American Appraisals upholds the utmost professional ethicsBy and large, appraising a long term career. The rigors of becoming a licensed appraiser have become more difficult than ever in the past. So it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can unquestionably be considered a profession rather than a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we have a strict ethical code. We have many obligations as appraisers but our chief duty is to our clients. More often than not, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers are privy to a lot of information, and like an attorney can only discuss many matters with their client. As a homeowner, if you desire a copy of an appraisal report, you generally have to request it through your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the scope of the report, reaching and maintaining a particular level of competency and education, and of course, the appraiser must behave in a professional manner. Here at American Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very seriously. ![]() American Appraisals has an established reputation for performing competent and ethically superior appraisals. To learn more Contact us Appraisers will often need to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both sellers and buyers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is restricted to those third parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order. Appraisers also have rules outside of boundaries of with whom we share information For example, appraisers must store their work files for at least five years - at American Appraisals 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 collect the fee only if the loan closes. We don't do assignments on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal professions biggest taboo, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their fee. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional organizations to which an appraiser belongs. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states 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," "the amount of a value opinion," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can rest easy knowing we are doing everything we can to provide an unbiased determination of the home or property value. As soon as you order an appraisal from American Appraisals we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the an ethical approach with appraisals that we're known for. |