The Department of Veterans Affairs regularly helps veterans become homeowners through its home loans, and as part of the process, an appraiser hired by the VA must inspect each property. However, due to limited availability and high demand, it can take several days for appraisers to be assigned to those jobs, leaving veterans competing with other buyers and potentially losing out due to those delays. That is according to a bipartisan group of senators, who introduced a bill on Thursday evening to help incentivize more appraisers to take jobs with the VA and meet the demand.
The “VA Appraisal Modernization Act,” introduced by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), would adjust the fees paid to VA appraisers to help bring in more people and speed up the home loan approval process for veterans.
“The VA home loan appraisal process ensures our heroes don’t get stuck with a flawed home or an overpriced sale — but too often, that process can be slow and undermines their ability to compete in the housing market, particularly in rural counties,” Duckworth said in a statement to Task & Purpose. “By increasing the number of VA appraisers, we can ensure this system continues to protect our heroes from bad deals while also expediting their ability to compete for the homes they want. I’m proud to introduce our commonsense, bipartisan legislation that would help us do just that.”
According to the bill’s text, if passed, the new rules would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Fees for appraisals in high-demand counties will be raised to no less than 125% of the newly established appraisal fees that the VA would publish and update regularly.
As with appraisers in general, the VA’s appraisers inspect a home’s condition, determining the fair market value for a home and ensuring it doesn’t have any health or safety issues. They can sign off on it, helping veterans get their loan approved, request that the seller make any repairs needed to meet standards, or help the potential buyer find another house.
In testimony to the House Veterans Affairs Committee in 2017, officials said they had roughly 5,700 licensed appraisers across the nation. In 2024, the Veterans Benefits Administration guaranteed 416,376 loans, down from 1,441,745 in 2021. According to the VA’s website, there are some parts of the country with high demand from veterans seeking VA loans, but not enough appraisers. The majority of those high-demand counties, more than 300 of them, meet the Census Bureau’s definition of rural counties.
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The senators’ new bill would have a county designated as high demand if, for 90 days, the average time to complete an appraisal exceeds posted standards by more than three business days or if more than 15% of assignments go unassigned for at least five days due to lack of staffing shortages. Remote counties, meanwhile, would get that designation if there are fewer than five appraisers on staff within 30 miles of the county’s geographic center, or if it has a low ratio of appraiser density to loan volume. Sheehy and Banks both noted it would cut delays and make it easier for veterans to own homes, with Sheehy noting the impact it could have in rural parts of the country.
Per the bill, if passed, the VA has 180 days to conduct a study on getting contracts for appraisers in areas with high demand and on restructuring the appraisal process to resemble the one used by the Federal Housing Administration for its loans.
