A condominium unit or a manufactured home is appraised by the same method as a detached house: an independent opinion of market value, built from comparable closed sales and adjusted for the differences a buyer would weigh. What changes is the extra ground the report has to cover. A condo report describes the project and its homeowners' association as well as the unit, and looks first for sales inside the same project. A manufactured home report starts one step earlier, with whether the home is real property at all, and then records its HUD labels, its foundation and a cost approach.
The rest of the series sits on the condominiums and manufactured homes hub.
What stays the same as a house appraisal
The report states its effective date, the date the opinion of value applies to, and its intended use, what the report will be used for, such as a purchase loan or a refinance. The appraiser measures, inspects, selects comparable sales and reconciles them into one opinion under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
What changes for a condo unit
A condominium project is a development in which each owner holds title to a unit and shares ownership of the common elements, the parts owned in common, such as grounds, roofs, hallways, parking and recreation facilities. The homeowners' association (HOA) runs those common elements and charges dues. A condo report therefore covers two things: the unit, and the project the unit cannot be sold without.
On a condo, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide directs the appraiser to give special attention to the unit's location within the project, the project's amenities, and the amount and purpose of the owner's association assessment.
An HOA questionnaire is a set of written questions about the project, answered by the association or its management company; Fannie Mae's Condominium Project Questionnaire (Form 1076) is one, and the Selling Guide calls it optional but encourages lenders to use it. A special assessment is a charge the association levies on owners on top of regular dues, usually to pay for a specific repair or project. The Claremont condo guide to project data, HOA documents and same-project sales walks through those documents in order.
Who decides whether the project qualifies for the loan?
The lender does, not the appraiser. Fannie Mae's project standards say the lender must determine that a project meets its eligibility requirements; appraisers are one source of project information, and the lender is responsible for its accuracy. Fannie Mae's list of ineligible project characteristics includes pending litigation naming the HOA, unremediated critical repairs and too many units owned by one entity. An appraiser who learns of one reports it; whether the loan proceeds is the lender's decision.
Why the comparables come from inside the project first
Units in one project share dues, common elements, rules and buyers, so a same-project sale usually needs the fewest adjustments. Fannie Mae's comparable-sales rules go further for new or recently converted projects: the appraiser compares the unit with sales inside the project and in the same market area, using at least one settled sale from inside and at least one from outside. For a small new project with no sales yet, competing projects of similar size and type may be used, with the choice explained.
In Claremont, townhomes and condominiums appear south of the 10 and in the Village expansion infill, and age-restricted communities and units near the Colleges each draw their own buyers. Rancho Cucamonga's planned villages, Victoria and Terra Vista among them, have condominiums and townhomes, in many areas with community facilities district taxes alongside HOA terms. Upland and Montclair have condo and townhome projects among their tracts, Pomona's Phillips Ranch carries its own HOA character, and Chino and Chino Hills add newer communities.
Is a townhome a condo?
Sometimes. A townhome is a building style; condominium and planned unit development are legal forms. A planned unit development (PUD) is, in Fannie Mae's words, a project or subdivision "that consists of common property and improvements that are owned and maintained by an HOA," in which each owner holds title to a lot and the structure on it. Fannie Mae tells lenders to determine whether a unit is in a condo or a PUD and use the appropriate appraisal forms, so the recorded documents, not the look of the building, decide which applies.
What changes for a manufactured home
Real property is land and what is permanently attached to it; personal property is movable property. In California a manufactured home starts as personal property, registered with the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), and becomes real property only through the steps in Health and Safety Code section 18551.
That section lets a home be installed on a foundation system either as a fixture of the real property or as a chattel, movable personal property. To become real property, the owner or a licensed contractor obtains a building permit, showing that the owner owns or is buying the land, or holds a qualifying transferable lease, and providing foundation plans. After the certificate of occupancy, the enforcement agency records a document with the county recorder stating that the home has been affixed to that land, and the title and registration are surrendered to HCD for cancellation. From then on, the statute says, the home is "deemed a fixture and a real property improvement." Revenue and Taxation Code section 5801 adds that such a home is taxed as all other real property is taxed.
The report then records two federal marks. The data plate is a paper document inside the home that lists, among other things, the manufacturer's name and trade or model number and the factory-installed equipment. The certification label, sometimes called a HUD seal or tag, is a metal plate on the exterior of each section of the home. For a loan sold to Fannie Mae, the home must also sit on a permanent foundation system, have its towing hitch, wheels and axles removed, and be permanently connected to sewer or septic and other utilities, and the report documents what the inspection finds. Fannie Mae requires at least two manufactured-home comparable sales, a detailed and supported cost approach, and a value based solely on the real property, with no non-realty items included. The guide to real property or personal property first covers each step.
