Q: We are refinancing our home. Instead of an appraiser, a woman came out who said she was a “property data collector.” She photographed every room, including our kids’ bedrooms, and measured the whole house. Our lender says we saved money by not needing an appraisal. Who was she, who sees those photos, and can we get a copy?
A: She was a property data collector, and she is part of the biggest shift in how American homes are valued in decades. Your savings are real. So is the price you paid in privacy.
Here is how it works. When you applied, your lender’s software asked Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the two companies that buy most U.S. mortgages, whether your home needed an appraisal. Their systems compared your house to a database of millions of prior appraisals and decided a full appraisal was unnecessary. Instead, they required a trained collector to verify your home’s facts. Fannie Mae calls this program “value acceptance + property data.” Freddie Mac calls it ACE+ PDR.
The collector does not estimate value. She documents your home. Fannie Mae’s standard calls for 40 to 60 photos, measurements, an interior and exterior condition report and a floor plan. Fannie estimates these waivers have saved borrowers over $2.8 billion since 2018, at roughly $550 per skipped appraisal. Here is a link to view a sample of the actual approved form on the Freddie Mac platform. The form begins on page 179 – 200.
Who sees the photos? Your lender, its mortgage insurer, the company that sent the collector, and Fannie or Freddie, where the file is submitted electronically and kept. It is not public. The federal regulator publishes appraisal data only as neighborhood-level statistics, never by address.
Can you get a copy? Ask in writing. Federal rules require lenders to give borrowers copies of appraisals and other written valuations. A data collection contains no opinion of value, so your lender may say the rule does not apply. Ask anyway. It is your house.
Now the part the industry is not advertising. On November 2, Fannie and Freddie retire the appraisal forms used for decades. Every appraisal on a loan they buy must use a new, data-driven format that records the home room by room in standardized fields. Combined with the data collections, the two companies are building the most detailed record of American homes ever assembled, verified by people who walked through them. Appraisers feed that system, but they cannot search it for their own work.
That should worry appraisers more than you. Every waiver is one less appraisal ordered. The better the database gets, the fewer homes will need an appraiser at all.
What should you do next time?
Ask the lender before the visit which company the collector works for, and check identification at the door.
Be home for the visit. Put away valuables, mail and anything identifying your children.
Know that you can request a traditional appraisal instead. Fannie Mae says that option is always available, but you will pay for it.
Ask for a copy of whatever is collected.
For most homeowners the trade-off is reasonable. Just make it knowingly. The companies behind your mortgage may now know your house better than your neighbors do, and possibly better than you.
