Newz: UAD 3.6 Humor, UAD 3.6 Reality. Appraisal Volume, Waivers, PDCs
March 6, 2026
What’s in This Newsletter (In Order, Scroll Down)
LIA AD: Judicial Appraiser Panels: Balancing Opportunity and Liability
UAD 3.6 – She’s Gonna Blow CARTOON!
Lake Como-Inspired Hillsborough, CA Megamansion With Koi Pond and Private Spa Lists for an $88 Million
What are home prices doing? It depends. By Ryan Lundquist
MY AD: UAD 3.6: Yes, No or Maybe
What the latest war means for mortgage rates
UAD 3.6, the New URAR, and the Reality Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
2026 Market Update: Appraisal Volume, Waivers, and PDCs
Mortgage applications increased 11.0 percent from one week earlier’
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UAD 3.6 – She’s Gonna Blow CARTOON!
Acme Appraisal Company Replies to Their First UAD 3.6 Appraisal Order
To See the Cartoon, Click Here
My comment: Very Funny ;> And Appropriate!
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Lake Como-Inspired Hillsborough, CA Megamansion With Koi Pond and Private Spa Lists for an $88 Million
Excerpts: 6 bedrooms, 7.5+ bath, 12,404 sq.ft., 12.33 acre lot, built in 2013
It was inspired by the masterful megamansions found on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como.
The sprawling property in Hillsborough, CA, is focused almost entirely around serenity and relaxation, boasting an Asian garden, koi pond, rose garden, reflection pond, and an English spiral mound.
Known as Villa de Verano, the expansive estate begins with a tree-lined driveway that leads to a grand motor court, primary residence, guest home, amphitheater, event lawn, and pool.
Over-the-top highlights found throughout the 12,404-square-foot main residence include a fitness center, home theater, game room, spa, and saltwater aquarium.
A sports pavilion boasts a two-story lounge with viewing platform that overlooks a sunken tennis court, pickleball court, volleyball court, badminton court, bocce ball court, horseshoe court, shuffleboard court, and putting green. There is also an executive length golf course found on the property.
To read the listing, Click Here
My comment: Hillsborough is a city with many expensive homes located in the San Francisco Bay Area
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What are home prices doing? It depends.
By Ryan Lundquist
Excerpts: What are home prices doing? Are they up, down, or sideways? Well, it can be tricky to tell sometimes, especially when there aren’t that many sales. Today, I want to share some of the ways I’m looking at prices to try to make sense of things, and I hope this will be helpful, whether you’re local or not. Skim by topic or digest slowly.
TRADITIONAL METRICS MIGHT NOT BE ENOUGH TODAY
We’re missing about 30% of the normal number of sales today, which is true locally and nationally. As a result, traditional price stats like the median and average can bounce around even more than usual. This is why I’ve been talking more about various price indexes such as the ones below. A price index tries to control for differences in quality or size, so sometimes an index might give us a better reading of price movement (not always). The hard part is there are only so many publicly available price indexes for a given metro area. I’m not interested in a national index. What do various sources show for just Sacramento? That’s the key.
Locally, there are a number of indexes below that are actually pretty similar to the median and average right now, but that’s not true for individual counties (see below). In general, if someone said prices were down 2.0% to 2.5% this year in the region,
We’re missing about 30% of the normal number of sales today, which is true locally and nationally. As a result, traditional price stats like the median and average can bounce around even more than usual. This is why I’ve been talking more about various price indexes such as the ones below. A price index tries to control for differences in quality or size, so sometimes an index might give us a better reading of price movement (not always). The hard part is there are only so many publicly available price indexes for a given metro area. I’m not interested in a national index. What do various sources show for just Sacramento? That’s the key.
Locally, there are a number of indexes below that are actually pretty similar to the median and average right now, but that’s not true for individual counties (see below). In general, if someone said prices were down 2.0% to 2.5% this year in the region, that’s backed up by quite a few metrics. that’s backed up by quite a few metrics.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: It’s hard for appraisers to avoid these metrics as they are in the news regularly. Buyers, sellers, etc. see them. As we all know, real estate is local.
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UAD 3.6 Yes, No or Maybe
In the March 2026 issue of Appraisal Today
Excerpts:
Which UAD 3.6 software to use
None of the software vendors are ready to go with all that is needed.
This is a good time to check out what your software provider is doing software and compare with the other vendors.
Probably the easiest is to use now your current software, if possible.
You must have legacy forms software. New software providers may not have this yet. Many lenders will be using the legacy software as they set up their UAD 3.6 management and review software. Few UAD 3.6 software has been tested in the “real world” of AMCs and lenders. Beta testing software checks how well it is working, but is not usually tested with lenders.
Recording field notes and photos – tablet, smartphone, clipboard and paper
Tablet needed for inspection?
If you have never used a smartphone or tablet with an inspection app the UAD 3.6 inspection apps can be intimidating. Reduces inspection time. For example, ceiling height.
Inspection using clipboard, pen and paper.
Carry a printed copy of the report?
Maybe someone will develop a pre-printed format to use with pen and paper.
Home measurement
Clipboard and tape/laser. Upload to report. Laser device works great for ceiling heights. Measuring using a smartphone with an app is faster.
Use inspection app that has measurements and produces a sketch.
This is the 6th article I have written on UAD 3.6, starting in April, 2025.
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What the latest war means for mortgage rates
Hopes of a lower-for-longer environment have been dashed by the recent weekend’s attacks – or have they?
March 2, 2026
Excerpts: US mortgage rates have been drifting lower for weeks, giving loan officers and brokers a long‑awaited break. The latest Middle East shock is now putting that fragile improvement to the test through a jump in 10‑year Treasury yields.
