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HB2501 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
appraisal management
companies; definition
State of Arizona
House of Representatives
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
HOUSE BILL 2501
AN
ACT
Amending section 32-3661, Arizona Revised
Statutes; relating to Real estate appraisal management companies.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 32-3661, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
32-3661.
Definitions
In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Appraisal" means the act or process of
developing an opinion of the value of real property in conformance with the
uniform standards of professional appraisal practice published by the appraisal
foundation, or any other definition used in state or federal laws.
2. "Appraisal management company" means a
corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, subsidiary or other business
entity that directly or indirectly performs appraisal management services,
regardless of the use of the term "appraisal management company",
"mortgage technology provider", "lender processing
services", "lender services", "loan processor",
"mortgage services", "real estate closing services provider",
"settlement services provider" or "vendor management
company" or any other term, and that does
any
either
of the following:
(
a
)
within a twelve-month period,
administers an appraiser
panel of at least sixteen state-licensed or state-certified
appraisers in one state who are independent contractors or at least twenty-five
state-licensed or state-certified appraisers in at least two states
who perform real property appraisal services in this state for clients.
(b) Otherwise serves as a third-party liaison
of appraisal management services between clients and appraisers.
3. "Appraisal management services" means
any of the following:
(a) Recruiting, selecting and retaining appraisers.
(b) Contracting with state-licensed or state-certified
appraisers to perform appraisal agreements.
(c) Managing the process of having an appraisal
performed, including providing administrative services such as receiving
appraisal orders and appraisal reports, submitting completed appraisal reports
to creditors and secondary market participants, collecting fees from creditors
and secondary market participants for services provided and paying appraisers
for services performed.
(d) Reviewing and verifying the work of appraisers.
4. "Appraisal review" means the act or
process of developing and communicating an opinion about the quality of another
appraiser's work that was performed as part of an appraisal assignment, but
does not include an examination of an appraisal for grammatical, typographical
or other similar errors that do not communicate an opinion related to the
appraiser's data collection, analysis, opinions, conclusions, estimate of value
or compliance with the uniform standards of professional appraisal practice.
5. "Appraiser" means a person who is
licensed or certified as an appraiser pursuant to this chapter and who performs
valuation services competently and in a manner that is independent, impartial
and objective.
6. "Appraiser panel":
(a) Means a network, list or roster of state-licensed
or state-certified appraisers approved by an appraisal management company
to perform appraisals as independent contractors for the appraisal management
company. For the purposes of this subdivision, an appraiser is an
independent contractor if the appraiser management company treats the appraiser
as an independent contractor for federal income tax purposes.
(b) Includes both appraisers accepted by the
appraisal management company for consideration for future appraisal assignments
in covered transactions or for secondary mortgage market participants in
connection with covered transactions and appraisers engaged by the appraisal
management company to perform one or more appraisals in covered transactions.
7. "Client" means a person that contracts
with, or otherwise enters into an agreement with, an appraisal management
company for the performance of real property appraisal services.
8. "Controlling person" means any of the
following:
(
a
) An
owner, officer or director of a corporation, partnership or other business
entity seeking to offer appraisal management services in this state.
(
b
) An
individual who is employed, appointed or authorized by an appraisal management
company and who has the authority to enter into a contractual relationship with
clients for the performance of appraisal management services and to enter into agreements
with independent appraisers for the performance of real property appraisal
services.
(
c
) An
individual who possesses, directly or indirectly, the power to direct or cause
the direction of the management or policies of an appraisal management company.
9. "Federally regulated appraisal management
company" means an appraisal management company that is a subsidiary owned
and controlled by an insured depository institution or an insured credit union
and regulated by a federal financial institutions regulatory agency.
10. "Real property appraisal services"
means the practice of developing an opinion of the value of real property in
conformance with the uniform standards of professional appraisal practice
published by the appraisal foundation.
11. "Relocation management company" means
a business entity whose exclusive business services are not for mortgage
purposes and include the relocation of employees as an agent or contractor for
the employer or the employer's agent for the purposes of determining an
anticipated sales price, as defined by the worldwide employee relocation
council, of the residence of an employee being relocated by the employer in the
course of its business.
12. "TWELVE-month
period" means the calendar year unless an alternative twelve-month
period is prescribed by the deputy director in rule.
12.
13.
"Uniform
standards of professional appraisal practice" means the uniform standards
of professional appraisal practice promulgated by the appraisal foundation.
END_STATUTE