We have a Commercial loan comming due (with a dollar amount over $250,000 but less than $1mill) We had an appraisal done a year ago, do we need to order another one?

The commercial property will be paid back with proceeds from rental income.

Also, what does everyone use for a time-line before they consider an existing appraisal to be "out-dated"?

This should already be outlined in your board approved appraisal policy. If it is not, re-use of an appraisal would not be permitted IMHO. The rules regarding including the requirements for the acceptance of an existing appraisal in your written policy have been around since the FFIEC released the appraisal policy guidelines in 1994.

The useful life of an appraisal is not a defined time. Each situation is different. Some things to consider: 1) is this just a renewal that will only change rate/pmt amount, 2) any new monies advanced, 3) any credit deterioration. I would presume from your post your Board Policy is not clear about this; so it is a fair question to ask here.

I would recommend you look at the Final Interagency Appraisal & Eval Guidelines, Dec 2010. This has a section for Transactions that Require Appraisals; it includes discussion on the 12 exemptions. Other guidelines are out there, but I find this one easy to reference and renewals/refi's are discussed.

If you conclude a new appraisal is needed, we are seeing the use of "updates" from the original appraiser. This is actually a new report, but with more limited scope. It is useful and a good tool to get where you need at the end of the day: to monitor your collateral.

Awesome. Thanks for the input guys!