Once a Fort Worth buyer is under contract, the lender orders an appraisal. The borrower usually pays for it, either up front or at closing, and receives a copy. The report can run dozens of pages, with photos, maps, comparable sales, and a grid of adjustments. Most buyers skim it for the number on the first page.
That number matters, but so does the rest of the report. The appraisal tells the lender what the house is worth for lending purposes and whether its condition fits the program. Both answers shape the loan.
Federal appraisal independence rules, part of Regulation Z, prohibit anyone with an interest in the loan from pressuring or influencing the appraiser's value. Lenders typically order appraisals through an appraisal management company or an internal panel, so the loan officer has no say in which appraiser takes the assignment and no contact that could steer the result.
That structure protects everyone. The buyer gets a value from someone with no stake in whether the sale closes. The lender gets collateral evidence it can rely on. The agents and the seller know the number was set by evidence instead of pressure.
In Texas, appraisers are licensed or certified by the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board. Their work follows the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice, along with the specific requirements of the loan program.
For a typical single-family house, the core of the report is the sales comparison approach. The appraiser selects recent sales of similar homes nearby, called comparables or comps, and adjusts each one for differences from the subject property.
The adjustments cover the factors buyers pay for:
Each comparable sale is adjusted up or down to estimate what it would have sold for if it matched the subject. The appraiser then reconciles the adjusted values into a single opinion, explaining which comps carried the most weight and why.
The appraiser also reviews the contract. The agreed price is a data point showing what one buyer and one seller decided. It is weighed against the market evidence. When the market evidence supports a lower number, the report says so.
Some reports also include a cost approach, estimating what it would cost to rebuild, or an income approach for rental properties. On most owner-occupied purchases, the sales comparison approach carries the decision.
On a purchase, the lender calculates loan-to-value using the lower of the appraised value or the contract price. If the appraisal comes in at or above the price, the loan proceeds as structured. If it comes in below, the maximum loan amount is recalculated against the lower value, and the buyer and seller have to decide how to handle the difference. The contract's appraisal addendum, if there is one, controls what each side can do.
On a refinance, the appraised value sets the loan-to-value directly, which affects eligibility, pricing, mortgage insurance, and how much cash can be taken out.
The appraiser also reports on the property's condition, and that part of the report can produce lender conditions.
FHA and VA appraisals check the property against the program's own standards. FHA's minimum property requirements focus on safety, security, and soundness. VA has its own minimum property requirements with a similar purpose. Under FHA, for example, a house built before 1978 with defective paint has to be addressed, because of the risk of lead-based paint. A roof that no longer keeps out water, an inoperable heating system, or missing handrails on stairs can also become required repairs.
A conventional appraisal reports condition too. If a defect affects the safety, soundness, or structural integrity of the house, or materially affects value or marketability, the appraiser can make the value subject to repair or inspection.
When the appraiser makes the report subject to a repair, the underwriter turns that into a condition. The repair is completed and documented, usually with a final inspection or photos, before the loan closes.
The appraiser's list is narrower than a home inspector's list. Worn carpet, dated fixtures, and aging appliances that still work are usually value considerations rather than required repairs.
Under federal rules, the lender must give the borrower a copy of the appraisal promptly after it is completed, or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first. Read it. Borrowers know their house better than anyone else in the file.
Look for factual errors:
If you find an error or a missed sale, ask the lender about a reconsideration of value. Fannie Mae requires lenders to have a borrower-initiated reconsideration of value process, limited to one request per appraisal with no more than five alternative comparable sales (Fannie Mae B4-1.3-12). On FHA loans, HUD rescinded its borrower-initiated process in March 2025 (Mortgagee Letter 2025-08); the underwriter may still request a reconsideration when the appraiser did not consider relevant information. VA and Freddie Mac have their own procedures. A reconsideration request works when it is built on facts: the specific error, or the specific sale with its address, date, price, and features. The appraiser reviews the evidence and either revises the report or explains why the original stands. Requests that simply restate the contract price rarely change anything, because the price is already in the report.
Some loans proceed without a full new appraisal. FHA and VA streamline refinances can often close without one, under the program's rules. Some conventional loans receive an appraisal waiver, which Fannie Mae calls value acceptance, when the automated system has enough data to accept the value. Other files use a limited inspection instead of a full report.
These exceptions belong to specific programs. They depend on the loan, the property, and the data, and the lender confirms eligibility file by file.
Three figures often get mixed up:
Each figure answers a different question. The lender uses the appraisal. A buyer who sends the tax value to the lender as evidence of the price is answering a question the underwriter never asked, and a seller who points to a neighbor's list price is citing a hope instead of a sale.
Fictional example: a Fort Worth house draws several offers, and the winning offer is written above what recent sales support. The appraisal comes in lower than the contract price. The lender cannot fund the original loan amount against the lower value. The buyer and seller look at the contract's appraisal addendum to see whether the buyer can terminate, renegotiate, or must bring the difference in cash. The appraisal is the lender's evidence. The addendum is the buyer's tool.
A few things help the appraisal go smoothly:
A report made subject to repairs becomes a lender condition, separate from anything negotiated during the option period. See repairs and conditions for how those are cleared, and appraisal, inspection and tax value for how the three reports differ. On a VA loan, the value appears on the VA notice of value.
If your appraisal came in and something in it looks wrong, send it to me and we will check the facts and comparables before deciding whether a reconsideration is worth requesting. Book a call, or start an application.
Links checked Oct 21, 2026.
About the author: McKade Lively, NMLS 2704474, American Pacific Mortgage Corporation dba True North Home Loans, NMLS 1850.
Equal Housing Opportunity.
Last reviewed: Oct 2026