Chief Appraiser

THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE
Before we begin —
which best describes you?
skip

Welcome to Chief Appraiser

A couple things worth knowing before you dive in.

Still Being Built — And That's Where You Come In

Chief Appraiser is in beta. That means the tool you're using today is real and already useful, but it's still growing — more guidelines, sharper search, more ways to ask a question the way you'd actually ask it. Every question you search, and everything you tell us through the Feedback button, is how we decide what gets built next.

Why not just use AI?

Because AI alone can sound confident and still be wrong. Chief Appraiser starts with the real guideline document — the actual page, the actual language — so you always know exactly where an answer came from. The plain-English summary underneath is AI, doing what it's actually good at: explaining a citation, not guessing at one.

Read our Terms of Use

Chief
Appraiser
The Body of Knowledge for Residential Real Estate Appraisal
Using Chief Appraiser means you accept our Terms of Use.  ·  In beta. Help us build it →
Chief Appraiser is independently operated and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any government agency, appraisal district, GSE, or standards organization.

What Chief Appraiser Does

Chief Appraiser indexes short, cited excerpts of publicly available appraisal guideline documents — agency handbooks, GSE guides, USPAP, state law, and similar sources — so a specific question can be matched to the specific passage that answers it. Every result names its source and links back to where the full, current, official document can be read or purchased. Chief Appraiser does not reproduce a source document in full, does not let a visitor download a complete copyrighted document through this site, and limits how much of any one document a single visitor can retrieve.

This is a fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107: the excerpts serve a research and reference purpose distinct from the source publications themselves, only as much text is used as that purpose requires, and Chief Appraiser routes users back to the rights holder rather than substituting for owning the real thing.

Independently Operated

Chief Appraiser is independently built and operated. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any government agency, appraisal district, GSE, or standards organization, including any organization whose publications it cites and links to on this site.

Source-Specific Notices

Several sources in the library carry their own copyright notice, shown wherever that source appears in search results and on the Document Library page — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, UAD 3.6/URAR reference materials, and USPAP among them. Each notice says where to obtain the full, current, official copy.

If You Are a Rights Holder

If you believe material on Chief Appraiser exceeds fair use, is attributed incorrectly, or should be removed, contact us at contribute@chiefappraiser.org with the specific passage or document and we will review it promptly. Chief Appraiser intends to register a formal DMCA designated agent under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)(2) and adopt a repeat-infringer policy under § 512(i); until that registration is complete, the contact above is the fastest way to reach us.

Mailing Address

[Mailing address to be added]

Chief Appraiser  ·  17096 passages indexed  ·  Library updated October 26, 2026  ·  chiefappraiser.org