Understanding refinance appraisal requirements

Written by Samantha SheltonNMLS 1647301Updated October 2026

Most refinances still require a full appraisal, and lenders in Align’s network typically quote $300 to $1,000 for a single-family refinance appraisal with the report landing one to two weeks after the order. The headline that appraisal waivers got easier is real but narrower than it sounds: when the Federal Housing Finance Agency raised appraisal-waiver eligibility from 80% to 90% loan-to-value on October 28, 2024, that increase applied to purchase loans, not to refinances.

Appraiser measuring the exterior of a brick ranch while the owner watches during a refinance appraisal

That single opinion of value sets your loan-to-value ratio, and your LTV drives your pricing, whether mortgage insurance stays or goes, and how much cash you can pull out.

Learn what refinance appraisal requirements involve, which programs skip the appraisal entirely, what the report costs and how long it takes, and what to do when the value comes in low. If you’re still deciding whether to refinance at all, start with our Refinancing & Home Equity guide.

Key takeaways:

Budget $300 to $1,000 and one to two weeks: The fee is usually collected when the appraisal is ordered and is generally non-refundable, even if the value kills the deal.
Refinance waivers are narrower than the headlines: The jump from 80% to 90% LTV covered purchase loans; on refinances a waiver is still issued case by case by the automated underwriting system, and Fannie Mae won’t consider one at all once the value submitted to Desktop Underwriter is $1,000,000 or more.
Three streamline programs skip the appraisal by design: FHA Streamline, VA IRRRL, and USDA streamlined-assist refinances require no new appraisal, which is why they close faster than a standard refinance.

What is a refinance appraisal?

A refinance appraisal is an independent opinion of your home’s current market value, prepared by a state-licensed or certified appraiser, that your lender uses to confirm the property supports the new loan amount. It is not an inspection and it is not a tax assessment. It is one credentialed professional’s supported conclusion about what your house would sell for today.

The difference from a purchase appraisal matters. In a purchase, the appraiser has a signed contract price to test against. In a refinance there isn’t one, so recent comparable sales carry the entire weight of the conclusion.

The result becomes your loan-to-value ratio. To find your LTV, divide the new loan amount by the appraised value. A $210,000 loan against a $300,000 appraisal is 70% LTV; the same loan against a $255,000 appraisal is 82%, and that gap alone can change your pricing and put mortgage insurance back on the table.¹

You are entitled to see the report. Federal rules require your lender to give you a free copy of every appraisal and written valuation on a first-lien home loan promptly upon completion, or at least three business days before closing, whichever comes first. You can be charged for the appraisal, never for the copy. For the step-by-step version, see our walkthrough of the home appraisal process; to check credentials, the Appraisal Institute’s professional designations and appraiser directory explains what MAI, SRA, and the AI designations certify.

Can you refinance without an appraisal?

Sometimes, yes, but you don’t request a waiver, your file earns one. Fannie Mae calls it value acceptance: the automated underwriting system either offers to accept the value you submitted or it doesn’t. There is no application and no fee to try.

Here’s where the widely repeated 90% figure gets misapplied. FHFA announced on October 28, 2024 that the maximum loan-to-value ratio for purchase loans eligible for appraisal waivers would rise from 80% to 90%, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac carried that into value acceptance and automated collateral evaluation respectively. Neither extended the higher ceiling to refinances, so any article promising an appraisal-free refinance at 90% LTV is quoting purchase policy.

Value acceptance is still offered on certain refinances, limited cash-out and cash-out alike, but the file has to clear real gates: a one-unit property (condos count), an Approve/Eligible recommendation from Desktop Underwriter, and no manual underwriting. Fannie Mae excludes two- to four-unit properties, co-ops, manufactured homes, leasehold estates, construction and renovation loans, Texas Section 50(a)(6) loans, resale-price-restricted properties, gifts of equity, and any transaction where the purchase price or estimated value submitted to Desktop Underwriter is $1,000,000 or more. And once an appraisal has been obtained, the lender cannot exercise a waiver even if one is offered.

Two programs that used to be the no-appraisal answer are gone: HARP ended December 31, 2018, and Fannie Mae’s High LTV Refinance Option has had acquisitions paused. Understanding why home appraisals matter to a lender makes the remaining exceptions easier to predict.

