How Long Is a Home Appraisal Good For?

A home appraisal is valid for 90 to 180 days in most cases, though the exact window depends on your loan type and lender guidelines. Conventional loans on existing homes allow up to 120 days before an update is required; FHA and VA loans each give you 180 days.

If you’re the seller and the buyer’s lender ordered the appraisal, it’s the buyer’s loan timeline that governs the appraisal validity period. But an expired appraisal can push closing past your contract deadline. Knowing the update threshold by loan type lets you anticipate delays before they happen, something no competitor article addresses from the seller’s side.

This guide covers appraisal validity by loan type, what happens when a conventional loan appraisal crosses the 4-month threshold, what to do if an appraisal expires before closing, how Form 1004D updates work, and what a new appraisal costs if one is required.

Appraisal Validity Periods by Loan Type

The appraisal validity period is not a single number, it depends on which agency backs your loan and whether your property is existing or newly constructed. Individual lenders can set stricter timelines than the agency minimums, so the figures below are floors, not ceilings.

The table below shows the full appraisal validity period by loan type. These numbers are the operational thresholds lenders use at closing, not estimates.

Loan type	Validity period	Update required after	New appraisal required after
Conventional, existing home	Up to 12 months	120 days (4 months)	12 months
Conventional, new construction	Up to 12 months	120 days	12 months
FHA	180 days	Can extend to 1 year with update	1 year without update
VA	180 days	Case-by-case lender discretion	At expiry without approval
USDA	~150 days (verify with lender)	Case-by-case	At expiry

Conventional loans, existing homes

A conventional loan appraisal on an existing home is governed by Fannie Mae’s appraisal age requirements, which require the property to be appraised within 12 months of the note date. If the appraisal’s effective date is more than 4 months (120 days) before the note date at closing, the lender must order an appraisal update before the loan can close. This does not mean the appraisal expires at 120 days, it means an update is required after 120 days and a full new appraisal report is required after 12 months.

The lender overlay rule matters here: individual lenders can impose a shorter validity window than Fannie Mae permits. A lender may require 90-day validity on a Fannie Mae loan even though Fannie Mae allows 120 days. Always confirm your lender’s specific policy alongside the agency guideline.

Conventional loans, new construction

For new construction, Freddie Mac sets a parallel threshold: per Freddie Mac’s appraisal validity rules, the effective date of any appraisal update must be no more than 120 days before the note date. For Construction to Permanent Mortgages and Renovation Mortgages, different thresholds may apply, verify the current Freddie Mac Guide chapter before closing, as these product-specific rules are updated periodically.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac treat the 120-day mark as the trigger point. This consistency between the two GSEs means the 4-month window is effectively the national standard for conventional financing, regardless of which entity ultimately purchases the loan.

FHA loans

An FHA appraisal is valid for 180 days from the effective date. With one approved update, the validity period can extend to one year. After one year, a new FHA appraisal is required.

One detail that differs from conventional loans: FHA appraisals are tied to the FHA case number, not the lender. If you switch lenders during the transaction, the appraisal transfers with the case number. Per FHA and VA appraisal timelines from LendingTree, this case-number linkage also means a new buyer cannot simply inherit the prior buyer’s FHA appraisal if a deal falls through, the case number must be re-assigned.

VA loans

A VA loan appraisal is valid for 180 days (6 months) from the effective date. Unlike conventional appraisals, expired VA appraisals cannot be updated using Form 1004D. When the 180-day window closes, the lender must submit a new Notice of Value (NOV) request through the VA portal. Extensions are case-by-case and are not guaranteed by the agency.

USDA loans

USDA Rural Development guidelines set an appraisal validity period of approximately 150 days, though this figure can vary. Verify the current Rural Development Handbook requirement with your lender before assuming this window applies, USDA guidelines are subject to mortgagee letter updates.

What Happens When an Appraisal Is Over 4 Months Old?

