Property One Appraisals maintains the highest professional ethics

We consider our our job a profession. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. So it goes without question these days 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.

For an appraiser the main obligation is to their client. Typically, in residential practice, the lender places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. Appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, and as a homeowner, if you would like to obtain a copy of an appraisal report, you should get it from your lender. Other obligations also include, accurate calculations appropriate to the parameters of the assignment, attaining and sustaining a respectable level of competency and education, and the appraiser must conduct him or herself as a professional. Here at Property One Appraisals, we take these ethical responsibilities very to heart.

Appraisers will often be required to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are defined in scope of the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary responsibility is limited to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the job.

Appraisers also have duties outside of boundaries of clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - at Property One Appraisals you can rest assured that we stick to that rule.

We require the highest ethical standards possible from ourselves. We never do assignments on contingency fees. That is, we can't 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 most important rule, because it would invite fraudulent practices since increasing the value of the home would increase the fee. We don't do that. Other unethical practices may be established by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.

The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also states a violation in ethics 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," as well as other situations. We follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value.

When you order an appraisal from Property One 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.