In an effort to help the recovery of areas impacted by the recent hurricanes, federal banking regulators have temporarily waived the requirement for an appraisal.
Title XI of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 requires federally regulated financial institutions to use state certified or licensed appraisers to perform appraisals on loans.
But Section 2 of the Depository Institutions Disaster Relief Act of 1992 authorizes regulators to make exceptions to statutory and regulatory appraisal requirements of Title XI for areas that the president declares a major disaster.
Source: Mortgage Daily