A home in a La Verne park
La Verne has mobile home parks whose space rents the city reviews under Municipal Code Chapter 9.16. A home on rented space in a park does not own its land, so it is never valued as if it did, and it is compared with homes in similar parks, not with a detached house on its own lot. Not every manufactured-home type is a residential real property assignment, and assignments in the parks are considered case by case, with the report stating the ownership, space terms and condition it relied on. Nothing here is legal advice about park rent rules.
The forms in 2026: from the 1073 and 1004C to one report
Freddie Mac lists the Form 1073 condo report, its exterior-only sibling the Form 1075, and the Form 1004C manufactured home report among the legacy forms being retired and replaced by one redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR). Freddie Mac states that UAD 3.6, the dataset behind the new report, is mandatory for new appraisal reports submitted on or after November 2, 2026, and that the purpose of the URAR has not changed. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide requires photos of the HUD data plate or certification labels on a manufactured home appraisal and interior perimeter measurements for an apartment unit in a condo building, and it sends lenders using UAD 3.6 to a separate policy supplement. The explainer on what a 1073 appraisal report is maps the old condo form to the new one, and what the redesigned URAR changes covers the format as a whole.
Why an automated estimate misreads both
An automated estimate such as a Zestimate is not an appraisal. It reads records and nearby sales, so it rarely knows which floor a unit is on, what it faces, what the dues cover, whether a special assessment is pending, or whether a manufactured home is real property or a registered chattel on rented space. The appraisal and estimate comparison explains the difference.
What to gather before the inspection
- For a condo or townhome: the HOA's contact or management company, the current budget, any notice of a special assessment, the CC&Rs, the recorded covenants, conditions and restrictions, if you have them, and access to the unit, its parking and storage.
- For a manufactured home: the location of the data plate, any HCD title or registration papers, the recorded foundation document if one exists, permits for additions or porches, and, in a park, the space lease.
Lender assignments come through the lender; private assignments, such as an estate, a trust or a pre-listing report, can be ordered directly. Fees are set by the scope of the assignment and quoted before work begins, and they do not depend on the value. See residential appraisals for lending and refinance, the Upland area page, or call (909) 324-6122.
Sources
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.2-01, Appraisal Report Forms and Exhibits, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.4-03, Condo Appraisal Requirements, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-2.1-01, General Information on Project Standards, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-2.1-03, Ineligible Projects, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-08, Comparable Sales, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.3-05, Improvements Section of the Appraisal Report, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1.4-01, Factory-Built Housing: Manufactured Housing, accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-3-02, Special Property Eligibility and Underwriting Considerations: Factory-Built Housing, accessed November 6, 2026
- California Health and Safety Code section 18551, text at california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
- California Revenue and Taxation Code section 5801, text at california.public.law, accessed November 6, 2026
- City of La Verne, Mobile Home Parks, accessed November 6, 2026
- Freddie Mac, Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) 3.6 and Forms Redesign FAQ, accessed November 6, 2026
- The Appraisal Foundation, Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), accessed November 6, 2026
- California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, license lookup for Gordon Hall, BREA No. AR003877, accessed November 6, 2026
Gordon Hall, California Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser, BREA No. AR003877 (lookup: https://www2.brea.ca.gov/breasearch/faces/party/view.xhtml?id=23601). Reports are prepared in conformity with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Nothing here is legal or tax advice; admissibility is always the court's decision.
Frequently asked questions
Does the appraiser decide whether a condo project is approved for a loan?
No. The lender determines whether a condo project meets the loan program's eligibility rules. The appraiser reports what the project documents and the inspection show, and that information is one of the sources the lender reads before deciding.
Are condo comparables always from the same project?
Sales from the same project are looked at first because they share the same dues, common elements and buyers. Fannie Mae's rules for new or recently converted projects also require at least one sale from outside the project, and competing projects of similar size and type may be used when a small new project has no sales yet, with the reasons explained in the report.
When is a manufactured home real property in California?
When it has been installed on a foundation system as a fixture under Health and Safety Code section 18551: a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, a document recorded with the county recorder, and the HCD title and registration surrendered and canceled. Until then it is personal property. A title company or attorney confirms the status; nothing here is legal advice.
Are the 1073 and 1004C forms still used?
Freddie Mac lists both among the legacy forms being replaced by the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, and states that UAD 3.6 is mandatory for new appraisal reports submitted on or after November 2, 2026. For FHA, VA and USDA loans, Freddie Mac says to contact each agency, so the lender's order states the format.
