UAD 3.6 Is Coming. Most People Won’t Notice. That’s the Point.
Real estate doesn’t usually change with a bang.
It changes quietly—behind the scenes, in places most people never look—until a deal slows down, an appraisal comes in sideways, or someone starts asking questions no one’s ready to answer.
UAD 3.6 is one of those changes.
You won’t see it on a yard sign.
Your buyers won’t ask about it at showings.
But it will shape how value gets measured, justified, and defended in the years ahead.
And if you’re paying attention, none of this is surprising.
Why This Matters to Transactions—Not Just Appraisers
For years, appraisals lived inside rigid PDFs.
Boxes. Checkmarks. Limited space to explain nuance.
Everyone pretended the process was purely objective—even though we all knew interpretation played a role.
UAD 3.6 quietly pulls the curtain back.
It replaces the old form-based system with structured data: cleaner inputs, standardized fields, fewer places to hide behind vague language. The appraisal stops being just a “report” and starts functioning as a dataset.
Not flashier.
Not friendlier.
Just harder to argue with.
This Isn’t About Appraisers. It’s About Friction.
On paper, UAD 3.6 is an appraisal update.
In practice, it’s either a friction reducer—or a friction amplifier—depending on how prepared you are.
Cleaner data means fewer gray areas.
Fewer gray areas mean fewer last-minute scrambles.
Or fewer excuses.
Details matter more now:
- Listing data accuracy
- Documented renovations and improvements
- Thoughtful, defensible comparable selection
Not because anyone is suddenly policing agents—but because the system is.
And systems don’t negotiate.
The Timeline Is Slow on Purpose
This isn’t a flip-the-switch moment.
- Limited use: Late 2025
- Broad adoption: Early 2026
- Mandatory use: November 2026
That runway exists for a reason. The industry needs time to adjust. Software needs time. Lenders need time. Agents need time—whether they realize it or not.
The mistake is assuming that “later” means “not my problem.”
How LoKation Looks at Changes Like This
At LoKation, we’ve learned something the hard way: the things that actually impact transactions rarely announce themselves loudly.
They show up as:
- Cleaner processes
- Tighter expectations
- Fewer places for sloppiness to hide
So we watch these shifts early—not because they’re exciting, but because they’re inevitable.
We don’t train agents to fear change.
We train them to understand it before it becomes urgent.
That’s the difference between reacting and operating with intent.
What This Means for Agents Who Want Fewer Surprises
You don’t need to study appraisal standards.
You don’t need new scripts or jargon.
You need discipline:
- Accurate MLS data
- Documented improvements
- Real comps, not hopeful ones
- Honest conversations early, not explanations later
UAD 3.6 doesn’t change what good agents already do.
It just makes the consequences of not doing it show up faster.
The Quiet Advantage
Most brokerages won’t talk about UAD 3.6 until they’re forced to.
By then, it’ll be framed as another rule, another frustration, another thing slowing deals down.
That’s not how we see it.
We see it as a reminder that real estate rewards professionals who understand what’s happening beneath the surface—and move accordingly.
The rest will catch up.
They always do.
