Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against North Dakota Real Estate Appraiser Qualifications and Ethics Board on 22 September 2026 · Updated 22 September 2026
North Dakota requires no appraiser seal, and the chapter that governs you does not contain the word. N.D.C.C. chapter 43-23.3 was read as the Legislature’s own consolidated chapter and searched whole, not section by section, for “seal” and “stamp”. There are no hits. What Section 43-23.3-14 requires instead is that a permittee place the permit number adjacent to the permittee’s signature on an appraisal report, contract, or other writing used in conducting appraisal activities.
Then the Board’s own rule widens it. N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01 requires all permittees to place their permit number and permit type adjacent to their signature on all appraisal related activities. Two extra words in the rule and one broader phrase, and the block you are reproducing grows from a number to a number plus a credential. That is the North Dakota stamp in one sentence, and it is why the rule matters more here than the statute.
North Dakota real estate appraiser seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | North Dakota rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | No. A whole chapter search of N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 returned zero occurrences of “seal” and zero of “stamp”, and no chapter of N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 carries one either. | N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 (whole chapter searched) and N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 (no seal or stamp provision) |
| Required elements | The permittee’s signature, the permit number and, added by rule, the permit type, all placed adjacent to the signature. | N.D.C.C. Section 43-23.3-14; N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01 |
| Size and shape | None prescribed. Neither the chapter nor Title 101 specifies any size or shape for a seal, a stamp or a signature block. | N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 (whole chapter searched) and N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 (no seal or stamp provision) |
| Device allowed | Nothing is prescribed and nothing is prohibited. A rubber stamp, a pre inked stamp, an embosser or a graphic file all reproduce the number and type block equally well. | N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 (whole chapter searched) and N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 (no seal or stamp provision) |
| Signature and date | The signature is the anchor: the number and type sit adjacent to it. No dating direction appears in the chapter or Title 101. Chapter 101-03-01 adopts USPAP, so report dating runs through USPAP. | N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01; N.D. Admin. Code ch. 101-03-01 |
| What must be sealed | Nothing. The statute reaches an appraisal report, a contract or other writing used in conducting appraisal activities. The rule is broader still: all appraisal related activities. | N.D.C.C. Section 43-23.3-14; N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01 |
| Electronic seal | Not found. No provision in the chapter or in article 101-03 addresses an electronic seal or a digital signature on a transmitted report. USPAP governs by reference. | N.D. Admin. Code ch. 101-03-01; no electronic seal provision found |
| Renewal and lapse | No expiration date is called for, so renewal alone does not age a block. A move between permit types is what makes a die inaccurate, since the rule names the type as well as the number. | N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01 |
| Firm requirements | No firm marking rule was located. Section 101-03-02-01 is a duty on the individual permittee. Article 101-05 covers appraisal management companies and carries no seal or stamp rule. | N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 (whole chapter searched) and N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 (no seal or stamp provision) |
| Regulator | North Dakota Real Estate Appraiser Qualifications and Ethics Board, established at N.D.C.C. Section 43-23.3-02. | N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3; rules at N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 |
Does North Dakota require an appraiser to have a seal?
No, and the way this was checked is worth stating because it closes the usual escape route. N.D.C.C. chapter 43-23.3 was read as the Legislature’s own consolidated chapter document and searched as one file. That is a whole chapter search rather than a section by section read, so no subsection can have been skipped. Zero occurrences of seal, zero of stamp.
On the rules side, N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 was enumerated at article level: 101-01, 101-02, 101-03, 101-03.1, 101-04 and 101-05. The three chapters most capable of carrying a seal rule were read in full. Chapter 101-01-01, the organization of the Board, carries none, which is notable because a board organization chapter is where a state often puts the board’s own authenticating seal. Chapter 101-03-01, standards of professional practice, carries none, and that is the chapter a report content seal rule would live in. Chapter 101-03-02, permit display, is the number and type rule and nothing more.
