Appraiser Ethics
Appraisal Source, Inc. upholds the highest professional ethics
Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever before. That’s why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be considered a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.
We have quite a few responsibilities as appraisers but above everything we answer to our clients. Generally, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser’s client. Certain matters pertaining to an assignment can only be discussed with an appraiser’s client. As a a homeowner, if you require to review an appraisal report, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate figures appropriate to the parameters of the report, reaching and sustaining an adequate level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Maintaining high ethics is standard operating procedure for us at Appraisal Source, Inc..
Appraisal Source, Inc. has an established reputation for producing appraisals with the highest of ethics. Contact us today to learn more.
Appraisers can also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Typically the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser’s fiduciary duty is only to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.
Appraisers also have standards outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years – at Appraisal Source, Inc. you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.
We demand the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. We don’t do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we are not able to agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. Another practice that’s restricted is doing assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal industries biggest taboo, because it would invite appraisal fraud since raising the estimate of the home would raise the their paycheck. We set ourselves to a higher standard. Other unethical practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations that the appraiser belongs.
The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines unethical behavior as accepting of an assignment that is contingent on “the reporting of a pre-determined result (e.g., opinion of value),” “a direction in assignment results that favors the cause of the client,” “the amount of a value opinion,” in addition to other situations We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.
With Appraisal Source, Inc., you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.
