MarketSource: HousingWire
Appraisals turn into structured data on Nov. 2 while your CMA stays a PDF, columnist warns
Original headline: “In November, the appraisal becomes data. The CMA stays a document.” — HousingWire, Oct 21, 2026
In a HousingWire contributor column, Nikola Gojkovic, founder of CMAflow, notes that starting November 2 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move the residential appraisal from forms to a data-driven report aligned with the MISMO reference model, so each element of comparison becomes a discrete, inspectable field. He argues the listing agent's CMA, which sets the asking price weeks earlier, still arrives as a document whose adjustment grid doesn't say whether figures came from local paired sales or a rate applied uniformly across comps. Gojkovic stresses that a consistent rate can be defensible and that neither Fannie Mae's Selling Guide nor USPAP mandates one method, but says that when an appraisal comes in under contract price, agents will have to explain the gap between two documents that are no longer comparable in kind.
Our take (opinion & analysis, not reporting)
For listing agents: note on every CMA how each adjustment was set (paired sales, a market-wide rate, or your own read of recent buyer behavior) so you can explain it if an appraisal comes in low. Keep the comps and notes behind your pricing in your CRM or transaction file, not just the PDF you hand the seller. This is an opinion column from a founder who sells CMA software, so treat it as a useful prompt rather than a rule change for agents; the Nov. 2 shift itself applies to appraisals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.
Online discussion: no notable public discussion found yet (checked Oct 21, 2026).