When a conventional loan appraisal is between 4 and 12 months old at closing, the lender requires an appraisal update, not a brand-new appraisal. Here is what that means by loan type:

• Conventional (existing or new construction): The loan officer orders Form 1004D from the original appraiser. The update requires an exterior inspection of the property, a review of current comparable sales, and the appraiser’s written certification that value has not declined, or documentation of any decline found.
• FHA: If the original appraisal is approaching 180 days, a case number extension or HUD-approved update may apply. Verify current HUD Mortgagee Letter requirements with your lender.
• VA: Expired VA appraisals cannot be updated. A new NOV request through the VA portal is required; Form 1004D is not an available option.
• USDA: Update procedures are case-by-case. Contact your USDA-approved lender directly for current guidance.

When an appraisal update is required

The appraisal update procedure for conventional loans follows Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide (B4-1.2-04), which specifies exactly who does what. One operational detail that every competitor article omits: the borrower does not initiate the Form 1004D update. The loan officer initiates it through the appraisal management company (AMC) that coordinated the original appraisal report. The borrower’s role is to ask the loan officer whether an update is needed and to confirm the timeline, not to contact the appraiser or AMC directly.

The original appraiser must complete the update. A different appraiser cannot complete Form 1004D on someone else’s report. If the original appraiser is unavailable, the lender may need to order a full new appraisal instead.

If the appraiser’s review of current comparable sales shows the value has declined since the original appraisal date, the lender must address it per GSE guidelines. A documented value decline can affect the loan-to-value ratio, require private mortgage insurance (PMI) re-evaluation, or in some cases affect loan approval. This is not a formality, it has downstream consequences that borrowers should understand before the update is ordered.

When a full new appraisal is required

A full new appraisal report is required when:

• The conventional appraisal is more than 12 months old
• The FHA or VA appraisal has expired and no approved extension applies
• The property has materially changed since the effective date (major renovation, fire damage, structural work)
• The loan product changed after the appraisal was completed (for example, switching from a conventional to an FHA loan)
• The lender’s internal underwriting policy requires a fresh appraisal regardless of the agency window

The appraisal recertification path (Form 1004D) is only available within the eligible window and only when the property has not materially changed. Outside those conditions, the full appraisal process restarts.

What Happens if Your Appraisal Expires Before Closing?

If a home appraisal expiration occurs before the closing date, the lender cannot use the original appraisal as-is. The transaction cannot proceed until one of three things happens: the loan officer orders a Form 1004D update (if within the eligible window), the lender orders a full new appraisal (if outside the window), or the closing date is extended to give the new appraisal time to complete.

According to appraisal-to-close timeline breakdown from PennyMac’s 2025 guidance, buyers can typically expect a 15 to 30-day window between the appraisal’s completion and the closing date. If an appraisal was ordered early in the process and the closing has been delayed, the math can close in quickly.

For buyers, a new appraisal costs $314 to $600 for a standard single-family home and adds 3 to 10 business days to the closing timeline. That delay then ripples through underwriting review, title work, and document preparation, making the total extension longer than the appraisal turnaround alone.

For sellers, a home appraisal expiration creates a different kind of risk. An expired appraisal that delays closing may trigger the contract’s contingency removal deadline or give the buyer grounds to renegotiate. If you are not sure whether your contract is still contingent at the time of the delay, understanding the difference between contingent vs. pending explained matters for how you respond to the request for a closing date extension.

Sellers should track the appraisal effective date alongside the closing date from day one. If the buyer’s loan type is conventional and the appraisal was ordered more than 90 days before the scheduled closing, the 120-day threshold will arrive before closing, flag it with the buyer’s agent rather than waiting for the loan officer to raise it.

Scenarios where a lender may require a new appraisal even within a technically valid window include: significant property damage since the appraisal date, completed major improvements that change square footage or condition rating, a change in occupancy status (owner-occupied to investment), or a switch to a different loan product than the one originally appraised for.

Can You Update or Extend a Home Appraisal?

