matters so much: lenders base the loan amount on whichever number is lower — the appraised value or the agreed sale price. If your home is under contract for $350,000 but appraises at $335,000, the buyer's lender isn't going to fund a loan based on $350,000. That $15,000 gap has to get resolved somehow, or the deal doesn't close.

In practice, that usually plays out one of a few ways:

• The buyer brings extra cash to closing to cover the difference between the loan amount and the sale price.
• The seller agrees to lower the price to match the appraised value.
• Both sides split the difference, each absorbing part of the gap.
• The deal falls apart if neither side is willing or able to bridge it, and the contract terminates under the financing contingency.

Which of these happens often comes down to how competitive the original offer was and how far apart the appraisal and the contract price are. A $5,000 gap on a $400,000 home is a very different conversation than a $40,000 gap.

If you believe the appraisal itself was flawed — wrong comps, factual errors, missed features — you do have a formal path to challenge it. It's called a reconsideration of value, or ROV, and current Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidance gives borrowers the right to one ROV per appraisal.

That's the part sellers and buyers need to understand clearly: you get one shot. An ROV request has to be backed by specific, documented issues — not a general complaint that "the value seems low." Vague pushback gets you nowhere. A well-documented request with strong comparable sales has a real chance of moving the needle.

Because I know what appraisers are looking for, I can offer comps that match their criteria, which make them much more likely to be considered. I proactively submit up to five strong, well-chosen comparable sales. This isn't a generic list of "recently sold nearby." It's a targeted set of comps chosen using the same broad-to-narrow analysis appraisers themselves are trained to use.

Because there's no second attempt, whatever gets submitted needs to be right the first time. That is why my methodology tends to work. And this is exactly why the proactive approach below matters so much to me.

Most of the advice you'll find online treats appraisal gaps as something you deal with after the fact. In my experience, the better strategy is preventing them in the first place.

Here's what that looks like in practice: rather than waiting to see what value an appraiser lands on, I use their methodology to price accurately from the start.

That distinction matters. Most real estate agents learn comparative market analysis from other agents. My background is different — I spent years working as a loan officer alongside appraisers, and I learned how to evaluate value the way appraisers do, not the way agents typically do. When the comps I hand an appraiser mirror their own methodology, they're far more useful than a standard agent CMA.

Because you only get one reconsideration of value if something goes wrong, doing this legwork upfront — before the appraisal, not after a disappointing one — is the more reliable path to a smooth closing.

A few years ago, I worked with sellers going through a divorce who needed to list their home — a distinctive geodesic-style property. Based on a thorough comp analysis, the home's realistic market value was around $400,000. That's what I told them.

The sellers wanted to list in the high $500,000s instead. I explained why the data didn't support that number, but they moved forward at their preferred price. When we didn't come to an agreement on strategy, they listed with two other agents in succession over time.

The home eventually sold — for $400,000. The exact number the original comp analysis had pointed to from the very beginning.

This is the real cost of pricing that ignores the data: not just a slower sale, but months of carrying costs, showings, and uncertainty, all to land at the number a solid analysis would have identified from day one. It's also exactly the kind of situation that sets a home up for appraisal trouble — an inflated list price makes hitting the appraisal that much harder.

Mark this date if you're planning to sell or buy in the next year: November 2, 2026 is when a major overhaul of the appraisal process becomes mandatory.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are retiring the appraisal forms that have been standard for decades — including the familiar Form 1004 — in favor of a new, dynamic reporting format called UAD 3.6. Instead of a static, one-size-fits-all form, the new Uniform Residential Appraisal Report adjusts based on the specific property and type of appraisal being done. As of November 2, all appraisals sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac must use this new format.

What does this mean practically for sellers? A few things:

• More structured, data-driven documentation. The new format is built around standardized data fields rather than narrative write-ups, which likely means more consistent, thorough reporting on property condition.
• Ripple effects into how transactions get documented locally. Some of the ways real estate professionals document details in the MLS and on local forms are shifting alongside this transition, since the underlying data structure is changing.
• A good moment to get ahead of condition issues. With appraisal reporting becoming more granular, now is a smart time to walk through your home with an eye for anything that might get flagged — which brings us to the next piece.

Beyond value itself, appraisers are required to flag health and safety issues that can hold up loan approval entirely — separate from whether the number matches your contract price. These standards show up most strictly on VA and FHA loans, but conventional appraisals increasingly note them too.

Common items that get flagged:

Structural and maintenance issues

• Foundation concerns
• Active leaks or significant water damage
• Wood rot
• Chipping or peeling paint, particularly in older homes
• Significant deferred maintenance overall

Fall-hazard and safety features

• Stairways generally need a secure, graspable handrail — FHA requires one on stairways with more than three risers, and standards vary slightly by loan program and local code
• Decks, porches, and balconies more than about 30 inches above grade need a guardrail, typically at least 36 inches high

Mechanical and systems issues

• HVAC systems generally need to be permanently installed and hardwired — a plug-in unit as a primary heat source is often flagged
• Roofs with an estimated two years or less of remaining life are commonly noted as a concern
• Electrical safety issues
• All appliances need to be operational

One detail that surprises a lot of sellers: these same standards typically apply to outbuildings that sit on a permanent slab foundation, not just the main house. A workshop or guest structure with a slab foundation can be evaluated under the same criteria as the primary residence.

None of these are usually deal-breakers on their own. But they can delay closing or trigger a required repair before a loan can fund — and it's far better to know about them before your buyer's appraiser does.

A low appraisal isn't the end of a deal, but the sellers who avoid the problem altogether are almost always the ones who did the groundwork first — solid comps in hand, condition issues addressed, and pricing grounded in real data rather than what they hoped the home was worth.

If you're getting ready to list, the smartest move is a conversation before your home ever hits the market: a realistic look at value based on real comps, and a walk-through for the kind of health and safety items appraisers are watching closely — especially with new appraisal standards taking effect this November. I'm happy to walk you through both.