Under federal law, the buyer gets the appraisal report either promptly after it’s completed or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first. Your lender has to provide it at no additional charge, and the rule applies to every mortgage secured by a first lien on a home.
The Delivery Deadline
The rule lives at 12 CFR 1002.14, which implements the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. It requires your lender to give you a copy of every appraisal and written valuation developed in connection with your loan. Delivery must happen by the earlier of two dates: promptly upon completion, or three business days before your loan closes.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations
You’ll also get a written notice about this right early in the process. The lender has to send it within three business days of receiving your loan application.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations If nothing shows up, ask your loan officer. That question puts you on record as expecting the copy and signals the lender that you know the rule.
You still pay for the appraisal itself as part of your closing costs. What the regulation prohibits is charging you extra to hand over the copy.
What “Three Business Days Before Closing” Really Means
The three-day window exists so you can actually read the report before you’re sitting at the closing table. Business days exclude Sundays and federal holidays. If closing is on a Friday, count backward: the appraisal has to be in your hands by Tuesday at the latest.
Miss that window and the lender is out of compliance, which typically means the closing has to be pushed. That’s a real risk when appraisers are backed up or the property is complicated to value. If your closing date is less than three weeks after the appraisal order, ask your loan officer for a status check.
Waiving the Three-Day Window
If your closing is tight, you can waive the three-day timing and agree to receive the report at or before closing instead. There’s a wrinkle: the waiver itself has to be signed at least three business days before closing, so it won’t rescue a last-minute crunch.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations
You’re waiving when you get the report, not whether you get it. The lender still owes you a copy.
How the Report Arrives
Most borrowers receive the appraisal electronically. The regulation allows electronic delivery as long as the lender follows electronic consent requirements.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations Expect a PDF by email or a document posted to your lender’s loan portal. If you’d prefer paper, ask early; some lenders default to electronic without confirming.
If the Loan Doesn’t Close
You still get the appraisal. The delivery requirement applies whether the loan is approved, denied, withdrawn, or left incomplete.1eCFR. 12 CFR 1002.14 – Rules on Providing Appraisals and Other Valuations
If you waived the three-day timing and the transaction falls apart, the lender has 30 days from the point it determines the deal won’t close to send you the report. That copy is worth keeping. Even if this house isn’t the one, the comps and neighborhood analysis can inform how you price your next offer nearby.
How Long Between Order and Delivery
Your lender orders the appraisal after you and the seller sign the purchase agreement. From that point, expect anywhere from a few days to about three weeks before the report reaches you. The on-site inspection is usually a couple of hours. The rest is the appraiser’s research: pulling comparable sales, adjusting for differences, writing the report, and routing it back through the appraisal management company to your lender.
Delays cluster around two things: appraisers with full schedules in a busy market, and properties unusual enough that finding good comps takes extra work. A delayed appraisal is one of the most common reasons closings slip.
Some loans qualify for a desktop appraisal or an appraisal waiver, where no one visits the property. Fannie Mae’s Value Acceptance program, for example, now covers purchase loans up to 90% loan-to-value on primary residences and second homes.2Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae Announces Changes to Appraisal Alternatives Requirements When the appraisal is waived, delivery is much faster because the valuation relies on automated models and existing data rather than a full report.
If You’re Paying Cash
No lender means the federal delivery rule doesn’t apply. You’re not entitled to an appraisal because there isn’t one unless you order it yourself. If you do commission one, the appraiser or appraisal company delivers the report to you directly, typically within a week or two of the inspection. There’s no lender in the middle and no three-day rule.
What to Do When You Get the Report
Read it the day it arrives. Most residential appraisals use the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report form. A few things are worth checking carefully:
- The property description. Square footage, room count, lot size, and condition should match what you saw during your walkthrough. Factual errors here can pull the value down for no good reason.
- The comparable sales. The appraiser picks recent nearby sales and adjusts their prices to account for differences from your property. Look at whether the comps are genuinely similar in size, age, and location.
- The adjustments. Large net adjustments suggest the comp wasn’t a strong match, which weakens the reliability of the final number.
- The final appraised value, found in the reconciliation section. This is the number your lender uses to size your loan.
If the value matches or beats the purchase price, the transaction moves ahead. If it doesn’t, or if you spot factual errors, you can ask your lender for a reconsideration of value. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau requires every lender to offer a reconsideration process that is nondiscriminatory and accessible to all borrowers.3Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mortgage Borrowers Can Challenge Inaccurate Appraisals Through the Reconsideration of Value Process You submit the request through your lender with specific evidence: wrong square footage, better comps the appraiser missed, or upgrades that weren’t accounted for. Saying you disagree isn’t enough; the strongest challenges point to concrete, documentable problems.
Receiving the report on time is only half the point. The other half is doing something with it while the three-day window still leaves room to act.