Episode summary
What Trump’s order to modernize appraisals will mean for housing
HousingWire Daily
· · 19 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Kenon Chen
Summary
The discussion focused on the Trump administration’s executive order on appraisal modernization and how it lines up with changes already underway in the mortgage industry. Kenon Chen said the order mostly reinforces a direction that has been building for years: more use of alternative valuation models, hybrids, AI-enabled tools, and lower-friction processes for lower-risk loans. He argued that the biggest signal to lenders is not a radical new policy direction, but a confirmation that the industry is not going backward.
Chen said many of the ideas in the order already exist in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs, including waivers, data collection workflows, and risk-based valuation options. He expects the next step is broader lender adoption, especially as UAD 3.6 becomes mandatory in November. He also said the industry should think beyond the GSE channel and allow more flexibility for portfolio lending, community banks, and home equity products.
He was especially bullish on continued automation in valuation, including machine learning, computer vision, and newer generative AI tools. At the same time, he warned that the industry should not treat slower appraisal turn times as acceptable just because they are better than before. His view was that lenders should use the current window to improve borrower certainty and workflow readiness before volume returns.
Key takeaways
- Kenon Chen said Trump’s appraisal order is best read as a confirmation that modernization is already underway, not a new direction.
- Chen said machine learning is already embedded in AVMs and computer vision, and the industry is now moving into LLMs and agentic AI.
- Chen said inspection-based waivers and other alternatives are already seeing much higher use, with 2025 showing less traditional appraisal usage than 2024 on GSE loans.
- Chen said lenders should use the pre-November window to test end-to-end UAD 3.6 workflows now, because the deadline is still in place.
- Chen argued that community banks and portfolio lenders should get access to more valuation flexibility, not just the GSEs.
Notable quotes
“the train's already left the station. And and uh this is this is where we're going. We have to modernize”
“there's full commitment to this going forward. And if you're not taking advantage of it yet, um now might be a good time”
“we should be pushing for uh more certainty up front for borrowers, you know, reducing that stress they have”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is Keenan Chen, the EVP of strategy and growth at Clear Capital, to talk about some of the appraisal changes that were just announced by the Trump administration. Before we get started, I want to thank our sponsor Trust and Will for making this episode possible. Keenan, welcome back to the podcast.
Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Great to have you here.
Of course, we're we're filming this at uh Ice Experience, which has been really fun. Um I'm so glad that you were like, "Yeah, let's do this. Uh because we just had a lot of news about appraisal on top of the other news we had about appraisal.
And I was like, "Let's talk through that, right? So, start at the top. Um last week, we had uh President Trump put out an executive order.
And as part of that, it was housing-focused. He talked about appraisal modernization. Um a topic that, you know, we've been talking about for 15 years.
But we'd like to get your take on exactly what that means for someone who's in the trenches, who who runs an appraisal company in tech. And like, how did you interpret what he said? And maybe start out with what he said.
Yeah. I I I like what you said there, appraisal modernization on top of appraisal modernization. It's like, "Aren't we already doing that?
Um yeah, it was it was interesting to see an entire section on appraisal modernization. Um and there was kind of a laundry list of things that were that were in there. It was, you know, talked about using um alternative valuation models.
Um which maybe that meant automated valuation models, but it's kind of interesting to The acronym is typically AVM, alter automated, but alternative desktops, hybrids, um the use of artificial intelligence in valuation.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- appraisal modernization
- uad changes
- housing supply
- mortgage credit
- executive orders
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Clear Capital
Watch the episode
Watch “What Trump’s order to modernize appraisals will mean for housing” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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