We cover 15 catalogs spanning the residential appraisal regulatory surface — statutes, lender guides, federal regulations, state licensing rules, and the major professional-organization standards. Authored against public-domain source material (USPAP and the professional-org codes are structural interpretations) and updated as the underlying regulations move.
Individual rule details — slugs, predicates, applicability gates, plain-English messages — are available only via the paid API and the authenticated North Star application. What's on this page is the catalog-level scope: which authorities we cover, what each catalog applies to, and how many rules sit inside.
Every rule in the library is SME-reviewed. Authored from public-domain regulatory text by Athena's engineering side, then reviewed for predicate correctness, severity calibration, required-field availability, and citation accuracy by Justin Moriarty — an active appraiser licensed in both Washington and Oregon. Last omnibus approval pass: 2026-05-29 (all post-Q3 catalog additions). Per-pack sign-off detail is available to enterprise customers via the API access agreement.
Catalogs are grouped by source category. For each catalog we publicly show:
Per-rule details — the rule slug, the predicate logic, the applicability conditions, the plain-English message text, the field-path references — are available only via the paid API and the authenticated application. See the API-access section below.
Foundational standards that fire on every assignment regardless of loan program. · 2 catalogs · 33 rules
Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice
Ethics, Record Keeping, Competency, Scope of Work, and Standards 1–4 (Real Property development + reporting; Review development + reporting). Structural interpretation of the standards — citations are surface-level since the standards text itself is copyrighted.
American National Standards Institute — measurement standard
The measurement standard Fannie Mae made mandatory for every conventional appraisal in 2022. Covers GLA presence, ANSI method declaration, above-grade-only-in-GLA, garage exclusion, below-grade reporting.
Program-specific rule packs gated by the loan type the appraisal supports. · 6 catalogs · 159 rules
Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-1 + B4-2 + B2-3
Conventional-loan property assessment and eligibility — unacceptable practices, report forms + exhibits, appraisal age + use, appraisal report assessment, project standards (condo / PUD / co-op), and special property eligibility (leasehold, community land trust).
Freddie Mac Topic 5600 + 5701
Only the rules where Freddie's language MATERIALLY differs from Fannie. Citation-only overlaps with Fannie are not duplicated — they'd just double-fire on the same conventional appraisal. Covers ACE / ACE+PDR appraisal alternatives, single-wide manufactured ineligibility, manufactured-on-leasehold prior approval, and Freddie's higher project-standards thresholds (75% presale vs Fannie's 50%; 25% single-entity vs Fannie's 20%).
HUD Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, Section II.D
The FHA appraisal surface — appraiser qualifications, approaches and certifications, property conditions (foundation, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, lead paint), report form and photos, sales comparison, and site requirements (legal access, utilities, FEMA flood zone).
VA Lender's Handbook, Chapters 10–16
VA-specific appraisal requirements — panel eligibility, certifications, Notice of Value (NOV), property conditions, sales comparison, and tidewater / reconsideration-of-value (ROV) processes.
USDA Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program — Chapter 12
USDA Section 502 Guaranteed Loan appraisal requirements — rural-area eligibility, water and wastewater (private well testing, no cisterns, shared-well caps), site access, construction + repairs (IECC certification, three-option inspection / warranty), flood, and condo agency approval.
HUD Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide 4430.G, Chapter 7
Multifamily-insured property appraisal — Section 220 / 221(d)(4) / 223(f) / 207. Income-approach-led valuation, MAI / state-general appraiser tier required, NOI / cap rate / vacancy / expense ratio / replacement reserves disclosure, rent roll, market-rent analysis, Phase I ESA, and section-specific eligibility (urban renewal / new construction Davis-Bacon / 3-year operating history).
Federal regulatory surface — banking, consumer protection, flood hazard, federal land acquisition. · 4 catalogs · 55 rules
12 CFR Part 34 + 12 CFR 1026.42 + Interagency Guidelines
12 CFR Part 34 federally-related-transaction threshold rules (de-minimis exemption, commercial-over-$500K certification, residential-over-$400K credentialed, complex-residential thresholds), 12 CFR 1026.42 Regulation Z appraisal-independence rules (no coercion, customary compensation, conflict-of-interest disclosure), and the Interagency Guidelines on real-estate appraisal practice (engagement-letter requirements, independent selection, interior inspection, reviewer qualifications).
15 USC §1639h / 12 CFR §1026.35(c)
Title XIV higher-risk mortgage-loan appraisal requirements. Written appraisal required, state-licensed appraiser, physical interior visit (no desktop / drive-by), free copy to consumer ≥3 business days before closing, the property-flip rule second-appraisal requirement (90-day / 180-day windows), and §1473 AMC state-board registration.
44 CFR Parts 60 + 65 + 70, 42 USC §4012a
NFIP minimum floodplain-management standards, mandatory-purchase rule, LOMA / LOMR documentation, Substantial Improvement 50% rule, V-zone construction requirements, floodway prohibition on new construction, manufactured-home SFHA anchoring, and Repetitive Loss property disclosure.
Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions + 49 CFR Part 24
Federal-government appraisal standard for eminent domain, voluntary federal-agency purchase, and regulatory takings. All six UASFLA standards (federal-acquisition intended use, federally-modified market value, larger parcel identification, HBU before-and-after on partial takings, project-influence exclusion, going-concern separation), plus URA implementation rules (minimum-offer floor, owner-accompaniment, review-appraiser independence, federal-acquisition appraiser qualification).
