Home/Insights/Preparing for a VA appraisal
“VA and FHA are the same” is close enough to true that it survives, and wrong often enough to cost you a closing. A line-by-line comparison, and the VA-only requirements nothing in the FHA world prepares you for.
Published October 2026
“The VA and FHA requirements are the same” is the single most common thing said about VA appraisals, and it is close enough to true that it survives. The two programmes are built on the same idea, they flag most of the same conditions, and they are converging — VA removed three requirements this year that FHA is now proposing to remove.
Close enough is not the same. Below is what VA actually requires, and a line-by-line comparison with FHA for the places where the two genuinely part company.
On a conventional or FHA loan the lender orders the appraisal, usually through an appraisal management company, from a panel the lender has access to. On a VA purchase, VA assigns the appraisal to a fee appraiser on VA’s own roster through its portal. The lender requests it. VA allocates it.
This has a practical consequence worth knowing before you start arguing with anybody: the appraiser on a VA file was not hired by your lender, cannot be replaced by your lender, and has no relationship with either side of the transaction. The result is issued as a Notice of Value, and the conditions on that notice are what the file has to satisfy.
It also means an appraiser who is not on VA’s panel — most appraisers are not — cannot take VA work however qualified they are. If you are reading this because you want to hire someone to look at a house before the VA appraiser does, that is a pre-listing appraisal, and it is a different assignment with a different purpose.
VA’s Minimum Property Requirements exist, in VA’s own framing, to confirm the property is safe, structurally sound and sanitary, and that it meets local standards for a permanent home. Hold a defect up against those three and you can predict most outcomes yourself.
Two things the appraiser is explicitly not doing. First, this is not an inspection — the appraiser notes readily apparent repairs and does not test mechanical systems, climb onto the roof, enter the attic or enter the crawl space. Second, cosmetic items are not recommended for repair. Both of those are stated in the handbook rather than being appraiser discretion.
Hire an inspector. The VA appraisal is an opinion of value with a limited observation attached, and a buyer who skips the inspection because “the VA appraiser looked at it” has misunderstood what they got. VA itself encourages an independent inspection.
The left column is FHA as the handbook stands at the date of publication, with HUD’s proposed changes noted. The right column is VA after Change 46.
| Requirement | FHA | VA |
|---|---|---|
| Who assigns the appraiser | The lender, from appraisers on the FHA Appraiser Roster | VA, from its own fee panel. Neither party chooses |
| The governing test | Safety, security, soundness | Safe, structurally sound, sanitary |
| Wood-destroying insect inspection | When the appraiser observes evidence, or the lender requires one | Required on a Texas purchase regardless of what is visible, conditioned on the Notice of Value |
| Utilities on for the visit | Required (HUD has proposed removing this) | Explicitly not required |
| Attic and crawl space | Observation required (HUD has proposed removing the standalone attic section) | Viewed, not entered. Deficiencies still make the appraisal subject to repair |
| Operating appliances | Required (HUD has proposed removing this) | The appraiser does not test systems; readily apparent defects are reported |
| Heating | Adequate for healthful and comfortable living | Permanently installed and able to hold plumbed areas at 50°F or above |
| Air conditioning | Not required; a dead unit is not a repair condition | Not required — but if it is installed and does not work, the appraisal is subject to repair |
| Roof | Must keep moisture out; remaining physical life under two years is a condition (HUD has proposed removing the remaining-life test) | Must keep moisture out. Three or more shingle layers must be stripped entirely before replacement |
| Bedroom egress and burglar bars | No separately named requirement | Each bedroom needs one quick-release window unless an exterior door gives rapid egress |
| Swimming pools | Condition reported and rated | Reported; may be made subject to filling the pool and regrading. An unsecured pool is a hazard |
| Large fuel tanks nearby | Handled through general site hazard analysis | Flammable or explosive tanks of 1,000 gallons or more within 300 feet reported, with a signed veteran acknowledgment |
| Post-1978 defective exterior paint | Repair where the substrate is exposed (HUD has proposed removing this) | Removed 1 May 2026. Treated as cosmetic |
| Pre-1978 lead-based paint | Dwelling plus related improvements (HUD has proposed narrowing to the dwelling) | Narrowed to the dwelling 1 May 2026. Presumption and remediation otherwise unchanged |
| Detached sheds and outbuildings | Assessed as part of the improvements | Removed from MPR review 1 May 2026, unless one is a direct safety hazard |
| Radon | No handbook requirement | Certification requirement removed 1 May 2026 |
| Who determines the repairs | The mortgagee | Conditioned on the Notice of Value, through VA’s review |
| Waiving a repair | No borrower waiver route | The veteran may request a waiver of a non-safety repair after the Notice of Value, with lender concurrence |
Read down the table and the pattern is clear enough. The philosophy is identical. The checklists are not, and VA’s is longer and more specific. Anyone telling you the two are interchangeable is describing the first fact and skipping the second.