The weekend strikes by the US and Israel on Iran arrived just as investors had pushed the 10‑year Treasury to an 11‑month low near 3.92%. Instead of sparking the classic rush into government bonds, the new conflict reversed the move. Yields on the 10‑year climbed about seven basis points to roughly 4.03%, with the 30‑year also moving higher.
A rate rally meets a geopolitical shock
Only days before the latest Middle East headlines, the backdrop for housing finance had finally turned more favorable. Freddie Mac’s weekly survey showed the average 30‑year fixed slipping to 5.98% as of February 26, the first time in more than three years that it has printed in the 5% range.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: Mortgage interest rates are significant influenced by the 10 and 30 year Treasury yields.
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UAD 3.6, the New URAR, and the Reality Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
Excerpts: There’s a growing gap between official rollout timelines and what many of us are actually seeing in the field. After reviewing the latest industry chatter — and especially the recent Copilot analysis circulating — I’ll say this plainly:
The concerns are not exaggerated.
From the vantage point of someone who works daily as both an appraiser and a Realtor, the biggest issue isn’t whether UAD 3.6 is “coming.” It’s whether the ecosystem is behaving like a system that is anywhere near mandatory adoption.
Right now, it simply isn’t.
Most appraisers are still producing reports on legacy forms. Many lenders are not fully operational on the new dataset. Vendors continue working through implementation wrinkles. AMCs are largely communicating preparation rather than execution.
That’s not criticism — that’s observation.
Large-scale transitions require three things to align simultaneously:
• Software stability
• Lender workflow stability
• Appraiser competency + comfort
Historically, the slowest of those three dictates the real timeline.
And today, all three still show friction.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: Worth reading. I agree with what the author says. I am working on a software update for my April newsletter about completion status. None of them are “ready to go” with everything completed.
I don’t know how the lenders are doing, but I am sure it is a major software update for their reviews, appraisal processing, etc.
I recently spoke with an appraiser who does a lot of AMC appraisals. They are requesting legacy forms, not the new URAR report format. VA, FHA, and USDA Rural Development loans lenders may, or may not, start using UAD 3.6 reports. Not clear at this time. UAD 3.6 only required for GSEs.
My forecast is the GSEs extending the deadline to 2027.
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2026 Market Update: Appraisal Volume, Waivers, and PDCs
By Isaac Peck, Publisher WorkingRE
Excerpts: For the last several years, the appraisal profession has been described as being “at a crossroads.” In reality, very little has fundamentally changed. Volume remains constrained, appraisal waivers persist, and property data collections continue to grow slowly—but not dramatically.
The housing market has cooled significantly from the pandemic-era surge. Policy changes, higher interest rates, and affordability pressures have slowed transaction volume, while automation tools like appraisal waivers and PDCs continue to expand at the margins. Appraisers are operating in a market that is more constrained, more competitive, and less forgiving than it was just a few years ago.
The question now is how the new tools being thrown into the market are changing the way the proverbial garden is being tended. Automation and appraisal waivers are like sprinklers and shortcuts, touted as efficient, but much less hands-on. For appraisers, 2025 has not brought a meaningful rebound. Volume remains flat, while pressure from waivers and PDCs continues to build.
To read more, Click Here
My comments: I recently had a long discussion with an appraiser about these topics causing fewer full appraisals. The article includes Graphs and analysis of appraisal volume, PDCs and Appraisal Waivers This was published in their Q4 2025 magazine, but I don’t think much has changed.
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HOW TO USE THE NUMBERS BELOW. Appraisals are ordered after the loan application. These numbers tell you the future for the next few weeks. For more information on how they are compiled, Click Here.
Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my paid monthly newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample go to www.appraisaltoday.com/order Or call 510-865-8041, MTW, 7 AM to noon, Pacific time.
My comments: Rates are going up and down. We are all waiting for rates to drop lower in 2026. Data below is from Feb. 27, before the Iran conflict.
Mortgage applications increased 11.0 percent from one week earlier
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 4, 2026) — Mortgage applications increased 11.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 27, 2026.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 11.0 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 12.1 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 14.3 percent from the previous week and was 109 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 6.1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 8.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 10 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
“Mortgage applications increased last week, driven by continued strength in refinance activity, as mortgage rates stayed near their lowest level since 2022,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist. “Refinance applications increased for the fourth straight week to the strongest pace since 2022, with conventional refinances up 20 percent. The increase in the average loan size for refinances indicates that more borrowers with larger loan sizes are seeking to lower their monthly payments. Purchase applications also moved higher, with the week’s pace almost 10 percent ahead of last year’s pace, as lower rates and growing levels of housing inventory continue to support homebuyer interest.”
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 59.8 percent of total applications from 58.6 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 8.8 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 15.8 percent from 16.1 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications decreased to 17.1 percent from 18.7 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications remained unchanged at 0.4 percent.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($832,750 or less) was unchanged from last week at 6.09 percent, with points decreasing to 0.52 from 0.53 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate remained the same as last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $832,750) decreased to 6.16 percent from 6.20 percent, with points decreasing to 0.31 from 0.42 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA was unchanged from last week at 5.97 percent, with points decreasing to 0.62 from 0.65 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 5.49 percent from 5.48 percent, with points decreasing to 0.60 from 0.70 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs increased to 5.32 percent from 5.23 percent, with points increasing to 0.51 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate increased from last week.
The survey covers U.S. closed-end residential mortgage applications originated through retail and consumer direct channels. The survey has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks, thrifts, and credit unions. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.
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Ann O’Rourke, MAI, SRA, MBA
Appraiser and Publisher Appraisal Today
1826 Clement Ave. Suite 203 Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: 510-865-8041
Email: ann@appraisaltoday.com
Online: www.appraisaltoday.com
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