The line between a residential small apartment appraisal and a commercial one falls between four units and five. The California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers states the scope of a Certified Residential appraiser as "any 1-to-4 family residential properties regardless of the transaction value or complexity," so a duplex, triplex or fourplex near the Montclair Transit Center is a residential assignment. A building of five or more units is not a one-to-four-family residential property, and BREA's license-level page places "all types of real estate properties regardless of the transaction value or complexity" under the Certified General license.
The line in the license
BREA licenses appraisers at four levels: trainee, licensed residential, certified residential and certified general. Each level carries its own scope of practice. BREA's Certified Residential page also allows non-residential appraisals only up to a transaction-value limit it states; the Certified General license has no such limit. Gordon Hall holds the Certified Residential license, BREA No. AR003877, and the bureau's public lookup shows it active at that level.
The scope matters to the reader as much as to the appraiser. A report on a property outside the appraiser's scope is a problem for whoever relies on it, whether that is a lender, a 1031 exchange buyer, a trustee or a court. So the first question on any Montclair small apartment call is not the address. It is how many units are on the parcel, and how many are legal.
The line in the lender's forms
The legacy Fannie Mae Form 1025 (Freddie Mac Form 72), the Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report, says it "is designed to report an appraisal of a two- to four-unit property." Its unit box offers three choices only: two, three or four. Its neighborhood land-use grid reports "2-4 Unit" and "Multi-Family" as separate categories, alongside "Commercial." The form itself treats a fourplex and an apartment building as different kinds of property.
For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, that form is retired and replaced by the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report, which Freddie Mac says is mandatory for new reports submitted to the Uniform Collateral Data Portal on or after November 2, 2026. The redesign changes the layout, not the license: the residential report still covers residential property, and the appraiser's scope of practice still decides who may sign it.
How Montclair buildings land on each side
Montclair's housing is mostly postwar single-family tract stock, but around the Montclair Transit Center, the Metrolink commuter hub, and Montclair Place, the regional shopping center, the mix includes older duplexes, small apartment buildings and houses divided into units. Those are the buildings where the count needs care.
- A fourplex with a rear unit. If the rear unit is legal, the parcel holds five units and the assignment is commercial. If it is not, the report describes it as found and states the legal count it relied on, and the scope call decides whether a residential assignment fits at all. Fannie Mae's guide also does not allow an accessory dwelling unit with a two- to four-unit dwelling, so the rear unit cannot simply be reclassified as an ADU.
- Two buildings on one lot. Form 1025 asked for the number of buildings as well as the number of units. A front duplex and a rear duplex on one parcel are a four-unit property; add a fifth unit and the line is crossed.
- A house divided into units. The count is what the permits support, not the number of front doors. When legal unit count differs from assessor records walks through that problem in Pomona, just across Mills Avenue.
- A building with a storefront or office. Commercial space is a different property type from 1-to-4 family housing. A Montclair building that mixes apartments with a commercial use is checked against BREA's Certified Residential limits before any work.
What changes in a commercial apartment appraisal
On a 2-4 unit report, the income approach, which values the property from the rent it can earn, usually runs through a gross rent multiplier, the ratio of a comparable building's sale price to its gross monthly rent. Form 1025 stated it plainly: total gross monthly rent times the gross rent multiplier gives the indicated value by the income approach. The guide to appraising a duplex to fourplex explains how that is reconciled with the sales comparison approach.
A commercial apartment appraisal for a five-plus building leans harder on the building's operating history. It typically works through a capitalization rate, the relationship between a year's net operating income and value, and through vacancy and collection loss, the income a building loses to empty units and unpaid rent. That is commercial appraisal work, and the Certified General license is the one BREA describes as covering every property type without a value or complexity limit.
How the scope gets settled before any work
Scope of work, the type and extent of research and analysis, is agreed before an assignment is accepted. For a Montclair small income building that means:
- The unit count on site and the unit count the permits support.
- Whether any part of the building is used commercially.
- The intended use, what the report will be used for, and the intended users, the people entitled to rely on it.
- Which report format the lender's loan program requires.
If the answers keep the property within one to four residential units, it is a residential assignment. If they do not, it falls outside the Certified Residential license's one-to-four-family scope, the owner may need a Certified General appraiser, and saying so on the first call is part of the job.
Montclair specifics that carry into the report
Montclair is in San Bernardino County, assessed by the San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk. Across Mills Avenue, Claremont and Pomona are in Los Angeles County. A Pomona fourplex can be useful evidence for a Montclair fourplex, but only with the county-line difference explained. The Montclair area page covers that edge, and the full series sits on the multi-family and market rent hub.
Rents are measured from leases in the same part of town, not from listing asks. What a rent schedule documents explains why.
Timing and next step
The inspection is 30 to 60 minutes for a standard single-family home, longer for hillside, custom, multi-family or homes with additions. Reports are typically delivered three to five business days from the inspection. The fee is set by the scope of the assignment and quoted before work begins, and fees do not depend on the value.
For a Montclair duplex, triplex or fourplex, send the address, the unit count and the rent roll through the multi-family and 2-4 unit appraisal page, or call (909) 324-6122. If the building has five or more units, say so up front.
Sources
- California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, Become a Certified Residential Appraiser (scope of practice), accessed November 6, 2026
- California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, Real Estate Appraiser License Levels, accessed November 6, 2026
- California Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers, license lookup for Gordon Hall, AR003877, accessed November 6, 2026
- Freddie Mac Form 72 / Fannie Mae Form 1025, Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report (March 2005, legacy form), accessed November 6, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-3-04, Special Property Eligibility Considerations (accessory dwelling units), accessed November 6, 2026
- Freddie Mac, UAD and Forms Redesign FAQs, accessed November 6, 2026
- The Appraisal Foundation, Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), 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
Can a Certified Residential appraiser appraise a five-unit apartment building?
BREA states the Certified Residential scope as any one-to-four-family residential property regardless of transaction value or complexity. A building of five or more units is outside that line. BREA places all property types without limit under the Certified General license and allows Certified Residential non-residential work only below a transaction-value limit it states.
Is a Montclair fourplex with a rear unit a residential appraisal?
It depends on the legal count. If the rear unit is legal, the parcel holds five units and the assignment is commercial. If it is not, the report describes it as found and states the legal count relied on, and the scope call decides whether a residential assignment fits.
What form is used for a duplex to fourplex appraisal?
Under the legacy forms it was Fannie Mae's Form 1025, the Small Residential Income Property Appraisal Report, designed for two- to four-unit property. Freddie Mac says the redesigned Uniform Residential Appraisal Report replaces it for new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reports submitted on or after November 2, 2026, unless the lender holds a GSE policy exception; FHA, VA and USDA set their own plans.