Refinance type	New appraisal required?	Max LTV, 1-unit primary residence
Conventional rate-and-term (limited cash-out)	Usually, unless value acceptance is offered	95% (Freddie Mac)
Conventional cash-out	Usually. Waivers are possible but less common	80% (Freddie Mac)
FHA Streamline	No. Waived by program design	Set by the streamline formula, not an appraisal
FHA rate-and-term (non-streamline)	Yes	Set by FHA program limits
FHA cash-out	Yes	80% of Adjusted Value
VA IRRRL	No. No appraisal or credit package	VA sets no LTV cap
VA cash-out	Yes	VA sets no LTV cap; lender overlays do
USDA streamlined-assist	No	No LTV or DTI calculation performed

The streamlines earn their speed by skipping the valuation, but each gates entry with a seasoning clock, and the clocks are not the same. An FHA Streamline requires that, as of case number assignment, you’ve made at least six payments on the existing FHA loan, at least six full months have passed since its first payment due date, and at least 210 days have elapsed since the closing date of the loan being refinanced.² A VA IRRRL runs off a different starting gun: the new loan can’t be guaranteed until the later of 210 days after the first monthly payment due date and the date the sixth monthly payment is made.³ USDA’s streamlined-assist needs no appraisal but does require 12 months of current payments.

Cash-out is the strictest lane, because the lender is advancing new money against the value. Conventional cash-out requires at least one borrower on title for six months before disbursement, with exceptions for inherited property, property awarded in a divorce, and delayed financing. FHA cash-out requires 12 months of ownership and occupancy as your principal residence and caps you at 80% of Adjusted Value. And on VA cash-out: VA itself sets no maximum LTV. The 90% ceiling you’ll see quoted is a lender overlay, and it varies lender to lender.

How much does a refinance appraisal cost and how long does it take?

Expect $300 to $1,000 for a standard single-family home and one to two weeks from order to delivered report. Lenders in Align’s network price toward the low end for a tract home with plenty of recent sales nearby, and at or above the high end when the assignment is harder to research.

Property complexity drives the fee: Multi-unit buildings, waterfront, acreage, and homes with unusual additions take more research hours and price accordingly.
Thin comparable data costs money: Rural properties and neighborhoods with few recent sales force a wider search radius and more defended adjustments.
Turn times move with volume: When refinance applications spike, appraiser capacity tightens and the same order can take three weeks or more.
You usually pay at order: The fee is typically collected upfront and is generally non-refundable, even if the value comes in low and you walk away.

The appraisal fee is one line inside a much bigger bill. Our Refinancing Guide walks the full sequence from application through funding.

One structure deserves a warning label. A “no closing cost” refinance does not eliminate the appraisal fee; it moves it, either into a higher interest rate that funds a lender credit, or into your loan balance, where you pay interest on it for as long as you keep the loan. That can be a reasonable trade when cash is tight. It is not free.

How does an appraiser decide what your home is worth?

The appraiser is building a case, not scoring your housekeeping. Everything below feeds one question: what would a buyer pay today?

Size and layout: Measured gross living area, room and bathroom count, and whether finished space sits above or below grade. Below-grade space is valued differently, which surprises owners of finished Michigan basements.
Condition and age: Roof, mechanicals, windows, flooring, and visible deferred maintenance, which becomes a condition adjustment or a “subject to repair” note.
Site characteristics: Lot size and shape, frontage, topography, easements, and outbuildings, measured against the neighborhood.
Permitted improvements: Additions and conversions carry weight when permitted and documented. Unpermitted square footage is frequently excluded from gross living area entirely.
Comparable sales: Recent closed sales of similar nearby homes, adjusted line by line. With no contract price to anchor to, this is where the value comes from.

How to prepare your home for a refinance appraisal

Preparation won’t manufacture value, but it prevents value being lost to what the appraiser can’t see or verify. Five steps do most of the work.

Clear access to everything: Attic hatch, crawlspace, electrical panel, furnace, water heater. An appraiser who can’t reach a system describes it conservatively.
Fix the visible small stuff: Torn screens, a dead smoke detector, a leaking faucet, peeling paint. In aggregate these read as deferred maintenance, and on FHA and VA files health-and-safety items can trigger a repair condition.
Handle curb appeal: The exterior photo leads the report. Mow, trim, clear the walk, move the garbage cans.
Be present but brief: Meet the appraiser, hand over your documentation, answer questions, then get out of the way.
Write a one-page improvement sheet: Improvement, month and year completed, and cost. It gives the appraiser something to cite when making an adjustment.

What documentation to gather

Assemble these before the appointment: permits and final inspection cards for any addition or conversion, contractor invoices with completion dates, receipts for the roof, furnace, or windows, a survey, condo HOA documents, and your prior appraisal. Documented improvements with dates are the difference between an upgrade the appraiser can adjust for and one they can only note.

What happens if your refinance appraisal comes in low?

