Through OAR 141-067-0310, appraisers in Oregon are held to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). USPAP was a model practice code established by the Appraisal Foundation in 1987, officially recognized by Congress in 1989 as the standard for the practice. There are 10 “standards,” though standards 5 through 10 are largely only applicable to mass appraisals, business appraisals, and personal property appraisals. For real estate, standards 1 to 4 are at play. While that does seem like a uniform practice standard would apply some tangible and researchable standards for appraisals, it operates more as a set of social codes asking for parts of USPAP simply require the appraiser “employ those recognized methods and techniques that are necessary to produce a credible appraisal” [Standards Rule 1-1].
The actual data for how something factors into an appraisal comes from the Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD), that let the appraisers compare the valuation and price of similar properties. Before 2010, appraisals were not consistent and were much more like free-form narrative explanations of the property, resulting in substantial differences between individual appraiser products. Articles written in the early 2010s began to scrutinize the appraisal profession, arguing that it was largely just opinion draped with a thin veneer of licensure and professionalism; to which the appraisal industry largely replied: “the practice of appraisal is a wisdom-based art form, not a science.” With the introduction of the UAD, there was more of a uniform checkbox list of items to review and opine over. The most recent UAD update, 3.6, was released for optional usage in January 2026, but will become mandatory in November 2026. UAD 3.6 radically changes the appraisal process and produces more structured, pathway driven appraisal investigations. Where previous appraisals were unstructured and descriptive form-based analysis, UAD 3.6 is programmed software with structured step-by-step questioning with expandable comment fields. The appraisal industry’s predictions [as drawn from various social media posts about UAD 3.6] are that UAD 3.6 forces objectivity into the appraisal process in an effort to integrate artificial intelligence into the practice in the near future. Many appraisers who were accustomed to the older versions of appraising have been threatening higher fees or retirement if obligated to take part in UAD 3.6 forcing science into the artform of appraising. While certainly a potential antitrust violation to collude through social media about fixing prices, the core of the commentary is still important to begin thinking about – starting in November 2026, it may be harder to find an appraiser, or it may be more expensive to find an appraiser purely based on the software and process being used.