Home Appraisals, Inc. maintains the utmost professional ethics
Appraising is a profession, and appraisers are professionals. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be dubbed a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by an ethical code.
An appraiser's primary responsibility is to their client. Most of the time, for a normal residential appraisal, the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal, and often the appraisal is ordered by a third party the lender has contracted in order to maintain independence. It's important to know that many details pertaining to an assignment are to be discussed with the appraiser's client. As a homeowner, if you desire to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to request it from your lender and not the appraiser.
Other responsibilities include accurate calculations appropriate to the scope of the assignment, acquiring and sustaining a certain level of competency and education, and naturally, the appraiser must bear a professional demeanor. Here at Home Appraisals, Inc., we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.
In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Generally the third parties are explicitly defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary role is limited to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.
Home Appraisals, Inc. has an established reputation for producing competent and ethically superior appraisals. Contact us today to learn more.
There are also ethical duties that have nothing to do with whom we share information. For example, appraisers must backup their work files for at least five years - at Home Appraisals, Inc. you can rest assured that we adhere to that rule.
When creating reports, we follow the highest ethical standards possible. Working on assignments based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. That means we can't agree to do an appraisal report and collect the fee only if the loan closes. There's an obvious conflict of interest if an appraiser can report an unsubstantiated value with the reward of getting paid more money!
Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") clearly defines a violation in ethics as the acceptance 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", or "the amount of a value opinion" in addition to other situations We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are working hard to get you an accurate home or property value.
With Home Appraisals, Inc., you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service.
