Honesty and Integrity: Proper Appraisals

Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever in the past. So it goes without question these days that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession as opposed to a trade. As with any profession we have a strict ethical code.

As appraisers our primary obligation is to their client. Most of the time, in residential practice, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal. Appraisers have rules and regulations they must follow, including confidentiality for their clients a homeowner, if you desire a copy of the appraisal document, you normally have to request it from your lender. Other obligations also include, numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, acquiring and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at Proper Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.

Appraisers may often have fiduciary obligations to third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Typically the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.

There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must keep their work files for at least five years - something else Proper Appraisals takes very seriously.

We meet or beat the industry standards and rules set in place for professional behavior. We won't accept anything less from ourselves. Doing assignments on contingency fees is not something we can consider That is, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and get paid only if the loan closes. We can't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the value of the home would raise the their paycheck. We don't do that. Other improper practices may be defined by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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 be assured we are going above and beyond to objectively determine the home or property value.

As soon as you request an appraisal from Proper Appraisals we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the ethical handling of appraisals that we're known for.