Insights · UAD 3.6
Is Your AMC Really Ready for UAD 3.6? Seven Questions to Ask
Readiness means very different things depending on who you ask. These seven questions separate an AMC that has reviewed the specification from one that has carried a live assignment through quality control, ZIP generation and lender delivery.
Every appraisal management company is about to tell you it is ready for UAD 3.6. But “ready” can mean very different things.
For some AMCs, it means their software provider has released an update. For others, it means they have reviewed the specifications and started preparing their appraiser panel. A much smaller group can say they have actually taken a UAD 3.6 assignment from order placement through appraiser completion, quality control, ZIP-file generation and delivery.
Those are very different levels of readiness. The difference may not become visible until a live appraisal fails somewhere between the appraiser, AMC, appraisal platform, LOS and lender.
Here are seven questions every lender should ask its AMC about UAD 3.6 readiness — including Lenders Allies.
The seven questions
- Have you actually completed UAD 3.6 assignments, or are you still preparing?
- Can you generate and deliver the complete UAD 3.6 package — not just the appraisal report?
- Do you have UAD 3.6-ready appraisers where we actually lend?
- What happens if our LOS integration is not finished?
- What has actually changed in your quality control process for UAD 3.6?
- Who do we call when a UAD 3.6 file or delivery fails?
- Can we run a UAD 3.6 test order before committing significant volume?
Have you actually completed UAD 3.6 assignments, or are you still preparing?
This may be the most important question. Preparation and actual production experience are not the same thing.
Ask whether your AMC has received a live UAD 3.6 assignment, had an appraiser complete the new report, reviewed it, generated the required delivery package and delivered it through the lender's workflow. Then ask when.
Where Lenders Allies stands
Lenders Allies completed its first UAD 3.6 appraisal workflow in Indiana in October 2026, and is actively supporting additional UAD 3.6 assignments and lender testing. That first completed assignment was reviewed by our Operations, Quality Control and Chief Appraiser teams as part of our continuing readiness process.
We are using each assignment to strengthen our QC procedures, appraiser coordination and delivery workflow before UAD 3.6 volume increases across our client base.
Can you generate and deliver the complete UAD 3.6 package — not just the appraisal report?
UAD 3.6 is more than a different-looking appraisal report. The delivery package includes the required UAD 3.6 data and supporting files that must move through the lender's technology environment correctly.
For UCDP delivery, the UAD 3.6 ZIP package includes
- UAD 3.6 XML data
- A PDF version of the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report
- Associated appraisal images
An AMC that can complete the appraisal but cannot successfully generate and deliver the required package has solved only part of the problem.
Lenders Allies supports UAD 3.6 ZIP-file generation and delivery as part of the appraisal workflow. Our team works with lenders, LOS providers and appraisal technology platforms to help make sure the appraisal does not simply get completed — it gets delivered in the format the lender needs.
Do you have UAD 3.6-ready appraisers where we actually lend?
Technology readiness and appraiser readiness are separate challenges. The appraiser accepting the assignment must understand the UAD 3.6 reporting environment, the new data requirements and the expectations associated with the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report.
A national appraiser count does not tell a lender whether an AMC can cover a specific property in a specific county next week.
Lenders Allies currently provides appraisal management coverage across 20 active states: Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington. We are also actively building coverage in Ohio, Michigan, Colorado and Arizona.
How our Vendor Management team selects appraisers
- UAD 3.6 readiness
- Geographic competency
- Assignment acceptance
- Current capacity
- Turnaround performance
- Report quality
- Revision history
- Client-specific requirements
We do not believe a national percentage tells the full story. When a lender discusses UAD 3.6 testing with us, we review the actual states and counties where that lender originates loans, and verify appraiser depth for those markets.
What happens if our LOS integration is not finished?
This is where many UAD 3.6 testing programmes stall. The lender may be ready. The AMC may be ready. The appraiser may be ready. But the connection between the lender's LOS, appraisal management platform and delivery environment may still be under development.
Waiting for every integration component to be finished is not always necessary.
Our approach
Where a lender's full LOS integration is still being completed, Lenders Allies works with the lender and its technology provider to determine an appropriate interim ordering and delivery workflow. Depending on the environment, this may include placing and managing UAD 3.6 assignments directly through the appraisal management platform while integration testing continues.
Lenders Allies works across appraisal and lending technology environments including platforms such as Appraisal Scope and ValueLink, alongside other lender LOS and appraisal-platform integrations.
The objective is simple: do not let an unfinished integration prevent meaningful UAD 3.6 testing from beginning.
What has actually changed in your quality control process for UAD 3.6?
