Introduction

Introduction to the New URAR

Thirteen legacy appraisal forms, replaced by one report that reshapes itself around the property. Welcome to the new URAR and UAD 3.6. This first lesson is the big picture. Why it changed, how the report is organized, the three report types, and how the rest of the course is laid out.

From form numbers to data

For years, the property decided which form you opened. A condo went on a 1073, a two to four unit on a 1025, a manufactured home on a 1004C. Desktop, hybrid, and exterior-only assignments had their own versions too. The new URAR retires all of them. Thirteen legacy forms become one dynamic report. Now the data, not a form number, determines the property type. An unusual property never has to be squeezed onto the wrong form. Under the hood, the data moves up too, from MISMO Reference Model 2.6 to version 3.6.

It shows what applies

Dynamic means the report adapts. Conditions in the data decide which sections appear, so the reader isn't paging past blocks that don't apply. Take a detached house on a refinance. No project, no outbuilding, no sales contract, so those sections simply don't print. Now a condo under contract. Project Information switches on, and so does Sales Contract. Some sections repeat. Two dwellings on one lot get two Dwelling Exterior sections, and every unit or ADU gets its own Unit Interior. Same report, same rules. The property decides what you see.

Answers, not essays

UAD 3.6 also changes how answers are captured. Most fields are enumerated. You pick from a defined list instead of inventing your own wording, so every report says the same thing the same way. Discrete data replaces free-form text wherever it can, which takes a lot of subjectivity out of the report. Impact is a good example. Site influences, views, and project factors are each marked Adverse, Beneficial, or Neutral. Watch that last one. Neutral means no measurable market impact. It does not mean the same as the comps. And when the list has the right answer, use it. Don't pick Other and type in an abbreviation.

29 sections, four levels

The URAR is built from 29 sections, each one marked by a black tab. Inside a section, gray bars mark the subsections. Then come bold labels, with plain sub-labels beneath them. Most sections always print, from the Summary and Site all the way to Reconciliation and the Certifications. Others appear only when they apply, like Disaster Mitigation, Outbuilding, Project Information, and each approach to value. And four sections can repeat: Dwelling Exterior, Manufactured Home, Unit Interior, and Outbuilding.

The new Summary section

The report now opens with a Summary. It pulls key facts forward from other sections. The opinion of market value and effective date come from Reconciliation, the borrower from Assignment Information, the contract price from Sales Contract. It also lists the defects, damages, and deficiencies that need action, so a reviewer sees them first. Nothing is typed twice. Every value comes from its source section, and the detail still lives there.

Everything in its section

Comments and photos now sit right next to the data they support. Most sections carry their own commentary and exhibits. Site comments go in Site Commentary, market comments in Market Commentary. Large photos lead the Summary, each Dwelling Exterior, and each Outbuilding. Comp thumbnails sit at the top of the sales grid. One photo can appear in more than one section. A detached garage shot can support both Outbuilding and Vehicle Storage. Defects are reported where you find them, then gathered again in Reconciliation. And Supplemental Information is only for images that belong nowhere else.

URAR, Update, Completion

UAD 3.6 actually covers three reports. The URAR is the full appraisal, for every residential property type. The old 1004D did two jobs at once. Now those jobs are separate reports. The Restricted Appraisal Update Report is a new assignment. The appraiser reviews the market and certifies that value hasn't declined since the original appraisal's effective date. The Completion Report covers the repairs or construction the original appraisal was made subject to, plus any new items found along the way. Both are short, with five and nine sections. Module sixteen covers them in detail.

Your field guide

The rules behind all this are published as reference appendices, and this course follows them closely. Appendix F-1, the URAR Reference Guide, goes section by section: every label, when to include it, and its allowable answers. Every field has a Report Field ID that starts with its section number. Site is section four, so Total Site Size is 4.000. Not on Report means the answer lives in the data but never prints. Rows shaded green apply only to FHA, VA, or USDA appraisals. One gotcha: when a field is required isn't always when it displays.

Where we're headed

Here's the plan. Modules two through ten walk the property: assignment and subject, site, the structure, manufactured homes, units, outbuildings, projects, and the market. Eleven through fifteen cover the analysis: sales comparison, rental and income, cost, reconciliation, and the certifications. Sixteen covers the Update and Completion Reports, and seventeen wraps it all up.

Four things to remember

Quick recap. One. A single dynamic report replaces thirteen legacy forms. Two. The data, not a form number, decides what prints. Three. Twenty-nine sections. Some always print, some only when they apply, and four can repeat. Four. Comments and exhibits live in the section they support. Next up: Assignment Information.