For honest and ethical appraisals, trust Pendleton AppraisalsBy and large, appraising is a long term career. Requirements to become a licensed appraiser have increased more than ever before. That's why it goes without question in this day and age that real estate appraisal can certainly be called a profession rather than a trade. As with any profession we are bound by an ethical code.We have many obligations as appraisers, but above everything we answer to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, the lender (or an agent of the lender) places the order to the appraiser, becoming the appraiser's client. It follows that appraisers have certain duties of confidentiality to their clients, plus many rules and regulations controlling with whom we share information. So, as a homeowner, if you would like to review the appraisal document, you generally should obtain it through your lender.
Appraisers will regularly be required to consider the interests of third parties, including homeowners, sellers and buyers, or others. Normally the third parties are specifically defined in the appraisal report. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is only to those third parties who the appraiser is aware of, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the order.
There are also ethical standards that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must be able to produce their work files for a minimum of five years - something else Pendleton Appraisals takes very seriously. We only perform to the highest ethical standards possible. Working on orders based on contingency fees is not something we can consider. That is, we can't agree to do an appraisal report and base our pay upon coming up with a particular value conclusion. Anyone should be able to see that inflating a value to achieve what amounts to a bigger fee is unethical! We set ourselves to a higher standard. Finally, the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (or simply "USPAP") also 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" as well as other situations. We diligently follow these rules to the letter which means you can be confident we are going above and beyond to get you an accurate home or property value. With Pendleton Appraisals, you can be assured of 100 percent ethical, honest service. |