VA designates areas by termite infestation probability, and on an origination appraisal in a designated area the Notice of Value carries a required wood-destroying insect inspection. Texas is a designated state in its entirety.
Which means: on a VA purchase in Tarrant, Parker, Johnson or anywhere else in Texas, a termite inspection is coming whether or not the appraiser sees a single mud tube. It is not a judgment call and it is not something the appraiser decided about your house. Treat it as part of the cost and timeline of the transaction from day one, and get it ordered early rather than discovering it as a condition after the Notice of Value lands.
Separately, and regardless of the inspection, the appraiser reports apparent infestation, fungus or dry rot, and the appraisal is made subject to repair of the damage — not just treatment of the insects. Damage and infestation are two findings.
These are the ones that surprise sellers, because nothing in the FHA world prepares you for them.
Quick-release burglar bars. Every bedroom needs at least one window that opens from the inside without a key or tool, unless that bedroom has an exterior door giving rapid egress. If the quick-release function cannot be confirmed, the appraisal goes subject to removal of the bars. Security bars are common on certain Fort Worth streets and this is a genuine, regular finding.
The 50-degree rule. Heating has to be permanently installed and capable of holding areas with plumbing at 50°F or above. A space heater, a wood stove on its own, or a system that has been disconnected does not satisfy it.
Air conditioning you were not required to have. VA does not require air conditioning. But if the house has it and it does not work, that becomes a repair condition. A dead compressor on a house that could legally have had no air conditioning at all is a repair; this is the most counter-intuitive rule in the chapter.
Three layers of shingles. If the roof is defective and carries three or more layers, every old layer comes off before the new roof goes on. A fourth layer over three is not an acceptable repair.
Standing water and grading. Grading has to move water away from the dwelling and prevent ponding. Crawl spaces have to be accessible, free of debris, properly vented and dry, with joists high enough to service ductwork and plumbing underneath.
Sump pumps. If there is one, it has to be hard-wired properly or on a factory cord in a suitable receptacle. An extension cord running to a sump pump is a finding.
Private road access. Access from a private street needs a permanent recorded easement and a maintenance arrangement. Rural Parker and Hood County files run into this far more often than Fort Worth files do.
VA issued Change 46 to the Lender’s Handbook on 27 February 2026, effective for appraisals ordered on or after 1 May 2026. Note the trigger: the order date, not the inspection date and not the closing date. Five requirements came out.
Everything else stayed: roof, foundation and structure, mechanical systems, safe potable water, safe sewage disposal, the termite inspection in designated zones, pre-1978 lead paint on the dwelling, and the general hazard provision that catches whatever the named topics miss.
Three of those five changes — post-1978 exterior paint, narrowing lead paint to the dwelling, and dropping outbuildings from review — are things HUD proposed for FHA five months later, on 22 September 2026, with comments closing 6 November. The two programmes are converging, and at the moment VA is the one that already moved. If you are comparing the two rulebooks today, you are comparing one that has been revised to one that is mid-revision.
Conditions do not arrive as an appraiser’s opinion you can negotiate with. They arrive as conditions on the Notice of Value, and the file has to satisfy them.
Repairs have to be completed before VA guaranty, though escrowed repair funds are permitted. Where the condition was defective lead-based paint on a pre-1978 dwelling, the handbook puts the certification of the completed repair on the VA-assigned appraiser specifically — not a contractor’s letter and not a different appraiser.
And then the route almost nobody uses. After the Notice of Value is issued, a veteran may request that a repair be waived, provided the request is signed, the lender concurs and the property is habitable. Safety-related repairs cannot be waived, an approved waiver may reduce the value conclusion, and an inspection report helps the request without being required. Regional loan centres may also consider waivers case by case after a natural disaster.
If a condition has been reported inaccurately — something described that is not there, or missed that is — that is a factual matter and it goes back through the lender. Whether a correctly described condition has to be fixed is a different question with a different answer, and arguing the first as though it were the second is how a week disappears.
In rough order of how much it matters.
Order the termite inspection now. In Texas it is coming. Doing it early turns a closing delay into a scheduling detail.
Check every bedroom window for quick release. If there are security bars, confirm the mechanism works from inside without a key, and demonstrate it. This is the cheapest finding on the list to avoid and one of the most common.
Confirm the heat and the air conditioning both run. Heat is required. Air conditioning is not — but a broken unit that exists is a repair, so a dead system you were planning to leave for the buyer to deal with is a problem.