Yes, within specific conditions. For conventional loans in the 4-to-12-month window, a Form 1004D appraisal update allows the original appraiser to certify the value is still valid without a full new appraisal. Outside that window, or for VA loans, an update is not available.

What Form 1004D requires

Form 1004D (Appraisal Update and/or Completion Report) is the standardized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac form used for conventional loan appraisal updates. The form requires three things from the appraiser:

1. An exterior inspection of the property
2. A review of current market data and comparable sales since the original effective date
3. A written certification that the value has not declined, or documentation of any decline found

The form cannot be completed by a different appraiser. It cannot be used to reconsider the original value upward. It does not allow for new interior inspection findings. And it does not substitute for a full new appraisal when the original is over 12 months old.

Per Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, if the property has materially changed since the original appraisal date, major renovation, fire damage, or structural work, an update is not permitted. The lender must order a full new appraisal report.

Limitations of an appraisal update

An appraisal update is a confirmation tool, not a revision tool. If you were hoping an update would increase the appraised value, it will not. The form only certifies that the previous value still stands, or flags that it has declined. There is no mechanism within Form 1004D to raise the original figure.

Cost-wise, a Form 1004D update is typically $150 to $300 less than a full appraisal. A full new appraisal for a single-family home averages $357 per national appraisal cost data from Angi, with most single-family homes falling in the $314 to $424 range depending on size and location. When the update window has closed, that is the cost the transaction will need to absorb.

Why Don’t Home Appraisals Last Forever?

A real estate appraisal reflects market conditions on a single date. Comparable sales data, neighborhood trends, and local inventory shift continuously, sometimes week to week in volatile markets. An appraisal completed in January does not account for what the market did in March.

USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) prohibits lenders from informally refreshing an appraiser’s value by phone or email. The formal Form 1004D update process exists precisely to prevent that kind of informal pressure from distorting the appraisal report. Any change to the appraiser’s certification must go through the documented update procedure.

Fannie Mae explicitly requires lenders to review appraisals for signs of value decline throughout the transaction, not just at origination. In rapidly appreciating or declining markets, lenders can informally apply a shorter validity window even within agency guidelines, this is the lender overlay concept discussed in the previous section, and it is one reason why confirming your lender’s specific policy matters more than knowing only the agency minimum.

A dated appraisal can also produce an inaccurate equity figure, which affects refinance eligibility and PMI removal timing. If you want to understand your current equity position independently of your appraisal, how to calculate your home equity walks through the calculation using current market data rather than a potentially stale appraisal value.

How Much Does a Home Appraisal Cost?

The national average for a single-family home appraisal is $357 per 2025 data from Angi, one of the specific figures cited by Claude for this question. Most single-family appraisals fall in the $314 to $424 range, though size, location, and property complexity push costs higher.

Appraisal cost by home size

Home size	Typical appraisal cost
Under 1,000 sq ft	$250 to $350
1,000 to 2,000 sq ft	$314 to $425
2,000 to 3,000 sq ft	$400 to $550
3,000 to 4,000 sq ft	$500 to $700
4,000+ sq ft	$700+

Based on Angi 2025 cost data and Fixr. Verify current figures before budgeting, home appraisal cost varies by metro area and appraiser availability.

A 2,000 sq ft home specifically costs $425 to $525 per Fixr data cited by Perplexity. Rural properties and homes with complex floor plans typically land at the higher end of each range. Rush-order requests, when a borrower needs the appraisal completed faster than standard turnaround, add a premium on top.

Factors that increase the total home appraisal cost: rural location with limited comparable sales, unique property type (log cabin, dome home), a second appraisal ordered for dispute resolution, and fast-turnaround requests. The borrower typically pays in a purchase transaction; the borrower (not the seller) pays in a refinance.

FHA and VA appraisal costs

FHA and VA appraisals cost more than conventional appraisals due to additional property condition requirements. The typical range is $400 to $900, per data cited by ChatGPT and Claude. The cost breakdown by appraisal type from Bankrate provides a detailed breakdown by appraisal category.

