ANSI

Starting April 1, 2022 Fannie Mae begins mandating the ANSI standard. This is a great time to read the standard, read a book, or take a class to refresh your knowledge of ANSI. The biggest mistake we’ve found to date is that people make a one line disclosure to show they are adhering to the ANSI standard. For those who have actually read ANSI, they know that one-liner is not a proper statement under the rules of ANSI.

For all the social media posts talking about how difficult ANSI is going to be and how ANSI won’t match their comps, and a whole list of possible problems, which are mostly never going to happen. Remember ANSI is a 16 page document with only 3 pages of text, 2 pages of an Annex, and six basic sketches. It’s just not that complicated and most of us are familiar with the basics and ANSI and after refreshing our skills just a little, we will have no problems with ANSI and the FNMA update.

The ANSI police are NOT coming to get you. If your measurement is slightly different from another appraiser no one is going to turn you in  to the appraisal board. FNMA’s mandate is the first step in moving the real estate industry towards joining the rest of the standardized world. Every component of a house is measured by a standard but once they are all joined together to form a home, there is no mandatory standard. That does not speak very well of the real estate industry and consumer protection.

FNMA is the leader in the quality quest and appraisers are the leaders in this business. It’s up to us to work out any kinks so we can show the rest of the industry that this can be done, and that by improving the square footage data we all use we improve the quality of home valuations. This is a chance to be better for an entire industry. Make no mistake, we are making history. Please give ANSI a try and let’s work together to make this work. Square footage is the currency of real estate and a nationwide measurement standard is a win-win for everyone involved in the home buy-selling process.