As Ray said...all good answers.
Greg was helpful to me when I had a recent assignment up here. I think Webbed provided info also.
Indian lands can be complicated as Restrain noted.
Some lands are 'leasehold' with long term leases and sold to anyone; the person buying must agree to abide by the master and any other applicable lease terms. BIA is the coordinator of the lease(s). We have a large development here like this.
Some lands are classified 'Allotment land' where the indian is 'given' the land to use as the indian sees fit-within tribal guidelines. Allotment lands can be 'subdivided' and passed down to decendents of the original allotee. My recent assignment was on this type (in a rural area), and what I learned is the occupier of the land has a 'deed' from the gov't via the BIA. In this case they had the acreage surveyed and knew the lot size. Banks will lend on these properties as long as the site has a legal description (and survey if necessary). The kicker is the land can be sold to anyone if the occupier indian defaults on the loan, and thus the tribe and the BIA loses control over it. So they tend to be protective, and don't want huge acreage parcels tied up this way.
Some lands/property are 'indian only' where the property can only be transferred to another indian. There may be a proper term for this type, but I have not had any assignment on this type in the past. Assignments on this type of land may require the appraiser to be BIA approved, but the above others don't - at least in my experience. There are lending programs for these properties but the improvements are treated as personal property because they are not taxed by the local jurisdictions, and the land is not owned by the occupier. I have found no local records for the type of structure on the land, and have been told to contact the BIA for that. They also keep 'sales records' on such properties, so doing a "regular" Sales Approach appraisal is difficult. A Cost Approach appraisal may be better. I've been told that Key Bank is one national bank that has a specific program for loans on these properties.
In your case, the indian land may be changing from Fee Simple to Trust. If so you may have property records available from your county. If it's already considered Trust, maybe not. You might want to 'quietly' investigate.
Finally, if the reservation does become recognized and the land and improvements are officially put in trust, I would recommend that you have a meeting with their tribal officials to discuss any future appraisal assignments and how they intend to legally define the properties. Then contact the BIA regional office - ask for the Real Estate Department - and talk with their representative about appraisal issues concerning this specific situation.
