Overview
Mercury Network® allows you to submit multiple appraisals for a single FHA loan through the EAD portal when more than one appraisal is required. By using the same Doc File ID for all related appraisals, you can ensure each submission is properly associated with the same loan file. This article explains how Mercury Network® handles multiple FHA appraisals and what you need to do to submit second and third appraisals correctly.
How to submit multiple appraisals for the same FHA loan?
Mercury Network® allows you to submit up to three appraisals for a single loan through the FHA Electronic Appraisal Delivery (EAD) portal. When multiple appraisals are required, all appraisals for the loan must be associated with the same Doc File ID. The Doc File ID links the appraisals together in the EAD portal and ensures they are submitted under the same FHA loan file.
The first appraisal is submitted to the EAD portal and a Doc File ID is assigned. This becomes "Appraisal 1" for this loan in the EAD portal.
When the second appraisal is ordered, the Doc File ID from "Appraisal 1" needs to be manually entered as the Doc File ID for the second order. This way, when the second appraisal is submitted to the EAD portal, it becomes "Appraisal 2" for this loan.
Related article: How to Edit or Enter an FHA Doc File ID in Mercury Network®If needed, a third appraisal is ordered, and the existing Doc File ID for the loan is manually entered on the Mercury Network® order. Then, when the appraisal is submitted, it becomes "Appraisal 3" for this loan in the EAD portal.
Notice that the key is that you manually enter the loan's Doc File ID on the Mercury Network® orders for "Appraisal 2" and "Appraisal 3" prior to submitting those appraisals. That's because the Doc File ID tells Mercury Network® that an appraisal was previously submitted for this loan.
Note: If you submit an appraisal to the EAD portal outside of Mercury Network®, Mercury Network® won't be able to see it.
The EAD portal doesn't communicate "two-ways" regarding your previously submitted appraisals. So, for example, if you've already submitted "Appraisal 1" to the EAD portal outside of Mercury Network® and you enter that loan's Doc File ID on an order in Mercury Network®, you'll see "Appraisal 1" is listed as "Empty or unknown" when you submit to the EAD portal from Mercury Network®. That's because Mercury Network® can't see what's already in the portal, but assumes that there's probably an appraisal there since you have a Doc File ID. In this case, if you were to complete the submission for "Appraisal 1," the appraisal you submitted to the EAD portal outside of Mercury Network® would be replaced with the new report. So, it's important to know if you've submitted a previous appraisal outside of Mercury Network®.
If all your appraisals have been ordered from the appraiser and submitted to the EAD portal entirely through Mercury Network®, you don't need to worry: Mercury Network® will keep track of all of your submissions based on the Doc File ID you enter on appraisal 2 (and 3, if needed.)
Outcome
After reviewing this article, you will understand how to submit multiple appraisals for a single FHA loan using Mercury Network®. You will know when and how to manually enter a Doc File ID, how additional appraisals are identified as Appraisal 2 or Appraisal 3 in the EAD portal, and how to avoid unintentionally replacing an existing submission. This ensures FHA appraisals are submitted accurately and tracked correctly throughout the process.