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The Appraisal Foundation - Uniform Standards for Home Appraisal

The United States Appraisal Foundation is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to the advancement of uniform real estate appraisal practices including those that may impact your home appraisal. This organization was establish in 1987 and is located in Washington DC.

The organization was integral in the creation and promotion of Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) which most state real estate appraisers much study as part of their educational and experience qualification criteria for the licensing, certification and recertification.  TAF is central in delivering information on USPAP and the Appraiser Qualification Criteria to all appraisal professionals, state and federal government agencies, end users of appraisal services.

USPAP

The Appraisal Foundation created a separate board for write, amend and interpret the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal guidelines. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) are generally accepted standards for professional real estate appraisers and state real estate appraisal regulatory boards across the United States. USPAP includes standards for all types of real estate appraisal services including real property, personal property, business and mass appraisal. This includes home appraisal. The purpose of USPAP is to generate a consistency in real estate and home appraisal, therefore to build trust in the public domain. USPAP is gaining increasing acceptance around the world as the best set of uniform standards for home appraisal and commercial real estate appraisal.

USPAP Enforcement

Although the ASB writes, amends and interprets USPAP, enforcement is carried out by State Appraisal boards as per the dictates of FIRREA, the Federal Institutions Reform, Recovery
and Enforcement Act of 1989. It is the US Federal government which has given the mandate that individual states shall enforce real property appraiser’s compliance to USPAP.

If you're unsure whether your home appraisal was conducted according the USPAP standards, you are advised to contact your state real estate appraisal board.