What the statute asks for
Section 43-23.3-14 reads: “A permittee shall place the permittee’s permit number adjacent to the permittee’s signature on an appraisal report, contract, or other writing used by the permittee in conducting appraisal activities.”
Note the single position. Not adjacent to or immediately below, as several states allow, but adjacent to the signature. Note too that the reach is already wider than reports: a contract or other writing used in conducting appraisal activities is inside it, which puts an engagement letter in scope.
The rule goes further than the statute, in two ways
N.D. Admin. Code Section 101-03-02-01, the permit disclosure requirement, reads: “All permittees are required to place their permit number and permit type adjacent to the permittees’ signature on all appraisal-related activities.” Set that beside the statute and two differences stand out.
First, the rule adds the permit type. The statute asks only for a number; the rule asks for the number and the credential it belongs to. Second, the rule says all appraisal related activities rather than an appraisal report, contract or other writing. It is the broader of the two provisions, and it is the one to design the block around, because a block that satisfies the rule satisfies the statute automatically.
North Dakota says permit, not license
This looks like a small vocabulary point and it causes real ordering mistakes. North Dakota does not issue appraisers a license or a certificate; it issues a permit, and the rules call you a permittee. A die lettered North Dakota License No. describes a document the state does not give appraisers.
Letter it the way the state does. Permit number, permit type, permittee. If you are credentialed in more than one state and want one device, that ambition usually fails here on the vocabulary alone, and two devices is the cleaner answer.
Which permit types you may name
Section 43-23.3-15 fixes the terms: apprentice appraiser, licensed appraiser, certified residential appraiser, certified general appraiser and certified appraiser may only be used to refer to an individual who holds a permit. Those are the words for the permit type element the rule asks for.
Because the rule names the type as a required element and the statute controls the words, the type line is the part of a North Dakota block worth getting exactly right. Take it from your permit rather than from an old report, and write it out rather than abbreviating it, since a shortened form is your invention rather than the statute’s wording.
What was repealed, and what it was
Chapter 101-03-02 is titled permit display and has two sections. Section 101-03-02-01 is the number and type rule, effective 1 October 1992 and never amended since. Section 101-03-02-02, display of permit, was repealed effective 1 January 2008.
It is worth being precise about what went. The repealed section was a wall display rule about showing the permit at a place of business. It was not a seal rule, so its repeal did not remove a seal duty, and there is no repealed North Dakota appraiser seal rule to point at. No seal provision has ever existed in article 101-03 to be taken away.
USPAP carries the rest, including electronic delivery
N.D. Admin. Code chapter 101-03-01 adopts the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice as the standards of professional practice. That is why the North Dakota rules are quiet about certification language, signing mechanics and electronic transmission: they hand those questions to USPAP rather than answering them twice.
For a device that means there is no North Dakota electronic seal standard to meet, because there is no North Dakota seal. A digital image of your own signature block, applied by you to a PDF you assemble, is governed by USPAP and by your own practice rather than by a state rule about devices.
Other North Dakota seals are other people’s
Searches for a North Dakota seal rule turn up plenty of results, and almost all of them belong to other credentials. Architects, engineers and land surveyors are regulated by their own boards under their own chapters, and those chapters do prescribe seals with their own diameters and legends. Those are different professions and none of it reaches an appraiser.
This matters for artwork as much as for law. An engineering seal legend copied onto an appraiser’s block claims a credential you do not hold, which is a worse problem than the one it was meant to solve. Build the North Dakota appraiser block from Section 43-23.3-14 and Section 101-03-02-01 and from nothing else.
What to put on a North Dakota appraiser stamp
Four elements, and they come straight from the two provisions: the name you sign with, the permit type in the statute’s own words, the permit number, and North Dakota so an out of state reader knows which state issued it. Set the number and the type together, next to where the signature lands, because adjacent to the signature is the position both provisions name.
