Issue 003 · October 31, 2026 
Welcome back. UAD 3.6 becomes mandatory for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday, and FHA takes comments on its property requirements through November 6. Treasury's proposed rules for the investor purchase ban are open for comment until November 23.
In this issue: 5 Top Signals, 4 AI tools and tests, policy, legal and state updates, and 8 November events.
Top Signals
1. FHA wants your read on its property requirements by November 6. FHA's proposed update would align its Minimum Property Requirements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, refine the scope of required repairs and clarify eligibility. If a repair you write up every week belongs on or off that list, the feedback worksheet is where to say so.
2. UAD 3.6 is mandatory Monday, unless your lender has an exception. Lenders with an approved one-time exception can keep submitting UAD 2.6 reports through May 19, 2027, so you may work both formats for different clients.
3. The housing executive order could trim appraisal costs on some refinances, eventually. The October 22 order directs FHFA and the GSEs to build programs for automated title review and proactive PMI cancellation. The Broker Action Coalition estimates $2,390 in savings on a $500,000 refinance, including $600 for the appraisal.
4. Treasury proposed rules for the investor purchase ban, with comments due November 23. The first-phase proposal defines terms the ROAD to Housing Act leaves open, and the ban starts January 7, 2027, with carve-outs for build-to-rent, renovate-to-rent and foreclosure purchases.
5. Compass and the MLSs are suing each other in two federal courts. CRMLS sued in New York on October 5 and Compass filed in California on October 16, while OneKey MLS rejected Compass's demands and CMLS started a legal fund. The outcome shapes how many listings reach the MLS you pull comps from.
AI & Valuation
Clear Capital says its Rental AVM can stand in for the Form 1007. The company pitches its Rental AVM as an alternative to the Single-Family Comparable Rent Schedule, returning market rents with ranked comparables in seconds instead of a five-day turn. Whether a lender or investor accepts it in place of your 1007 is each client's policy call.
TrueFootage and ValueMate are on the GSEs' verified 3.6 software lists. TrueFootage announced its verification in October, and ValueMate Studio has been verified since August.
Zillow put Zestimates inside Claude. Its new connector lets Claude users search listings, check home values and run affordability math, so buyers see an automated value before an appraiser is ordered.
Mark Rodriguez says to run your report through AI before your client does. Rodriguez, ASA, MRICS, argues that if a client's AI finds 20 criticisms and 18 are unfounded, the other two may be real weaknesses worth fixing before the report goes out.
Policy & Standards
UAD 3.6 has more than 900 data fields, and no report uses all of them. The count is up from about 190 in UAD 2.6, and most fields cover contingencies you will rarely touch, Working RE reports.
HUD's manufactured housing plan sets up homes without a permanent chassis. HUD released its action plan on October 7 to update the HUD Code for the ROAD to Housing Act's chassis-free provision, though the changes could take a year or more to reach buyers.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now require the Uniform Property Data Report. Fannie Mae asks lenders to make sure their vendors and systems produce and use it.
Freddie Mac opened ACE and ACE+ PDR to investment property refinances. Bulletin 2026-13 made the change immediately, so more investor refinances may route to a property data collection instead of a full appraisal.
Trade groups want one reconsideration of value process across agencies. They asked FHFA, HUD, USDA and VA to align ROV with the GSE standards, and no agency has adopted it yet.
The OCC wants lenders to find risks that cross property types. Its handbook update flags portfolios that share the same rent growth, cap rate and refinance assumptions, LightBox notes.
On the Legal Radar
Yardi's rent-pricing case moves into broader discovery. A federal judge in Seattle denied Yardi summary judgment on October 13 in a class action alleging anticompetitive conduct in multifamily housing.
Senators Booker and Warren asked the FTC to investigate three home-buying practices. Their letter targets undisclosed portal and agent commission-sharing, steering buyers to affiliated lenders and the use of private listings, which it calls anticompetitive and deceptive.
State Watch
Tennessee: STR value splits into real estate, furniture and the business. The state's STR FAQ warns that using STR comparables without isolating the real estate “could be considered misleading and a violation” of the USPAP Competency Rule.
District of Columbia: A council bill would require disclosure of AI-edited listing photos. The proposed bill would make listing agents disclose altered images and include the unedited versions.
North Carolina: Timios Appraisal Management surrendered its AMC registration. The surrender took effect October 13, per the national AMC registry.
Four states: Voters decide housing measures on Tuesday. It's the most statewide housing measures in one election year since 2006, per Ballotpedia (full rundown).
Market & Practice
Dart buys ACT. Dart Appraisal acquired Chicago-based ACT Appraisal, which keeps its name (citybiz).
Multifamily CMBS delinquency hits 7.69%. Trepp puts private-label multifamily CMBS at 7.69% and CRE CLOs at 3.88% (Multifamily Dive).
FHA foreclosures climb. Auction.com says foreclosed FHA property volume is the highest since 2019 (National Mortgage News).
Sellers outnumber buyers. Redfin counted 62.6% more sellers than buyers, the widest gap since at least 2013 (National Mortgage News).
Worth Your Time
The foreclosure comeback, residential and commercial. Troutman Pepper Locke's podcast covers where foreclosures are concentrating and the “FHA forbearance cliff” expected to drive short sales.
NAR's solar guide is one to hand your clients. The guide explains that panels must be owned before an appraiser can consider their contributory value.
On the Calendar
Valuation and housing events in November. For December and beyond, see the ValuSignal events page.
November
Oct 31 to Nov 3
Today 18th Annual Appraisal Summit
NAA and Appraiser eLearning · Las Vegas, NV Nov 1 to 4
Tomorrow 2026 ASFMRA Annual Conference
ASFMRA · Litchfield Park, AZ Nov 2 to 4 Freddie Mac CONNECT 2026
Freddie Mac Nov 4 Q3 2026 CRE Market Update
LightBox · Webinar Nov 5 to 6 Of Value: 2026 National Conference
Appraisers Association of America · New York, NY Nov 6 to 8 NAR NXT 2026
National Association of REALTORS® · New Orleans, LA Nov 6 to 8 V20 Summit & Conference 2026
American Society of Appraisers · Washington, DC Nov 18 From Chatbots to Agentic AI
Appraisal Institute Seattle Chapter · Seattle, WA Illustrations in this issue are AI-generated.
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