You have four moves, and the first is now a formal, disclosed process. Since May 2024, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and HUD have published aligned requirements for a borrower-initiated reconsideration of value; HUD’s version is mandatory for FHA case numbers assigned on or after September 2, 2024.

Request a reconsideration of value: Your lender must disclose the ROV process when it delivers the appraisal, and on an FHA file at application as well. You identify what you believe is inaccurate or unsupported and submit up to five alternative comparable sales with their sources. Our guide to how to appeal a low appraisal covers what persuades a reviewer.
Reduce the loan amount: Borrow less so the LTV still clears the program ceiling, on a conventional cash-out, 80% of the appraised value, not the value you hoped for.
Bring cash to closing: A cash-in refinance buys the LTV down. It’s the fastest fix when you’re close and the rate math still works.
Pause: Holding off is always an option. You keep your loan, keep building equity, and revisit when values or rates move.

Re-run the break-even before proceeding on a lower value: pricing worsens as LTV rises, and mortgage insurance may stay. Keep two paths straight here. Cancelling existing private mortgage insurance is governed by federal law and keyed to your original value: request at 80% of original value, automatic termination at 78%, both conditioned on being current, with a backstop at the amortization midpoint. Refinancing out of mortgage insurance is a different route, priced off today’s appraised value, our breakdown of refinancing to remove mortgage insurance compares the two. Before ordering anything, sanity-check your market against the FHFA House Price Index trends that shape comparable sales, which publishes repeat-sales indexes for all 50 states plus metro, county, and ZIP data.

What Michigan homeowners should know

Three Michigan realities shape refinance appraisals here more than in most states.

Your assessment is half your value, by law: Michigan assesses property at 50% of true cash value, so the state equalized value on your notice is roughly half of market value, and taxable value is lower still, because annual increases are capped at the lesser of inflation or 5% until ownership transfers. Estimating refinance equity from a tax notice will be wrong.
Older housing complicates comparables: The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey puts the median year built for Michigan housing at 1972, against 1981 nationally, nine years older than the country as a whole. Non-uniform, older housing means fewer clean comps and more line-item adjustments, one reason a Michigan appraisal can run past the one-to-two-week norm.
Winter appraisals carry friction: Snow hides roofs, driveways, landscaping, and topography, and an appraiser who can’t observe a condition has to say so. That can produce an appraisal made “subject to” a repair item, requiring a spring follow-up. If your timeline is flexible, a March appraisal is often cleaner than a January one.

How Align handles a refinance

Samantha starts with your break-even, not a rate. If the savings will not pay back the cost before you expect to move or refinance again, she will tell you to wait.

When it does make sense, one application goes to multiple wholesale lenders, so you compare real offers for the same loan. In late 2022, Freddie Mac found borrowers who got two quotes could have saved as much as $600 a year, and four or more quotes more than $1,200 a year.

Already have an offer from your current servicer or one of the big national lenders you see advertised? Bring us the Loan Estimate. We will compare it line by line and show you where we can do better. Align is paid by the lender, not by a fee you pay us.

Run a refinance break-even review

Sources: Freddie Mac, When rates are higher, borrowers who shop around save (February 2023).

FAQ: Refinance appraisal requirements

Here are answers to common questions about refinance appraisal requirements.

Can I refinance without an appraisal?

Often, yes. FHA Streamline, VA IRRRL, and USDA streamlined-assist refinances waive the appraisal by program design, and conventional borrowers may receive a value acceptance offer from the automated underwriting system. You cannot apply for a waiver; the system either offers one or it doesn’t. Some lenders use an exterior-only drive-by appraisal as a middle option.

How much does a refinance appraisal cost?

Expect $300 to $1,000 for a typical single-family home, with higher fees for large, rural, waterfront, or multi-unit properties where comparable sales are harder to find. You pay it upfront, usually when the appraisal is ordered, and it is generally non-refundable even if the value comes in low and you cancel, so budget it alongside the rest of your refinancing closing costs.

What do appraisers look at during a refinance appraisal?

Square footage, room count, condition, age, lot characteristics, permitted improvements, and deferred maintenance, then recent sales of comparable nearby homes. Because a refinance has no contract price to anchor against, those comparables carry more weight than on a purchase. Documenting upgrades with receipts and completion dates gives the appraiser something concrete to support adjustments in your favor.

What happens if my refinance appraisal comes in low?

You have four options: request a reconsideration of value with better comparable sales, reduce the loan amount so the LTV still works, bring cash to closing, or pause and wait for values to move. A low appraisal may also mean mortgage insurance stays or pricing worsens, so re-run the break-even first. Our guide to how to refinance with a low appraisal works through each path.