Make everything accessible. Crawl space access, attic hatch, electrical panel, water heater, furnace. The appraiser will not enter the attic or crawl space, but has to be able to see into them, and a space that cannot be viewed gets explained in the report rather than cleared.
Walk the exterior looking for water. Ponding against the foundation, a downspout dumping at the wall, a damp crawl space. Grading is a named requirement, not a judgment.
Deal with deteriorated paint if the house predates 1978. On the dwelling. Not, since May, on the fence and the shed.
Fix what would hurt someone. Loose handrail, a step that moves, a broken window, an exposed wire, a sump pump on an extension cord. The general hazard provision exists precisely to catch the thing no topic names.
Leave the cosmetics alone. The handbook says cosmetic items are not recommended for repair. Repainting a post-1978 interior the week before does nothing for the appraisal.
Write down what you know. Roof age and layer count, when the HVAC was replaced, any structural work and who did it, the septic and well records if there are any. Documentation is what stops a repaired condition being flagged a second time.
They rest on the same idea and they flag most of the same conditions, but they are not the same document. FHA applies safety, security and soundness; VA requires that the property be safe, structurally sound and sanitary. VA's Chapter 12 names 44 topics and several have no FHA equivalent, including a quick-release window in every bedroom, a requirement that heating hold plumbed areas at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or above, full removal of three or more shingle layers before a roof is replaced, and reporting of flammable or explosive storage tanks of 1,000 gallons or more within 300 feet. The two programmes are converging: VA removed three requirements on 1 May 2026 that HUD proposed removing for FHA on 22 September 2026.
VA does. VA assigns the appraisal to a fee appraiser on its own roster through its portal. Neither the buyer, the seller nor the lender selects or replaces the appraiser, and an appraiser who is not on VA's panel cannot take VA assignments however qualified they are. The result is issued as a Notice of Value, and the conditions on that notice are what the loan file must satisfy.
Yes. VA designates areas by termite infestation probability and requires a wood-destroying insect inspection on an origination appraisal in a designated area. Texas is designated in its entirety, so the inspection is required on a VA purchase anywhere in the state regardless of whether the appraiser observes any evidence of infestation. Separately, where infestation, fungus or dry rot is apparent, the appraisal is made subject to repair of the damage, not only treatment.
Not automatically. Each bedroom needs at least one window that releases quickly from the inside without a key or tool, unless that bedroom has an exterior door providing rapid egress. If the quick-release function cannot be confirmed, the appraisal is made subject to removal of the bars. Confirming and demonstrating that the mechanism works is usually all that is needed.
VA does not require a property to have air conditioning. But if a system is installed and does not work, the appraisal is made subject to repair. A house that could lawfully have had no air conditioning at all can therefore be conditioned because the system it does have has failed.
VA issued Change 46 to the Lender's Handbook on 27 February 2026, effective for appraisals ordered on or after 1 May 2026. Five requirements were removed: radon gas certification; the repair requirement for defective exterior paint on homes built in 1978 or later, now treated as cosmetic; the extension of the pre-1978 lead-based paint requirement to related improvements, now limited to the dwelling; minimum property requirement review of detached sheds and outbuildings; and the oxygen depletion sensor certification for non-vented heaters. The trigger is the date the appraisal was ordered, not the inspection or closing date.
Yes, in limited circumstances. After the Notice of Value is issued a veteran may request a waiver of a repair, provided the request is signed, the lender concurs and the property is habitable. Repairs related to safety cannot be waived. An approved waiver may reduce the value conclusion, and regional loan centres may consider waivers case by case after natural disasters.
Order the termite inspection early, since in Texas it is required. Confirm every bedroom window releases quickly from the inside. Confirm the heating runs and that any installed air conditioning works, because a broken system that exists is a repair condition. Make the crawl space, attic hatch, electrical panel, water heater and furnace viewable. Walk the exterior for water ponding against the foundation. Address deteriorated paint on the dwelling if the house predates 1978. Leave cosmetic work alone, because the handbook states cosmetic items are not recommended for repair.
Handbook requirements change, and the FHA appraisal and property sections are under active revision at the date of publication. The FHA column of the comparison reflects the handbook as in force at publication, with HUD’s proposals marked as proposals; proposals are not final and may change. Confirm current requirements against the handbooks themselves or with your lender before relying on anything here. VA assigns its own appraisers; Clearfork Appraisals is not representing that it performs VA fee panel assignments, and nothing here is an offer to do so. This article is general information about the VA appraisal process. It is not an appraisal, not a home inspection, and not advice about any particular property or loan.
VA assigns its own appraiser and you will not choose who it is. What you can do is find out beforehand what the house looks like to an appraiser, and what the market actually supports. Written fee quote, typically within one business hour.
Would you rather not type it out? Call or text (817) 903-4509.