What it produces
Your lender orders the appraisal, a VA-assigned appraiser inspects the property, and the output is a Notice of Value — the NOV. It does two jobs at once: it establishes the reasonable value of the property, and it confirms whether the home meets VA's minimum property requirements, the safety and habitability standards a VA-financed home has to satisfy.1
Nationally the appraisal has been averaging about seven business days.1
VA appraisals are widely believed to come in low and blow up contracts. In fiscal year 2023, 90% of initial VA purchase appraisals met or exceeded the contract sales price.1
That is not an argument that it never happens. It is an argument against letting a listing agent treat your financing as a reason to take a lower offer.
Tidewater: the warning before the number is final
If the appraiser forms the view that the property may not support the contract price, they do not simply file a low appraisal. The Tidewater initiative has them notify the point of contact first, so that additional sales data can be supplied before the appraisal is finalised.1
This is a real opportunity and it is easy to waste. Somebody has to actually respond — with comparable sales that support the price — inside the window. If you hear the word Tidewater, that is the moment, not later.
Reconsideration of value: the challenge after
If the Notice of Value has already been issued and the number is below the contract price, the route is a reconsideration of value, requested through your lender with additional market data supporting a higher figure.1
Both routes run on evidence, not on argument. Comparable sales that the appraiser did not use, and a reason they are better comparables.
When the property misses an MPR
A property that does not meet minimum property requirements is not automatically finished. Some issues are repaired and re-inspected; in some circumstances a waiver can be discussed with the lender.1 What matters is knowing which category the problem falls into early, rather than finding out at the point the clock has run out.
On timing and money. The appraisal is normally the first real money a borrower spends — and on a VA loan we cannot collect that fee from you up front at all. More on when anyone should be taking your money.
Sources
These references support the factual explanations above. Where this page states a preference rather than a fact, it says so — those are our editorial judgement, not a claim that any one channel always costs less.
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You should not be paying anyone yetThe law sets a floor. The standard worth holding is higher, and it costs you nothing.VA entitlement and loan limitsWith full entitlement there is no loan limit. Here's what that does and doesn't mean.Priced against your actual file
Entitlement, funding fee exemption and what you can actually borrow, worked out properly rather than estimated. We can pull your Certificate of Eligibility for you. Nothing here touches your credit.