The bottom line on refinance appraisal requirements

Most refinances require a full appraisal, typically $300 to $1,000 and one to two weeks from order to report, and that single opinion of value sets the loan-to-value ratio driving your pricing, your mortgage insurance, and your cash-out ceiling. Waivers are real but narrower than advertised: the increase from 80% to 90% LTV applied to purchase loans, not refinances, and on a refinance the automated underwriting system decides. The genuine no-appraisal lanes are the streamlines (FHA Streamline, VA IRRRL, and USDA streamlined-assist) each with its own seasoning clock.

If you’re ready to find out whether your refinance needs an appraisal at all, talk to Align Lending. We’ll run your file through multiple wholesale lenders’ automated underwriting and show you who waives it, who doesn’t, and what each one charges, side by side. Call 248-506-5727 or start online.

Footnotes:

1. Example figures in this article are hypothetical and for educational purposes only; they do not constitute an advertisement of credit terms or a rate quote under federal or state lending laws. Your appraised value, loan-to-value ratio, rate, and terms will depend on your application, your property, and market conditions. Return to text.

2. Align Lending is not acting on behalf of or at the direction of FHA or HUD. FHA streamline seasoning, cash-out, and appraisal requirements are set by HUD in Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 and related mortgagee letters, and are subject to change. Return to text.

3. Align Lending works with VA-approved lenders and is not endorsed or sponsored by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. VA IRRRL seasoning requirements are set by statute and VA policy; maximum loan-to-value limits on VA cash-out refinances are lender overlays, not VA program caps. Return to text.

Sources: value acceptance eligibility, excluded transaction types, the $1,000,000 property-value exclusion, and the rule that a waiver cannot be exercised once an appraisal is obtained, Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.4-10. Increase in the maximum loan-to-value ratio for purchase loans eligible for appraisal waivers from 80% to 90%, Federal Housing Finance Agency news release, October 28, 2024. Maximum LTV/TLTV of 80% on cash-out and 95% on no cash-out refinances for a 1-unit primary residence, Freddie Mac maximum LTV/TLTV/HTLTV ratio requirements. Six-month title seasoning for conventional cash-out refinances and its inheritance, legal-award, and delayed-financing exceptions, Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-03. FHA streamline seasoning of six payments, six full months from the first payment due date, and 210 days from the closing date of the mortgage being refinanced, and the absence of an appraisal requirement, HUD Handbook 4000.1 II.A.8. FHA cash-out requirement of 12 months of ownership and occupancy as a principal residence and the 80% maximum LTV of Adjusted Value, HUD Handbook 4000.1 and Mortgagee Letter 2019-11. VA IRRRL seasoning at the later of 210 days after the first monthly payment due date and the date of the sixth monthly payment, and the absence of an appraisal or credit underwriting requirement, 38 U.S.C. § 3709 and VA Circular 26-19-05. USDA streamlined-assist refinance requiring no appraisal and 12 months of current payments, USDA Rural Development Handbook HB-1-3555, Chapter 6. Borrower-initiated reconsideration of value requirements, lender disclosure when the appraisal report is provided, and the five-comparable submission limit, Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-12; disclosure at mortgage loan application and upon delivery of the appraisal, the five-comparable limit, and the effective date for FHA case numbers assigned on or after September 2, 2024, HUD Mortgagee Letter 2024-07. Free copy of appraisals and written valuations promptly upon completion or three business days before consummation, and the prohibition on charging for the copy, 12 CFR § 1002.14. PMI cancellation at 80% of original value on borrower request, automatic termination at 78%, and the amortization-midpoint backstop, Homeowners Protection Act of 1998; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. HARP extension through December 31, 2018, Federal Housing Finance Agency; pause of high LTV refinance acquisitions, Fannie Mae. Michigan assessment at 50% of true cash value and the inflation-or-5% cap on taxable value, Michigan Constitution Article IX § 3, MCL 211.27 and MCL 211.27a. Median year structure built of 1972 for Michigan and 1981 for the United States, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey table B25035. House Price Index coverage and methodology, Federal Housing Finance Agency. Appraiser designations and standards, Appraisal Institute.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, financial, or tax advice. Appraisal fees, turn times, waiver eligibility, and program requirements change and vary by property, county, lender, and loan program; confirm your figures with your Loan Estimate and your lender’s appraisal disclosure, and consult a qualified professional about your situation. Figures shown are illustrative, are not a rate quote or an offer of credit, and are subject to change. Align Lending is an independent Michigan mortgage broker, NMLS #2041154.