For listing agents
The appraisal report is changing. Your job is not to become an appraiser.
Your opportunity is to become a better source of property information.
Beginning November 2, 2026, new appraisal reports submitted to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must use UAD 3.6, the redesigned Uniform Appraisal Dataset.
This is more than a new-looking appraisal form. The new Uniform Residential Appraisal Report is designed to capture significantly more structured, property-specific information than the legacy forms.
For listing agents, that creates a pretty obvious opportunity: give the appraiser better information than they can get from your MLS listing alone.
Good listing agents are already asking sellers about improvements, systems and features. The shift is to get more granular, collect it earlier, document it better and have it ready when the appraisal is ordered.
Quick read
What UAD 3.6 does differently
Updates are captured at the component level
Which kitchen. Which bathroom. When. Partial or substantial. And what is actually in those rooms.
Condition and quality get more detail
The report can distinguish between interior and exterior condition and quality rather than one broad characterization of the whole property.
Major components matter
Roof, furnace, heat pump, water heater, windows, panel, sewer, solar. More structure around the condition and lifecycle of components.
Defects are documented explicitly
Defects, damage and deficiencies are captured separately for the site, exterior, interior, outbuildings, vehicle storage and amenities.
Additional structures get real attention
ADUs, shops, barns, studios, guest spaces, finished outbuildings. “There’s a shop out back” is not enough.
Energy and resilience have a home
Solar, certifications, insulation, high-efficiency systems, specialty windows, fortified roofing, flood mitigation. Factual information, not marketing claims.
The big shift
MLS is not your appraisal package.
Your MLS input is designed to market the property, communicate with buyers and agents, populate consumer-facing portals and comply with your local MLS requirements. It is abbreviated by design.
Your appraiser property package should be different. The objective isn’t “make my house appraise.” The objective is to give the appraiser detailed, factual property information so they are not relying exclusively on MLS fields, remarks and a limited set of marketing photographs.
Don’t make the appraiser figure out your listing from 40 MLS photos and abbreviated MLS fields when you have better information available.
The work
What to collect, and when it’s worth it
Let me be straight about what this does and doesn’t do. Collecting better property information does not make a property appraise higher. The appraiser reaches their own conclusion, independently, and nothing you hand them changes that.
What it does is make sure the conclusion gets reached with accurate information instead of abbreviated MLS fields and forty marketing photos.
The baseline — every listing
About fifteen minutes of seller time. The redesigned report asks for more than the old one in three areas in particular: the age of major systems, what was updated and when, and permit status.
Some of this may already live in your MLS — fields vary a lot from one MLS to another. But most of it isn’t captured anywhere the appraiser can reach, and none of it at the level of detail the new report has room for.
- Age of every major system — roof, furnace, air conditioning, heat pump, water heater, electrical panel, sewer or septic, windows, siding, solar
- Update years and scope for each kitchen and each bathroom — which one, what year, full remodel or partial
- Permit status on anything that required one, if the seller has it
- Basic facts on every additional structure — size, year, finished or not, heated, plumbed, electrical service
- The complete photo library, not the selects that went to MLS
- A floor plan built to appraisal measurement standards rather than marketing dimensions
Collect it once at intake and you’re not chasing it the week the appraisal gets scheduled.
One caveat worth taking seriously. Permit status is the seller’s information to provide — you’re passing along what they give you, not verifying it. What you can share, and how, depends on your listing agreement, your brokerage policy and your state’s rules. Check those first.
The deeper pass — when the property earns it
Component-level detail is real work. It’s worth doing when the property is one the comps won’t explain on their own:
- Significant renovation the comparable sales won’t reflect
- An ADU, shop, barn, studio or guest space — anything beyond a house and a garage
- Materials and finishes noticeably above what’s typical for the neighborhood
- Acreage, mixed use, unusual construction, or anything the standard comparison grid handles badly
- Thin comps, or comps that aren’t really comparable
On a house with a remodeled kitchen, three updated baths and a 960-square-foot heated shop, the deeper pass is the difference between the appraiser knowing what’s there and guessing at it.
Why the brand names
A brand name doesn’t create a dollar value, and nobody should present it that way. What it does is communicate a quality level that a photograph can’t.
A photo of a range shows a range. It doesn’t say Wolf. A photo of a countertop shows stone. It doesn’t say honed Taj Mahal quartzite.
Specific beats descriptive. Not “high-end stone counters.” Not “designer lighting.” Not “upgraded appliances.” The actual material, the actual manufacturer, the actual year.
The deeper pass, section by section
Open what applies to the property in front of you.
Kitchen — component level
Separately for every kitchen.