Keep the number legible above everything else. It is the element the statute names, and it is the first thing a reviewer looks for. A block that is pretty and unreadable answers nothing.
Embosser, ink stamp or a digital image
Nothing is prescribed, so the choice is about how your work travels. An embosser gives a raised impression that reads well on a paper original and tends to disappear in a scan, which is a poor fit for a block whose purpose is to be read on the copy the client receives. It suits a paper certification page you retain.
An ink stamp photocopies and scans without trouble, which makes it the everyday device for a wet signed report. A digital seal image is what belongs in a PDF you build yourself, and it can be placed adjacent to the signature wherever one appears. Appraisers delivering both ways keep one of each, drawn from the same artwork so number and type never disagree.
Sizing, and ordering
No dimensions are set, so size to be read. A three line block handles North Dakota comfortably: the name, the permit type, and the permit number with the state name. Give the type its own line rather than crowding it beside the name, since the rule names it as an element in its own right.
To order, send the name you sign with, your permit type as Section 43-23.3-15 words it, and your permit number copied from the permit itself. From the appraiser range, the Real Estate Appraiser Self Inking Rubber Stamp of Seal is $39.95 and the Regular Rubber Stamp of Seal is $34.95. The Slim Pre Inked Rubber Stamp of Seal is $46.95. For PDF delivery the eSeal Electronic Image Stamp of Seal is $20.00, and on the embossing side the Handheld Seal Embosser is $46.95. Browse the real estate appraiser stamps and seals collection, or contact us with your wording.
Care, and the change that dates a die
Re ink a self inking stamp when the impression starts to gray rather than waiting for a digit to drop. Keep pre inked stamps capped and out of direct heat. An embosser needs little beyond keeping grit off the die faces.
North Dakota calls for no expiration date, so renewal alone does not age the block. The event that does is a change of permit type, which is the normal progression from apprentice to licensed to certified, and which the rule makes an element of the marking rather than a detail. A type change makes a correct die wrong, and it is worth replacing rather than annotating. This page is a research summary and not legal advice.
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Frequently asked questions
Does North Dakota require a real estate appraiser to have a seal?
No. A whole chapter search of N.D.C.C. ch. 43-23.3 returned zero occurrences of the words seal and stamp, and no chapter of N.D. Admin. Code Title 101 carries a seal rule. The state asks for a permit number and permit type beside your signature instead.
What has to go next to my signature?
Your permit number and your permit type. The statute at Section 43-23.3-14 asks for the number; the Board’s rule at Section 101-03-02-01 adds the type. Design the block around the rule, since meeting it meets the statute too.
Why does North Dakota say permit instead of license?
Because that is the credential it issues. North Dakota appraisers are permittees holding a permit, and the rules use that word throughout. A die lettered North Dakota License No. names a document appraisers here do not hold.
Which permit types can I put on the stamp?
The terms Section 43-23.3-15 fixes: apprentice appraiser, licensed appraiser, certified residential appraiser, certified general appraiser and certified appraiser. Use the one you hold, written out rather than abbreviated.
Does the rule apply only to appraisal reports?
No. The statute reaches an appraisal report, contract or other writing used in conducting appraisal activities, and the rule goes wider still, applying to all appraisal related activities. An engagement contract you sign is inside that.
Is there a required size or shape?
No. Neither the chapter nor Title 101 specifies any size or shape for a seal, a stamp or a signature block. Size the block so the number and type read clearly on the copy the client receives.
A North Dakota rule about display was repealed. Was that a seal rule?
No. Section 101-03-02-02, display of permit, was repealed effective 1 January 2008, and it was a wall display rule about showing your permit at a place of business. No seal provision has ever existed in article 101-03.
Does North Dakota address electronic seals or digital signatures?
No provision on the point was found. Chapter 101-03-01 adopts USPAP as the standards of professional practice, so USPAP governs signing and electronic transmission by reference.
