American Valuation , Inc. maintains the highest professional ethicsBy and large, appraising is a long term career. The rigors of becoming 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 unquestionably be called a profession as opposed to a trade. In our field, as with any profession, we are bound by an ethical code.We have a great deal of responsibilities as appraisers, but first and foremost we answer to our clients. Typically, in residential practice, 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 follows that appraisers have certain duties of privacy to their clients, plus many rules and regulations that must be followed. So, as a homeowner, if you desire a copy of the appraisal document, you normally have to get it through your lender and not the appraiser.
In some cases appraisers will have fiduciary responsibilities to third parties, such as homeowners, both buyers and sellers, or others. Those third parties normally are spelled out in the appraisal assignment itself. An appraiser's fiduciary role is only to those parties who the appraiser knows, based on the scope of work or other written parameters of the assignment.
There are also ethical rules that have nothing to do with clients and others. For example, appraisers must store their work files for a minimum of five years - at American Valuation , Inc. you can rest assured that we stick to that rule. We meet or exceed the industry standards and guidelines set in place for ethics. We refuse to accept anything less from ourselves. Doing orders where our fee is dependent on our value conclusion is not something we can consider. In other words, we don't agree to do an appraisal report and collect payment on the contingency of the loan closing. There's a definite 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") also describes unethical behavior 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 assured we are doing everything we can to objectively determine the home or property value. As soon as you engage American Valuation , Inc., we'll make sure you're getting the professional service you expect along with the honesty and integrity we're known for. |
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