- Year remodeled or updated, full remodel or partial
- Cabinetry material and manufacturer
- Countertop material, backsplash material, flooring material
- Refrigerator, range or cooktop, oven, dishwasher, microwave, vent hood
- Sink, faucet, disposal
- Lighting manufacturer or source when meaningful
- Island dimensions and features, pantry, built-ins, other specialty components
Bathrooms — one at a time
Don’t combine three bathrooms into “bathrooms remodeled.” Document each one.
- Year remodeled or updated, full or partial
- Vanity and cabinetry, countertop material, sinks, faucets, toilet
- Shower, shower fixtures, enclosure, surround material, bathtub
- Flooring, heated flooring
- Lighting, mirrors, ventilation, built-in storage
- Manufacturer or brand where meaningful
What that looks like filled in
- Full remodel: 2022
- Custom walnut double vanity, quartz countertop, dual undermount sinks, Kohler faucets
- Toto toilet
- Freestanding soaking tub, Kohler tub filler
- Walk-in shower, full-height porcelain tile surround, frameless glass enclosure
- Heated porcelain tile floor, Visual Comfort sconces, new exhaust fan installed during remodel
That’s data. “Primary bath updated” isn’t.
Interior improvements beyond kitchens and baths
Dates, materials and scope for:
- Flooring, windows, doors, fireplaces
- Built-ins, millwork, lighting, staircase
- Laundry, basement, attic, home office
- Insulation, smart-home systems
- Significant electrical work, significant plumbing work
- Additions or conversions
Exterior improvements
- Roof, siding, exterior paint, windows, exterior doors
- Deck, patio, covered outdoor space, outdoor kitchen, pool or spa
- Fencing, irrigation, drainage, retaining walls
- Driveway, hardscape, significant landscaping
Approximate year and materials where known.
Additional structures — full detail
Beyond the baseline facts: construction type, ceiling height, doors, insulation, bathroom and kitchen facilities, recent improvements and current use.
What that looks like filled in
- Approximately 960 sq. ft., built 2004
- Pole construction, concrete slab, insulated, heated
- 200-amp electrical service, 220V outlets
- Plumbing: yes. Half bathroom.
- Two 10-foot overhead doors
- Interior lighting upgraded 2023, exterior painted 2024
That tells someone substantially more than “shop/outbuilding.”
Documentation
Worth asking the seller for whatever they have, early. Anything that pins down a date or a specification tends to be the most useful.
- Permits
- Receipts, warranties and contractor invoices
- Roof, furnace, heat pump and air conditioning documentation
- Window documentation, including energy ratings
- Solar documentation and certifications
- Sewer and septic records
- Floor plan or measurement report
- Survey
Your download
The Appraisal-Ready Listing Guide
A fillable PDF. Complete what applies to the property and send it when the appraisal is ordered.
Already in the Academy? The Listing Intelligence Tool is live for you inside.
Copy and paste — what to send your seller
We’re collecting more detailed information about your home than you may have been asked for in the past. That’s intentional.
The appraisal reporting process is changing, and the new appraisal report captures much more detailed information about a property’s condition, updates, systems, materials, finishes, additional structures and overall quality.
Because of that, we want to make sure the appraiser has access to more than just the basic information entered into MLS and the limited number of photographs selected to market the property.
This isn’t about telling the appraiser what your home is worth. The appraiser makes that determination independently. Our job is to make sure they have complete information about the property.
Here’s what would help most: the approximate year each major system was installed or replaced — roof, furnace, air conditioning, heat pump, water heater, electrical panel, sewer or septic, windows, siding, solar. The year each kitchen and bathroom was updated, and whether it was a full remodel or a partial one. Specific materials and brands where you know them. And details on any additional structures — size, year, whether they’re heated, plumbed and finished.
A lot of this will also help us market your property more accurately.
If you don’t know every answer, that’s completely fine. Give us as much as you can, and send along anything you happen to have. You don’t need to organize it first.
Here’s what to do
Build it before you need it.
Collect the information at intake, not the week the appraisal gets scheduled.
Then make it easy for the appraiser to understand what they’re looking at.
Inside the Academy
This becomes software.
Academy members get the Listing Intelligence Tool — a private application built to manage this process across every listing.
You open the application on your own computer and use it there. Your listing records are stored in your own browser on your own device. You can keep multiple properties inside the application at once, each one completely separate. Start a listing once and come back to it whenever you need it.
Add three bathrooms? The app immediately gives you three bathroom sections. Add an ADU, detached garage, shop or other structure? The application builds those sections into that property record. If a section does not apply to the property, it does not appear in the finished document.
When the appraisal is scheduled — or you want additional marketing materials — you simply click Download. Your name, contact information and property address are built into the finished document, so what you download is already customized to you and the listing.
What you’re getting is a private listing intelligence system that holds multiple properties and produces customized documents on demand.