A QC checklist designed entirely around the previous appraisal format should not simply be reused without modification. UAD 3.6 introduces a more data-driven and dynamic appraisal report structure.
Lenders Allies already performs a human, USPAP-focused review of appraisal reports using a process containing approximately 800 to 1,000+ checkpoints, depending on the assignment and client requirements. For UAD 3.6 assignments, additional attention is placed on:
- Completeness of required UAD 3.6 data
- Dynamic report structure and applicable sections
- Property data completeness
- Comparable-property data
- Consistency of information throughout the report
- Photos and supporting documentation
- Client-specific appraisal requirements
- Potential revision issues
- UAD 3.6 delivery-file readiness
- ZIP-package readiness prior to delivery
Some of these items have always formed part of good appraisal QC. What changes with UAD 3.6 is the increased emphasis on structured appraisal data, the redesigned report environment and the integrity of the final delivery package.
Our QC process is not static. Operations, Quality Control and our Chief Appraiser continue to review UAD 3.6 assignments and incorporate what we learn into the review process.
Who do we call when a UAD 3.6 file or delivery fails?
During a major industry transition, problems will occur. The question is whether your team knows exactly who owns the issue.
We do not believe lenders should have to submit a generic support ticket and hope the right person eventually receives it. For UAD 3.6 implementation and lender testing, the relationship is coordinated directly through Eric Ross, Vice President – Business Relationships.
Eric works directly with the lender and coordinates internally with Operations, Quality Control, Vendor Management, technology partners and our Chief Appraiser as required. For appraisal-quality and QC matters, the process can be escalated to Jim Contino, SVP Operations & Chief Appraiser.
Direct line
The objective is direct ownership from the moment an issue is identified through to resolution — whether the problem involves the appraisal, the appraiser, the QC process, the ZIP package, the platform or the lender delivery workflow. Main line: 888-233-8565.
Can we run a UAD 3.6 test order before committing significant volume?
Yes. A lender should not have to move its entire appraisal volume to determine whether an AMC is genuinely ready for UAD 3.6.
Start with one order. But make it representative of the type of appraisal your team normally manages.
A meaningful test should validate the complete process: order, assignment, inspection, UAD 3.6 completion, quality control, ZIP generation and delivery.
Lenders Allies has no minimum order requirement, no monthly fee and no sign-up fee, which makes it possible to begin with controlled test assignments before deciding how much volume to allocate.
What it looks like in practice
A UAD 3.6 readiness test with Lenders Allies
A useful readiness conversation normally covers six areas.
01Your LOS and appraisal platform
How are appraisal assignments currently placed and received? We review your existing workflow before recommending any changes.
02Your current UAD 3.6 status
Are you already testing, preparing for production, working through an integration, or still evaluating what needs to change?
03Integration and delivery
We review how the appraisal report and UAD 3.6 ZIP package need to move between your LOS, appraisal platform, AMC and delivery environment.
04Appraiser coverage
Tell us where you lend. We operate across 20 active states and evaluate UAD 3.6 appraiser readiness at the state and county level.
05QC and underwriting requirements
Every lender has different overlays. Our review process can incorporate lender-specific QC and underwriting requirements, so issues your team would normally identify are addressed earlier.
06One real test assignment
Select an appropriate appraisal and test the workflow from initial placement through final delivery. The goal is not to demonstrate that one easy appraisal can be completed. It is to confirm that your appraiser, AMC, QC team, technology platforms and lender workflow operate together successfully.
In summary
The honest version of UAD 3.6 readiness
UAD 3.6 readiness is not one checkbox. Your appraiser, your AMC, your quality-control process, your LOS, your appraisal management platform, your integration, your ZIP-file delivery process and your underwriting workflow all have to work together. A weakness in any one of them can create delays or failed files at exactly the wrong point in the mortgage process.
That is why we have focused on more than simply saying we are “UAD 3.6 ready”:
- We have begun completing UAD 3.6 appraisal workflows
- We support UAD 3.6 ZIP-file generation and delivery
- We are working with lenders on LOS and appraisal-platform workflows
- We are coordinating UAD 3.6 readiness across our appraiser network
- Every appraisal receives a human QC review
- We provide coverage across 20 active states, with four more being built
- Lenders can test the process before committing significant volume
Ready to test UAD 3.6?
Put these seven questions to us. Tell us where you lend, which LOS and appraisal platform you use, and where you currently stand with UAD 3.6. We will walk through your workflow with your appraisal, operations, underwriting and technology teams and identify the most practical way to begin testing.
Request a UAD 3.6 test order Call 888-233-8565