Appraiser Ethics
Appraisers are professionals. In our field as with any other profession we are bound and guided by ethical considerations.
The appraiser's primary responsibility is to his or her client. Normally, in residential practice, most often the appraiser's client is the lender ordering the appraisal that is to be used to decide whether to make a mortgage loan.
Appraisers have duties of confidentiality to their clients -- as a homeowner, if you want a copy of an appraisal report, you normally have to request it through your lender -- obligations of numerical accuracy depending on the assignment parameters, an obligation to attain and maintain a certain level of competency and education, and must generally conduct him or herself as a professional. The staff at Residential Appraisal Group, Inc. take these ethical responsibilities very seriously.
Appraisers may also have fiduciary obligations to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, and others. These third parties are required to be spelled out when the appraisal assignment is accepted. An appraiser's fiduciary duty is limited to those third parties disclosed to the appraiser at the acceptance of the assignment and will be based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.
Additionally, appraisers are bound by other ethical rules that have nothing to do with intended users and intended uses of the appraisal report. Appraisers must keep their work files for a minimum of five years.
We perform to the highest ethical standards possible and we will not accept assignments based on contingency fees. In other words, we will not accept assignments and get paid only if the loan closes. Nor do we accept assignments based on percentage fees. That is probably the appraisal profession’s biggest no-no, because it would tend to make appraisers inflate the value of homes or properties to increase their fees. Other ethical practices may be guided by state law or professional societies to which an appraiser belongs.
The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) also defines as unethical 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," and other things. This means you can be assured we are working to objectively determine the home or property value.
You can be assured of ethical and professional service from Residential Appraisal Group, Inc.