State-issued appraiser-licensing rules gated by the assignment's primary jurisdiction. · 2 catalogs · 128 rules
RCW 18.140 + WAC 308-125 (practitioner) · RCW 18.310 (AMC) · RCW 36.70A (GMA / Critical Areas) · RCW 84.33 + 84.34 + 84.40 + 84.41 (tax + current use) · WA-hazards + RCW 64 (disclosures)
Four layers of Washington coverage. Practitioner conduct (RCW 18.140 + WAC 308-125): credential active, license-number-in-report, fair-housing attestation, federal-evaluation disclaimer, audit acknowledgment, signed-and-dated reports, 28 CE hours including 7-hour USPAP + bias / fair-housing course, workfile 5-year retention + 2-year post-litigation, supervisor 3-year good standing + coinspection log. WA AMC statute (RCW 18.310): license active, rotation policy, QC review, fee separation, surety bond. Property overlays (Growth Management Act Critical Areas + Urban Growth Areas, Current Use deferrals under RCW 84.34 Open Space / Farm and Agricultural / Timber, Designated Forest Land under RCW 84.33, HBU legally-permissible test): land-use constraints that materially shape highest-and-best-use. Tax-assessment dependencies (RCW 84.40 True and Fair Value, RCW 84.41 revaluation vintage): so assessor data is properly weighted. Hazard zones (DNR wildfire, tsunami inundation for coastal counties, seismic / URM, EPA radon, Ecology UST registry, wetlands Critical Areas). Seller-disclosure overlay (RCW 64.06 Form 17 lead paint + mold, RCW 64.44 methamphetamine contamination). Reviewed and SME-approved 2026-05-29 by Justin Moriarty, an active licensed appraiser in BOTH Washington AND Oregon.
ORS 674 + OAR 161 (practitioner) · OAR 660 + ORS 195 (land use) · ORS 308 (tax assessment) · OR-hazards + ORS 105 (disclosures)
Four layers of Oregon coverage. Practitioner conduct (ORS 674 + OAR 161): credential renewal, felony-conviction disclosure, AMC statutory bond + license + controlling-officer disclosure + appraiser-payment timeliness + rotation policy + QC review + fee separation, license / fee / contact status, CE cycle including bias and fair-housing, workfile 5-year retention + litigation extension, supervisor 3-year tenure + trainee cap + co-inspection log, USPAP edition referenced + matches report date, signed-and-dated reports, reciprocity for out-of-state practice. Property overlays (Goal-3 EFU zoning, Goal-4 Forest Land deferral, Goal-14 Urban Growth Boundary, Measure 49 claims, HBU legally-permissible test): land-use constraints that materially shape highest-and-best-use analysis and value conclusion on real Oregon parcels. ORS 308 tax-assessment dependencies (Real Market Value vs Maximum Assessed Value distinction, Measure 50 Changed-Property Ratio, RMV definition cited for tax-appeal assignments). Hazard zones (ODF wildfire under SB 762, DOGAMI tsunami inundation for coastal counties, Cascadia seismic / URM, EPA radon, DEQ underground storage tank registry, DSL wetlands inventory). Seller-disclosure overlay (ORS 105.464 lead paint + mold, ORS 105.460 radon test-result disclosure under HB 4061). Reviewed and SME-approved 2026-05-29 by Justin Moriarty, an active licensed appraiser in BOTH Washington AND Oregon.
Standards from the three major appraisal organizations; fire only when the appraiser claims membership. · 1 catalog · 32 rules
Appraisal Institute + ASA + ASFMRA
Member-compliance rules for the three major appraisal organizations. Appraisal Institute Code of Professional Ethics (5 canons + designation use, peer review, CE, disciplinary disclosure). American Society of Appraisers Code of Ethics + POPPACOE for the Real Property discipline. ASFMRA standards specific to agricultural / rural appraisal (soil productivity, water rights, rural valuation methods).
The catalog metadata above is the public face of the library. Beneath it sits the rule corpus — 360 individual rules with their slugs, predicates, applicability gates, severities, citations, and plain-English message templates. Access to that detail is gated.
How rule details are accessed:
The catalog content is proprietary to Athena Systems. We invest substantial subject-matter-expert time in authoring, reviewing, and maintaining each rule against the underlying regulatory surface, and the result is the commercial moat behind the product. The marketing pages you're reading describe scope; the value lives behind the paywall.
Pricing for API access is bundled with the platform subscription tier you choose. See the pricing page when tiers are published; until then, waitlist members hear about API-specific pricing first.
Every rule starts as a structured definition authored against a published regulatory source. The appraisal SME (Justin Moriarty — an active appraiser licensed in both Washington and Oregon) reviews and approves each addition; predicates are validated against the internal work-file schema before the rule can compile.
Once approved, the rule lands in the production rule set, the compiled rule-set hash changes, and every Decision Record sealed thereafter references the new hash — so anyone holding an older Record can re-verify it against the rule set in force at the original evaluation time, not against the current rule set.
Customer feedback on rule severity, message wording, or applicability gates is welcome — email rules@athenadecisionsystems.com with the rule slug and your reasoning. Rule edits are tracked internally; rule retirements are announced in advance with a date the change becomes effective.
North Star is rolling out to Washington and Oregon appraisers first. Join the waitlist and we'll reach out when your state opens.
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