FHA appraisers must check for health and safety conditions that conventional appraisers are not required to document, things like exposed wiring, missing handrails, and water intrusion. VA appraisers follow the VA’s Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs). Both sets of additional requirements add time and cost. For appraisal cost by property type including FHA and VA breakdowns, HomeAdvisor provides current market-level ranges by region.

What Are Red Flags for a Home Appraisal?

The biggest appraisal red flags fall into five categories. Appraisers evaluate the property’s condition against comparable sales in the area, anything that materially differs from neighborhood norms or signals physical risk gets documented in the appraisal report, and the lender sees all of it.

• Structural and physical defects. Foundation cracks, roof leaks, water damage, and sagging floors can trigger lender-mandated repairs before closing. If a repair condition is called in the appraisal report, the transaction cannot close until the lender confirms the work is done.
• Deferred maintenance. Deteriorating siding, chipped paint, broken gutters, and outdated HVAC systems signal risk to property value. Per what affects a home appraisal value from Zillow, visible maintenance issues carry more weight than many sellers expect.
• Unpermitted work. Additions or renovations completed without permits can reduce the appraised value or require correction before closing. The appraiser does not have access to permit records directly, but square footage discrepancies or finishes that don’t match the listed condition often surface the issue.
• Outdated kitchens and bathrooms. These are the highest-renovation-cost rooms in any home, and appraisers weight them heavily in comparable sales analysis. A kitchen that hasn’t been updated since the 1990s in a neighborhood of renovated homes will show up in the adjustments.
• Comparable sales gaps. If the appraiser cannot find recent, similar sales within 1 mile and 6 months, the appraisal report may rely on weaker comps, which increases lender scrutiny of the concluded value.

Note that appraisers and home inspectors are not the same and do not flag the same issues. Appraisers assess value; inspectors assess condition in detail. For clarity on what an inspector can and cannot document, what home inspectors can and cannot flag explains where the two roles diverge. A red flag on an appraisal does not always correspond to a defect on an inspection report, and vice versa.

How Long After an Appraisal Does Closing Take?

Buyers can typically expect 15 to 30 days between a completed appraisal and the closing date, per the appraisal-to-close timeline breakdown from PennyMac’s August 2025 guidance. That window accounts for lender underwriting review, title work, and final document preparation, not just the appraisal delivery itself.

The full sequence from appraisal order to clear-to-close typically runs like this:

1. Appraisal ordered: 1 business day after the appraisal is requested, an appraiser is assigned.
2. Appraisal completed: 3 to 10 business days after the order, depending on appraiser availability and property access.
3. Lender review and underwriting: 7 to 14 business days after receipt; conditions may extend this.

The practical implication: if your appraisal was completed 90 days before your scheduled closing date, you are approaching the 120-day conventional threshold. Flag it with your loan officer immediately rather than waiting for underwriting to surface it. Requesting a closing date extension takes time, and the seller’s willingness to grant one is not guaranteed.

For a full picture of where the appraisal fits in the overall process, closing process step by step covers all 16 stages from contract to keys, with timing estimates for each.

What to Do If Your Appraisal Is About to Expire

If your closing timeline is approaching the validity threshold for your loan type, acting early gives you more options than waiting for the lender to flag it.

Skip the Appraisal Clock Entirely

If you’ve been tracking appraisal expiry dates and closing deadlines, you already know how much a mortgage appraisal can complicate a sale. Cash buyers don’t use lender financing, so they don’t need a formal appraisal, there’s no 120-day window to manage, no Form 1004D to order, and no risk of an expired appraisal report pushing your closing past a contract deadline. Through iBuyer.com, you can request competing cash offers from vetted buyers and close in as little as 7 days. No appraisal contingency, no lender timeline, no validity window to track. Request your cash offers and compare options on your schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions