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Topic 1. Purpose and Eligibility Requirements
a. Purpose of SAPP
Servicers of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) guaranteed loans may be granted authority, under Servicer Appraisal Processing Program (SAPP), to review liquidation appraisals, and issue the Notice of Value (NOV) without VA involvement. The servicer exercises its SAPP authority through an employee who is VA-approved as a SAPP Staff Appraisal Reviewer (SAR). Once a SAR has satisfied the SAPP training and initial case review requirements (see section 3 of this chapter), their SAPP authority may be used for eligible properties (those secured by VA-guaranteed loans) in any location within the United States and its territories. The purpose of SAPP is to reduce the time required for servicers of VA loans to receive the NOV.
Important: It is the SAR’s responsibility to stay informed about any local VA processing requirements unique to the VA jurisdiction in which a property is located.
b. Servicer Eligibility Requirements
To be granted SAPP authority, the servicer must have:
a VA servicer identification number (ID),
an association with a single lender having a VA lender ID, and
an effective quality control (QC) system that ensures the adequacy and quality of its SARs. (See section 6 of this chapter.)
Note: Under SAPP, a servicer may only have an association with a single lender.
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c. SAR Eligibility Requirements
The servicer exercises its SAPP authority through an employee who is a VA- approved SAR. A SAR must:
be a full-time salaried employee of the lender/servicer, and
have at least three years of work experience that qualifies him or her to competently perform administrative appraisal reviews.
The SAR’s work experience must indicate that he or she has:
general knowledge of the principles, methods, practices, and techniques of appraising and the ability to apply that knowledge,
the ability to review the work of others and recognize deviations from accepted appraisal principles and practices,
the ability to detect errors in computations, and
the ability to detect conclusions that are not supported.
It is also desirable for the SAR to have knowledge of general realty practices and principles related to real property valuation, skill in collecting and assembling data, and the ability to prepare clear and concise reports.
Note: Three years experience related to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Direct Endorsement (DE) program satisfies the experience requirement, provided all other application requirements are satisfied.
d. SAR Conflicts of Interest
There must be no conflict of interest between the SAR’s role and any other activities that he or she conducts. Examples of other activities that would constitute a conflict of interest include, but are not limited to:
the SAR being on the VA fee appraisal panel, or
the SAR being employed by or performing appraisal review services for another lender/servicer.